Customer Reviews

Here Comes the Big Red Car

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Loses a star for two bad remakes and one annoying new song--possibly their worst ever--but the other new song is great, and the core material is classic Wiggles, which earns them a solid four stars.

First, the only difference between most of the songs found on this CD and on DANCE PARTY is that they have been remastered (NOT rerecorded). They are EXACTLY the same songs, exceptions noted, just better sound quality. Probably not worth the buy for this reason alone, as the quality wasn't awful to begin with. But it is a noticable boost in volume, at least on my copy.

One of the exceptions to the no re-recording rule is the one song that was performed by Captain Feathersword; DANCE PARTY was recorded prior to Paul Paddick joining the cast as the friendly pirate, so the vocals were performed by the man who then filled the pirate pants: Anthony Field.

Personally, although I adore Paul Paddick, I find the original version of "Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo" far superior. Not through any fault of the Good Captain; the new arrangements and heavy-handed background vocals are overwhelming and take away from the charm of the original. Still a fun song, though.

EDIT: My bad--my original review did not note that "Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist)" is also a remake; it's not a recent remake, as far as I can tell; it's the same version they've been using on the TV shows for a few years now.

**These are the only songs from the original CD to have been re-recorded.**

As for additional songs found on this CD compared to the original:

A remake of "Our Boat Is Rocking On the Sea":
The original "Our Boat Is Rocking on the Sea", sung primarily by Greg Page et al, is light years better than the seemingly-truncated (though it clocks in at 5 seconds longer), Captain-helmed version--with its inferior arrangement and slowed-down tempo--found on this CD. This song wasn't on the DANCE PARTY CD to begin with, but was on the North American release of YUMMY YUMMY (and was, I believe, performed by Paul Paddick in that version as well). The new version does reflect the female accompaniment in the original found on the DANCE PARTY video (but primarily performed by Anthony Field--and that version, as far as I know, does not appear on any CD). Still, the original YUMMY YUMMY version kicks, while this new one just kinda cruises. They took the punch out of it in the remake. Definitely refer to YUMMY YUMMY for the best version of this song.

Two brand-new songs:
The two new songs are hit and miss. "I Want to Wear The Jacket" is almost hilariously bad, but "Sorry Again" is cute and catchy. Both are performed by Captain Feathersword.

Otherwise, it's the same CD, with the song order rearranged, and a couple of very short spoken word pieces ("Bouncing Ball" and "My Holiday At the Beach") removed. Not worth the price for one good new song if you already have DANCE PARTY; buy the new song(s) online if your child insists you must and reburn your DANCE PARTY with it/them added.

Yet. If you don't have DANCE PARTY, this is still a fantastic CD, and well worth the price.

Song listing sum up (all tracks remastered, reordered on CD):

Big Red Car (same)
Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist) (rerecorded version)
Wags The Dog (same)
Five Little Joeys (same)
Di Dicki Do Dum (same)
Brown Girl In The Ring (same)
Sorry Again [new track]
Introduction (I'm A Cow) (same)
I'm A Cow (same)
Do The Flap (same)
Pufferbillies (same)
Joanie Works With One Hammer (same)
I Want To Wear The Jacket [new track]
Introduction (Hat On My Head) (same)
Hat On My Head (same)
The Four Presents (same)
Introduction (Georgia's Song) (same)
Georgia's Song (same)
I Am A Dancer (same)
Our Boat Is Rocking On The Sea [rerecorded version, originally released on YUMMY YUMMY]
Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo [rerecorded version]
Dorothy's Dance Party (same)
Henry's Dance (same)
Sanctissima (same)
Here We Go Dorothy (same)
My New Shoes (same)

As for the Wiggles being crass and greedy, I don't think that is the case at all. They are simply repackaging and updating their catalogue (done all the time in the entrtainment biz) for a new generation of fans to coincide with their fifteenth anniversary. They did something similar with some of their other work around their ten-year mark, if I'm not mistaken. If you've seen the original DANCE PARTY video, you can see why they felt the need to release a new video (and accompanying CD); saying the production values are nonexistent would be an overstatement. It's almost charmingly low-quality (we call it old-old-school); heck, the big red car was made out of cardboard and Anthony was still sporting a green shirt, often inexplicably a polo shirt. WAKE UP JEFF! was similarly re-released as WIGGLE AROUND THE CLOCK recently, with the same type of updates, yet without the accompanying CD (not yet, anyway). If I were them, I'd re-release them, too.

Great investment, we play it in the car on the way to or from the babysitters when we are having a cranky day and it seems to entertain her. We bought two copies one for each car.

This is a remake of Dance Party but is not exactly the same. Better technology and backup singers give this album a slightly different sound and makes this one better. I have both "The Big Red Car" and "Here Comes the Big Red Car" and love both of them, but would recommend this one because of its higher quality sound.

Our son is fairly young..about 21 months so we have only just started the "Wiggle" wave....our son enjoys this CD.

My daughter loves the Wiggles and I would so much rather her listen to a cd than watch TV, and this cd does the trick! It kept her just as happy as the television and is easy listening for adults (who don't care for typical children's music).

We love this CD, although we do own 'Dance Party', this CD is great because the songs are remixed and sound better. We also like the new songs that are included and the animation. 'I wanna wear that jacket' is not as bad as the first reviewer said it was. In fact, that's why we bought the CD to begin with! In summary, I'm glad they remade 'dance party', I'd have to say that we like both CD's equally.

We love the Wiggles in our house. This is the best CD we own of theirs. Great variety of songs. My husband and I even sing along to their catchy tunes. My 17-month-old and four-year-old just adore this CD. I highly recommend this one.

We own several of The Wiggles CDs--this one is our least favorite and as such, we don't play it much. There are a couple of really bad songs (i.e. "I'm a Cow") which are so hard to hear I have to skip past them...consider a different one by The Wiggles.

My 23 month old daughter LOVES the Wiggles. If you have The Big Red Car DVD like my daughter does, this CD is a great comliment to it! The songs are very catchy and upbeat. If your child likes The Wiggles, loves to sing and or dance, this is the perfect CD for you! I recommend it!

Apparently, as the Wiggles become more famous, they are also becoming greedy and more crass. A glance at the titles reveals that almost all of these songs come from the album, "Dance Party", (called "Big Red Car" in Australia) which has already been released on CD and was one of the Wiggles' first albums.



Maybe there are 3 or 4 new songs at most. The original album is pretty good as far as the Wiggles go, so if you don't have "Dance Party", it's not a bad choice. But chances are you and your kids have heard most of these songs before, and already own them, too.