MP3:
CLOUD ONE
Everything's Coming Up Roses (3:42)
When You Smile (2:54)
Make The World A Little Younger (3:26)
Nobody Does it Like Me (2:06)
Try To Remember (4:08)
My Way (5:26)
CLOUD TWO
Sing, Sing a Song (3:30)
The Last Red Rose In London Town (2:35)
I'd Do It All Again (3:13)
Streets Of London (4:21)
It's You (3:34)
The Greatest Performance of My Life (3:51)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Tony Weston! – Side 1 is 'Live' ( my arse!) from Norwich circa 1970 something. (There's no date on the record though the cover of Streets of London is a clue). Side 2 consists of studio stuff.
Mr Tony Weston, otherwise variously referred to as 'Mr Vitality' - 'Mr Fabulous' - 'Mr Entertainment', with props from Liberace and Noel Coward on the sleeve. . Woo!
A Cabaret Stalwart of the old school, camp as Christmas, and a total pro. Dig the crisp annunciation and the accent that lurks somewhere between the mid atlantic, a home counties drama school and the west country (?).
This is a 'live'(cough!) recording of his last gig in Norwich. I don't know if it's his last gig anywhere or just Norwich. The applause has a habit of fading at just the right time and being sort of at one remove from the intensity of the action. He stuck it on afterwards!
It's on the same label as the Maxwell Plumm album I posted a while ago. The Raven label must have been a specialist vanity pressing set-up for cabaret artists and their ilk.
A Google search came up with this link - http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2005/4/29/56290.html
It seems Tony Weston passed away in 2005. He apparently had a large following in the UK back in the 60's and my hunch about the West country accent was right. ('Hair by Raymond of Bournmouth' is a clue as well. Why were so many hairdressers called Raymonde?) I'm glad he had a fitting send off. R.I.P. Mr Vitality' if that's not a bit of a contradiction.
Mind you, he orchestrated the send off himself, which takes a lot of posthumous chutzpah... I admire him for that. Sort of ;-)
The record is signed 'To a real super lady, Sonia, thanks you for your kind words, I never forget. I love Norwich!'
I feel I have to point out that I don't actually like this record as a piece of music, (obviously I'm far too cool, highbrow and hetero for that! Oh yes... ;-) ) but as a social document, as a slice of seventies cabaret set in aspic it is superb. I hope you enjoy it 'my loves' (as our Tony would have said), or if not that, I hope you can appreciate it as a cultural artifact. ;-) I think you will like the modest way he has the theme music for Jesus Christ Superstar as his intro music, after he has given himself a big intro in the third person (as if we wouldn't notice it was him or something? ... ) and definitely don't miss the spoken intro to My Way.
- Contributed by: Jon Allen
Images: Front Cover, Back Cover, Tony!
I suspect that many of the "Raymond" hairdresser salons in Britain were named in tribute to the 1950s "celebrity" hairdresser Raymond "Teasy-Weasy" Bessone.
Posted by: The Pube | October 24, 2007 at 06:17 AM
I guess Tony Weston must have been an inspiration for the music of Monty Python, "It's Christmas in Heaven" for example. The Python's having trained voices is a nice bonus though.
Posted by: Hank | October 24, 2007 at 07:04 PM
Oh my F***ing God!!! I've got another Tony Weston LP, also signed, also with no date on it and also called simply 'Tony Weston', but this one I guess is from 73/74. I can't work out whether it's so good it's bad or vice versa. Either way, it's one of my most prized possessions. I'm so grateful you put this on line. Thank you thank you thank you :)
Posted by: Hawkwind Dave | February 12, 2009 at 01:27 PM
I'm half way through listening to this LP.... name your price!
Posted by: Hawkwind Dave | February 12, 2009 at 02:49 PM
Tony Weston was an entertainer at Cala Mesquida, Majorca,in 1967, which was a Pontinental 'holiday village' owned by Fred Pontin. I have just found an old photo from that holiday, in which Tony Weston is standing next to me and was showing it to my friend (who was on the same holiday) this weekend. We decided to 'Google' Tony Weston and found this page. Bingo! Good memories!
Posted by: Hilary Wright | June 14, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I have fond memories of seeing Tony Weston at Pontins Hemsby in the mid 70's, What value for money entertainment, he was a real class act, im sad to read he has passed away, i have an LP that we purchased at Pontins after his performance, signed i believe. I think we have photos in the collection somewhere ? Keep Singing Tony
Posted by: Stuart Cole | November 14, 2009 at 01:54 PM
I so wish I could have seen him perform... listing to the 2 albums i have... one can get a feel of what his performance must have been like, but it's far from the real thing. Anybody got a video or cine of him?
We could set up a proper fan site and pool our resources... keep the fire burning!
Dave
Posted by: hawkwind dave | December 28, 2009 at 02:23 PM
I knew tony well back in the 80's.helived at dolphin court in bournemoth and was well known in the hotels we saw him many times in the mon a me loved him and his shows rip tones xxx
Posted by: Lynne | October 27, 2012 at 02:38 AM
Tony and John were great friends of ours and it's SO sad that he is not with us anymore. Tony Weston WAS Tony Weston and irreplacable! Thank you to Lynne of Southampton for the kind words. Tony was one of these guys who, 'outwardly', was a great personality, but inside he was very private and went through a lot of emotions, he spoke to me quite at length, many times. He and John had a fabulous home in Dolphin Court and it was such a happy place although John was very ill at the time, nevertheless, Tony and John are now reunited and may they rest in peace. They will always,forever,be in our thoughts.Love to you all...Bryan (Hotel Mon-Ami, Bournemouth. 1984/85/86. From: [email protected].
Posted by: Bryan | October 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM