TIPPING THE VELVET
CD41-005
24 tracks (74 minutes)
Barcode:502 4545 2058 24



"A gloriously camp collection - offers modern listeners an irresistable taste of the gender-bending wit of music hall performers" (Diva, 10/2002); "Tongue in cheek in excelcis, this set of crackled camp is ideal after-dinner entertainment for would-be fops and dandies" (Glasgow Herald, 10/2002)

CD41 are pleased to announce the release of Tipping the Velvet, a full length CD of archive music hall tracks inspired by the acclaimed historical novel by Sarah Waters. To read sleevenotes click here. To puchase CD click here.

Tipping the Velvet features original recordings made between 1915 and 1938 by several key artists, including Norah Blaney, Gwen Farrar, Cicely Courtneidge, Hetty King, Douglas Byng, Ella Shields and Vesta Tilley. Some of the featured tracks are by male impersonators, such as King and Tilley, others by more overtly camp performers such as Douglas Byng.

Among the 24 charming tracks includes are: Masculine Women! Feminine Men!, The Moon is Low, If I Had a Girl Like You, Piccadilly, Give Me a Million Beautiful Girls, I'm a Bird, Ukelele Lady and What Angeline Says, Goes.

The CD has been curated by specialist jazz archivist Andrew Simons. In his sleevenote he explains: "In the Victorian era the music hall was the mass entertainment. There the heroines of Tipping the Velvet, Nan King and Kitty Butler, were social prisoners of the era, with modern conveniences such as public transport and mass media, but none of the enlightenment regarding diversity that we enjoy today. Reverse gender impersonators were no doubt an inspiration to the hidden lesbian and gay community."

The novel Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters is published by Virago. Her other novels are Affinity and Fingersmith, also published by Virago. All three novels are available from all good bookshops.

Running for 74 minutes and featuring extensive sleevenotes, the disc is a must for all students of left-field music hall, jazz, variety, and crepuscular social history.

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