I was very chuffed to have Al fans respond positively to my discovery of Al's probably teaching ukelele in his rooms at the Raffles Hotel, c. 1926...Why am I so strung up on an old crooner who sounds on first listen like a ghostly old man - when I find fellow crooner Crosby almost unlistenable - it can't just be my hearing Richard Thompson's Al Bowlly's in Heaven - I must ponder this further....something to do with Al's tone - influenced by his rich roots and experiences whole world over, and some kind of nostalgia maybe for England 20s-30s - for all its faults and hangups - exciting that some American enthusiast is attempting to release all tracks which must run into the 1000s & that must be another elelment - a collectability about Al - I used to enjoy tracking down the available & not so available cds from such a variety of sources - results of which as ever I have still really to digest - delayed effects of some kind of retail therapy. And now part of my own history - a girlfriend years back as well as those in my life now singing lines of Bowlly songs or at least the songs Al sang - misery farm "if you want to know the moral to this song/ 50 million little monkeys can't be wrong."
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