Arthur And Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD [Live]

Arthur (Related Recordings), Ziggy Marley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 20, 1998)
• Original Release Date: October 20, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B00000DAH0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,768 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Theme Song

2. Library Card

3. Crazy Bus (No Way!)

4. Arthur vs. The Piano

5. The UFO Song

6. Meek for a Week

7. Jekyll and Hyde

8. My Dog Pal

9. Matalij Ja Mustii (The Binky Song)

10. Crazy Bus (I Said No, D.W.!)

11. My Night Light

12. Go to Sleep

13. Thinking Tune

14. Lucky Pencil

15. Homework

16. Poetry Club: Francine's Poem/Buster's Poem/Jimmy in the City

17. The Ballad of Buster Baxter

18. Leftovers Goulash

19. Crazy Bus (What's This Doing Here?)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Arthur the Aardvark, of author Marc Brown's creation and of the Emmy Award-winning cartoon series, descends into his basement to make a home recording with the aid of his best buddies: bossy Francine, precocious D.W., and other favorites from the program. Many songs are instantly recognizable from the show, including the popular reggae-inflected theme song, performed by Ziggy Marley. Also on hand are songs from the 1998-1999 season, such as Art Garfunkel's "The Ballad of Baxter Bunny." Arthur and his friends reinforce positive messages: respect for self and others, creativity, open-mindedness, and a deep-rooted sense of fun. Moreover, little ears are exposed to a wide variety of rockin' music styles, from rap to a cappella doo-wop, glam rock to folk, and the wonky, kiddie indie rock of D.W.'s favorite song, "Crazy Bus." --Paige La Grone

From Parents' Choice®

Fans of the popular children's TV show will enjoy these musical slices of fictional life based on the adventures and personality quirks of Arthur the kid aardvark, D.W., Buster, Francine, Binky, and the gang. Includes the theme song sung by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, and Art Garfunkel singing "Ballad of Buster Baxter." A 1999 Parents' Choice® Recommendation. (Lynne Heffley, Parents' Choice®)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking for the Crazy Bus Song?, December 14, 2006

By 

Mark Alvarado "TV traveler" (Fresno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arthur And Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (Audio CD)

For those of you who watch the Arthur TV series on PBS, I'm sure you have heard the "Crazy Bus" song in some of the episodes. Sometimes you might think, hmm, does the song "Crazy Bus" really, really exist? I had that kind of thought when I first discovered this CD two years ago. Before I even bought it, I thought I was going to like it right off the bat. And after listening to the audio samples off the Internet, I knew I was going to like it then. So I bought it, and I loved it - every single track! I even like the "Crazy Bus" song, which is D.W.'s favorite song. But Arthur says that song is "annoying," according to a letter written by him you will find on the back cover of the album. If you're wanting to find "Crazy Bus," this is the CD you're looking for!

This CD contains songs from the PBS hit animated Arthur series, and they are sung by the actual Arthur characters. Most of the songs were baced on episodes from the first 4 seasons of the program. That's right, you'll get to hear Arthur (voiced by Michael Yarmush), Buster, Francine, Binky, the Brain, Mr. Ratburn, and D.W. sing their songs on this fun CD. In the liner notes that come with the CD, not only can you sing along with the songs, you get to see the characters comment on some of the songs. You'll see the characters comment with speech bubbles for the songs. Also, near the back of the liner notes, you'll find a list of the voiceovers who provided the characters' voices for the show at the time the CD was produced. And further more, you'll hear familiar singers like Ziggy Marley and Art Garfunkel.

Theme Song: Arthur says it's his favorite song. Sung by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.

Library Card: This song is heard in the episode, "Arthur's Almost Live, Not Real, Music Festival." You hear a lot of the Arthur characters in this song.

Crazy Bus (No Way!): D.W. begins to play her favorite song, but Arthur says it's not going to be played on the CD.
It's the second shortest track.

Arthur VS. The Piano: As I heard this song, I imagined Arthur himself practicing the piano. The song had a little bit of classical bits like Beethoven. My favorite lyric was "I'm sorry, Mr. Bach." Near the end, Arthur thought he hit a wrong note, but he liked the sound and begins to get down while playing the finale.

The UFO Song: Those who watch the Arthur show know that Buster is crazy over aliens, outer space, and UFO's. I liked the harmonica music in that song.

Meek For A Week: Francine sings about the time when Muffy made a bet with her that she couldn't be nice for an entire week. Based on the episode of the same name.

Jekyll And Hyde: Another song from the "... Music Festival" episode, the Brain sings about a time when he read a book which made him dream he became that character. The electric guitar music heard in the song really revs it up!

