Customer Reviews

The Beau Hunks Play the Original Little Rascals Music: 50 Roy Shield Themes from the Hal Roach Talkies

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Can a CD achieve more than perfection? The Beau Hunks clearly have in their absolutely incredible re-recreation of Roy Sheild's famous Little Rascals music, used throughout the original run by the Hal Roach Studios. There is NO BETTER CD than this. Working from original and yellowing sheets, or the original films, these folks went back and note by note reconstructed these themes. They used period instruments, period mikes and perfectly revived virtually each and every one of the themes you hear in the background on the Little Rascals shorts. The only difference? There isn't the age-caused static and scratchiness you hear on the films. I always politely differ when folks call these kinds of tapes and CDs "nostalgia." No, this is a collection of highly-melodic comedic and dramatic music -- done in the exact tempo, with the exact notes and the exact sound as the original (minus the scratchiness, of course!). The original music in these shorts brimmed with a sense of joy and humor. Usually re-created music lacks the original joy. These tracks don't. Every note has pizazz. I see that this is often out of stock. My STRONG advice to you if you want this is: get it when it's in stock, get a used copy but GET IT since as we move into the 21st century it may be unavailable. It was unavailable for many years, except for other not-quite accurate occasiona attempts at recreations. All the bouncy themes, action themes, and suspense themes are here. And if you are indeed a Little Rascals buff you will be immediately sucked in by the nostalgia since you'll associate a theme with a certain short that you may have seen when you were a kid. This is as perfect a CD of this kind of music as you will EVER find. They caught the mood, pace and the sound of the originals. FINAL THOUGHT: I sometimes sell my older CDs or books....but I'll never part with my Beau Hunks Little Rascals Music CD. Ever.

This CD is not just a mere "one band's take" on the Little Rascals theme songs we remember and love; The Beau Hunks manage to capture the essence of these tunes to perfection!

The Hunks start the album off just right with "Good Old Days" (the opening theme to all the early Little Rascals talkies; until this CD, it was a nameless tune to me!). These are all short tunes, one as short as 11 seconds (more of a sound effect than a tune), and most seeming to average the range of one minute. If you're a fan of The Little Rascals, you will no doubt have specific visual Black & White prankster scenes from the flicks playing through your head upon hearing these background tunes. I even recognized some tunes from other Hal Roach productions I enjoyed years ago ("On To the Show" was a Rascals tune, but I remember it better from a Laurel & Hardy short).

While the fast-paced tunes are playful, there are several moody tunes that capture that sweetness from the Rascal shorts. I totally pictured a half-asleep Jackie Cooper muttering his love and devotion for Miss Crabtree when I hear "The One I Love Best," and "The Dog Song" is a heartstring-tugger, bringing hep recollections of every episode that featured one of the Rascals trying to protect their mutt from evil dog catchers!

This CD comes with a slick 15 page booklet that gives a lengthy bio of composer LeRoy Shield and his career. If there are any R. Crumb fans out there, there is a small sketch of Shield by the underground cartoon legend himself. Also lots of Little Rascals pics and a little background behind many of the melodies.

If you ever get nostalgic for Hal Roach & His Little Rascals, this CD is essential for your collection.

Buy this one before it is out of stock! Purchased it for $50 & worth every penny! Compliments ON WITH THE SHOW with new tunes in each, so you will not get a same tune in neither,so many sound bites they could have done a 3rd CD! Beau Hunks have done another flawless job! MUST BUY! Will create fond memories of those wonderful innocent times. Brian Wilson of the BEACH BOYS loved this CD!!!Plus, the booklet designating where the tunes originated & history of Leroy Shields plus pics of those films!! Worth the price!!

Dear lovers of the music of "The Beau Hunks",

I was very surprised to find this CD being sold for such an outrageous price. Please note this:
The music on this CD originally appeared on two CD's, recorded in the Netherlands in 1992/1993. This compilation was manufactured in 1994 by an American label for the American market, under the name 'play the original "Little Rascals" music'. Sadly, this company choose to discontinue this item. (Look at "On To The Show" to find out what happened to our third CD...)
However, the original two CD's, called "The Beau Hunks play the original Laurel & Hardy music", are still readily available on the Dutch Basta label, nr. 3099 026. On this CD, you will hear also music by 'the other L & H composer', T. Marvin Hatley.
So, if you're wise...

Peter Stöve,
arranger/conductor of "The Beau Hunks".

This CD is the kind of thing you dream about! I love 'The Little Rascals' and the music was always memorable. Usually I collect original recordings only, but this is actually better than having the original recordings. The Beau Hunks have done a very special and incredible tribute to the Rascal's music. By using period instruments and microphones this band has painstakingly put together perfect reproductions of the original songs minus crackles,pops and production standards from the 1920's and 30's! It's nothing short of amazing and the CD is loaded to boot! I'm glad I bought this when it was in print. There was a second disc release called 'On With The Show' Which includes another 50 tracks of the remaining material. This is a fantastic disc!

Never thought I could ever find a collection like this. Buy this one over the later (1995) released "Beau Hunks play more Little Rascals hits"....but get both if possible. 2nd CD has dupicates from 1st CD...but also has quite a few little known tunes than the first.

First heard this CD in 1997 when visiting Disney World. It was playing in one of their gift shops...and had to ask the cashier to show me the cover to find out who it was.

Amazing job by these musicians....but the credit all goes to Leroy Shields...the original composer of these tunes.

You will definately enjoy this collection of songs.

The Beau Hunks put a remarkable amount of work into this album and it shows. Their work is a note-for-note reproduction of how these tunes sounded in the original films. Little Rascals fans everywhere should be grateful. Anyone who grew up watching the Rascals on TV will thoroughly enjoy this CD.

This is one terrific album for anyone who likes movie music, old comedies, or just tuneful tunes from a long-ago time. You can almost smell the popcorn. Why anyone would go to all this work to recreate these songs is completely beyond me, but I'm delighted they did.

As Leonard Maltin puts it on the cover, "A real treat to listen to..." I heartily agree! This music is played exactly as heard for the background music for The Little Rascals, and, for that matter, all Hal Roach comedies. When I hear this music, it makes me think of Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, and the others and thier actions at the time this music was playing. Incidentally, this wonderful music was also played in the background for Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chase, and The Boyfriends, which are all Hal Roach shorts.

This music is a must for all Rascals fans, as well as Laurel and Hardy fans and the others mentioned above. Even if you have never seen one of these great Hal Roach shorts (and if you haven't, you are missing out on some great stuff!!) just buy this CD for the music! Even if you can't relate to it as the fans do, it is still definitely "a real treat to listen to..."!

I'm a stickler for accuracy with music. If I hear a "remake" of a classic tune which is attempting to sound like the original, I cringe.

Not so with this CD. These guys have worked long and hard recreating the sounds of those classic "Our Gang" comedy shorts, and with outstanding results. Using period instruments, they've perfectly emulated the sounds of that era, restored the scores and (with very few exceptions)performed them flawlessly. I can't give higher than 5 stars for this, only because that's as high as this rating system goes. It's the best there is. Close your eyes, and you might actually see Spanky, Darla and Alfalfa running away from the "Yum-Yum Eat-em-up" Giant, or see images of the little puppies running towards ringing bells. Outstanding!!