Recorded live in 1981,
Lonnie Donegan's
Jubilee Concert marked the 25th anniversary of his first hit single, "Rock Island Line," and sought to replicate, therefore, the mood and magic of a classic
Donegan show from back in the day. The guest list was phenomenal, as
Chris Barber,
Ken Colyer, and
Monty Sunshine, the very cream of the 1950s British trad jazz scene, stepped out to pay their own musical respects to
the King. The 23-song set, meanwhile, covered most of the essential bases in
Donegan's musical career, perhaps eschewing some of the more blatant novelty numbers in the catalog (no "My Old Man's a Dustman," for example) but making up for that with the sheer passion and energy that marked out "John Henry," "Tom Dooley," "Grand Coulee Dam," and so forth. Besides, a raucous "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight" surely sates any listener's desire for vaudevillian madness. Of course,
Jubilee Concert is not a patch on a true vintage
Donegan concert recording -- no one should buy this in preference to the Conway Hall collection, for example. But, if you require proof that "old skifflers never die, they just keep on getting better" -- it's a hard set to ignore. ~ Dave Thompson