My Dog Pal: This is really a series of short songs on one track. It begins with Arthur singing about his dog, Pal. Then D.W. says that it's boring and she tells Arthur to sing something else. And then Buster, Brain, and Francine make him change the song again and again. It all leads back to Arthur's first song - about Pal. It's a musical chain reaction!
Based on the book and TV episode, "Arthur Writes a Story."
This is the longest track on the CD.

Matalij Ja Mustii (The Binky Song): There are no lyrics for this song in the liner notes because it's sung in Finnish. Heard in the episodes, "Binky Rules" and "Meet Binky." The actual artist who sang the song is from Finland, Varrtina. This is one of my favorites off this CD. Even though I don't understand the song, I liked the melody and the music.

Crazy Bus (I Said No, D.W.!): Once again, D.W. wants to play her favorite song. Arthur stops her again. This is the shortest track of all - it lasted for about 12 seconds.

My Night Light: Binky sings about how his night light keeps him from having nightmares at night. I liked the lyric "I love my night light more than I love ice cream." I thought it was funny and cute at the same time, and it's my favorite lyric. Based on the Arthur episode, "Night Fright."

Go To Sleep: In this song, D.W. tries to put her baby sister Kate to sleep. She doesn't sing her a lullaby, she tries putting her to sleep with Rock and Roll music! Before I even heard the whole song - I heard the audio samples of course - I had a feeling that her mom would tell her to be quiet when the song was over. I was right on the dot! Try putting a baby to bed with THAT music.

Thinking Tune: There was no singing at all, in fact, there wasn't even any music. There was just the sound of a diggery-do, which almost makes you want to meditate. Brain says he likes to think, and I agree. No wonder they call him THE BRAIN!

Lucky Pencil: Arthur sings about a time when he found a pencil that gives him good luck. He soon finds he doesn't need such a charm like a pencil for luck, you just have to believe in yourself. I once had that kind of experience. The song is based on the TV episode, "Arthur's Lucky Pencil."

Homework: Mr. Ratburn, the teacher, loves to sing about his favorite subject, HOMEWORK! This is another song from the "... Music Festival" episode. Compared to the song heard in the episode, it's slightly longer on the CD.

Poetry Club: As heard in the episode, "I'm a Poet," we hear Francine, Buster, and Arthur recite poems that they wrote themselves. Again D.W. pops up to try to get a little bit of for "Crazy Bus" song on the album.

The Ballad Of Buster Baxter: Sung by Art Garfunkel of Simon and Garfunkel, it tells the story of when Buster went on a trip around the world with his dad. Based on the episode of the same name.

Leftovers Goulash: Sung to the tune of the Carmon opera and other classical melody bits, Arthur sings about his dad who is a cook. Unlike other cooks, Arthur and D.W.'s dad makes pretty disgusting concoctions for dinner. This is yet another song from the "... Music Festival" episode.

Crazy Bus (What's This Doing Here?): Finally, we get to hear the entire "Crazy Bus" song. I didn't mind it at all when I heard the whole thing for the first time. But when the song was over, Arthur wanted to call on Mom for D.W. playing that song. Unfortunately, the CD was over!

I loved the whole, entire CD! I could listen to it again and again and I'd never tire of it. It's one of my top 5 favorite albums I've collected over the years. Arthur and Friends is a recommendation to those who have read the Arthur books and watched the television series. I give the whole album - all the tracks - an overall perfect 10!

Marc Brown, YOU RULE!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything Very Well Done, May 6, 2001

By 

George Buttner "Agent0042" (Dayton, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arthur And Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (Audio CD)

As something of a regular in the 'Arthur' community as of recent, I recently used this CD as part of a review for one of the television shows. This CD is based in part on an episode from the television show called "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival." Although it's only about a half-hour long, pretty much all of the songs are excellent to listen to again and again, and you even get some music by professional artists, if you like that sort of thing. I really don't have any complaints about this CD, everything was very well done, right down to the liner notes which contain the words for all the songs and some of Marc Brown's artwork.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Frampton Comes Alive" for the under-5 set, October 19, 2004

By 

tcbnyc "tcbnyc" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arthur And Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (Audio CD)

Arthur is definitely one of the better children's shows and most importantly one of the few shows that adults can tolerate as well. The same holds true for this "not live" CD. I'm not really sure what the title means, but the music is very enjoyable & engaging nonetheless. Standout tracks are Ziggy Marley's theme song (the same one you hear on the show) and the epic "Jeckyll & Hyde" which always gets my kids going whether it's at home, in the car or even on the moon. And it teaches them some good lessons and concepts as well.