Review and More

Our Review

I am awestruck by Gipp Forster, and so I was joyful to receive Gipp Forster's Christmas, Volume I (along with Volume II). There really isn't very much spoken word entertainment anymore. Television probably killed that. But in addition to offering up the rarity of told stories, Gipp Forster recalls a generation that is almost gone, a generation of earnest parables and reverent homily, the so-called "greatest" generation. The worldview and mindset of this performance is almost foreign to today's audiences, who have never known such sincerity. I daresay people under 30 would scarcely know what to do with such stories.

These are wonderful stories, to be sure. But I don't believe the CD is meant to be heard end-to-end in a sitting. No, the 22 selections on Gipp Forster's Christmas, Volume I, should be listened to serially, one-a-day, in the days leading up to Christmas, on something like the romantic Delilah show. Listening to them all at once made them run together and weakened them, somehow.

This is evidently a CD release of an earlier tape release, because I recognized many of the selections. I still like the one about the Mrs. Beasley doll, though a few (such as Archie the Angel) can seem a bit cloying. But again, this is pretty strong stuff, and there is nothing else like it.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2006)

More

From the liner notes:

All songs written and narrated by Gipp Forster
Original music and lyrics composed by Dale Baglo
Public Domain carols played by Bill Sample.
Snowsong sung by The Sinclair Academy Singers, under the direction of Anne-Marie Brimacombe
Twinkle Twinkle sung by Jon Baglo, at age 2
It Feels Like Christmas sung by Duncan Meiklejohn
Photos of Gipp and his Christamas display by Dale

Produced by Dale Baglo
Recorded at Dale Baglo Broadcast Inc.

Gipp Forster

Gipp Forster's Christmas,
Volume I

Artist link

Track List