Released in 1991, at a time when Jake Thackray's legend was at its lowest-ever ebb, Lah Di Dah was a barely noticed collection of 22 songs drawn from throughout the master's EMI catalog, and truly highlighting many of his most memorable compositions. From "Sister Josephine" to "The Cactus," from "Brother Gorilla" to "Bantam Cock" and on, of course, to the title track, Lah Di Dah spotlights Thackray at both his most lugubriously earthy, and his most touchingly tender. It is not the ultimate in Thackray collections -- too many classics are absent for that (no "Old Molly Metcalfe" or "The Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker," for example). But it took Thackray's death over a decade later to finally prompt the reissue gates to spring open and, until that time, this was as good as it got.
© Dave Thompson /TiVo