Customer Reviews

The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, and More! - The 25th Anniversary Collection

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I grew up watching Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. (That may sound like a paradoxical statement to some.) I loved the first few Muppet motion pictures as a kid and now as an adult. I know there are thousands, perhaps millions, just like me. For myself and for them I make the following statement concerning this CD:

We deserved much better.

I know there are some good songs on here. Among them, "It's Not Easy Bein' Green," "Wishing Song," "He'll Make Me Happy," "Can You Picture That," and "Happiness Hotel" along with a few others. Those great classics speak for themselves, so I don't feel the need to elaborate on how good they are. But Scooter's song, "There's a New Sound" is the most redundant song I've ever heard. If I were hearing that song as a 6-year-old child, I still wouldn't like it. There's no variation and no creativity in it.

Creativity has always been a Muppet trademark.

Also, I couldn't believe that they did not include the classic song "Saying Goodbye." I remember this heartfelt song being played on Entertainment Tonight as a tribute the day Jim Henson died. Also missing from THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN soundtrack was the catchy tune on their Broadway show, "Somebody's Getting Married."

The remixing of Gonzo's wonderful song, "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday," was the salt on an open wound. I listened to that and thought, "Of all the songs, why in the world did they have to alter that one?"

Would I recommend this CD (to another Muppet fan)? The answer is yes but only because there are currently no alternatives out there.

Perhaps what would be most pleasing to all the Muppet fans is if the actual motion picture soundtracks were remastered and released. That way, everyone could have the original recordings of their favorite songs as they remembered them.

This rating system won't allow me to give it 2.5 stars, so I'll cut the CD some slack and round it up to 3 stars.

Boy, am I glad I stumbled across this CD on Amazon.com one day. I'm a huge fan of the Muppets, and one of the best things about them is their music. This collection really is a grab bag of some of their best stuff, from classics from the TV show to selections from each Muppet movie.

The stuff from the show, of course, is great -- Kermit's old standby "It's Not Easy Being Green" is in there, as is a comedy routine between Kermit and Fozzie, and both the show's opening and closing numbers.

The selections from the movie are a Muppet fan's dream collection -- "Rainbow Connection" from "The Muppet Movie," "Together Again" from "The Muppets Take Manhattan," "One More Sleep `Till Christmas" from "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

The only weak link on this album is the last song -- a remake of Gonzo's "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday" from "Muppets From Space." I suppose it was inevitable that this song would be included, since the rest of the music from MFS was nothing more than Muppet covers of rock tunes, but this really is a lousy, pseudo-techno version of the song that pales in comparison to the original version Gonzo performed in the first Muppet movie.

Still, that one bad track is a small price to pay for such a good album. The CD also includes a booklet with interesting tidbits about each song and about the Muppets in general. Here's hoping they do a volume two!

I grew up with the Muppets. When I was a wee lad I had daily doses of Sesame Street, weekly doses of "The Muppet Show", when I got older I devoured "The Storyteller", and THE MUPPET MOVIE is still one of my favorite movies of all time. For a fan like me, this album is a must have. It includes songs not only from "The Muppet Show" but at least one tune from all six Muppet movies. However, I wish they would have had something different from MUPPETS IN SPACE than the remake of "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday."

Some of my favorite songs on the album include:

"The Muppet Show Theme"

"Mahna Mahna"

"Wishing Song"

"We Got Us"

"The Rainbow Connection"

"Happiness Hotel"

"One More Sleep 'Til Christmas"

"Love Led Us Here"

The album also comes with a well informed twenty page booklet, filled with all sorts of Muppets trivia. If you love the Muppets, you will love this album.

This wonderful CD has 27 tracks, all containing great memories from the Muppet Show, and the subsequent movies. Fourteen of the tracks are from the show, four from The Muppet Movie (Rainbow Connects, Movin' Right Along and Can You Picture That? - three of my all-time favorites!), three from The Great Muppet Caper, three from The Muppets Take Manhattan, one from The Muppet Christmas Carol, one from Muppet Treasure Island, and one from Muppets From Space.

As you can see, this CD has a lot of great songs, and a lot of great Muppet memories. The paperwork has a bunch of great color pictures, plus the story of Muppet music. This is a great CD, one sure to please the kids and the kids-at-heart (like me)! Buy it!

Such a great CD! Even in 2005! It is fun, upbeat and causes a contageous outbreak of happiness and toe-tapping. REALLY, REALLY great! Highly Recommended.

This is, without a doubt, one of the best compact discs I have ever purchased.

I am a real sucker for nostalgia, and "The Muppet Show" is one of my favorite collections. If I had to make one slight complaint, it would seem that this collection is, mostly, a compilation CD of songs from the various Muppet movies released over the years.

I would, frankly, rather see individual soundtracks brought back into print. Where can one find a clean copy of Rowlf and Kermit singing "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along" nowadays, after all? But perhaps the market wouldn't bear that: soundtracks don't do well when they only appeal to specialized audiences.

That is, however, pretty much my only complaint: I wanted more. That should tell you what high, entertaining quality the Muppets produce: it's a wonderful, non-harmful addiction. Purchase this CD: you very much will not regret it.

Good collection that spans the history of the Muppets, from the first shows through to the last movies. The first 2/3 of this CD (maybe 20-21 songs) are everything the Muppets mean to me: inspired zaniness! However ... the last part of the CD is devoted entirely to the insipid love ballads and "togetherness" songs that populated the later movies <sigh>. 3 stars out of 5, I'd love to give it more but YUCK those last few songs are bad. Why include "I'm Going to go Back There Someday" from "Muppets in Space"??? The original version from "The Muppet Movie" with just vocal and banjo and simple backing music captures the wistful longing feel of the lyric, not the cheezy R&B synthesized backing tracks of the later version. <sigh>

Not much to say really. It's a good collection of Muppet tunes and has some nice liner notes from some of the song writers. I mainly bought this to have a nice recording of " Rainbow Connection " ( Best song ever written by the way ) since this seems to be the only way to get one these days. Would've been nice if it contained the lyrics but I don't think it does. It might though, my brain's a bit fluffy at the moment. <:-D

Oh, and readers, buy some Fraggle Rock stuff!!!!!

Nick " Fraggle " Bondra

I adore the Muppets. I grew up on "The Muppet Show" in the mid to late '70s (as well as the '80s). I still love The Muppets in whatever their latest incarnation is. I was fortunate enough to find a used copy of "The Muppet Show: Music Mayhem & More" in the used cd bins at my favorite record store. The cd has all my favorite songs from "The Muppet Show" as well as from the movies that Jim Henson and co. made through out the past two decades. There were quite a few songs that I almost completely forgot about such as "Wishing Song" sung by the Great Gonzo, a plaintive ballad and "There's a New Sound" featuring nerdy muppet Scooter. Of course it wouldn't be a Muppet compilation without the immortal classic "Bein' Green" and "Rainbow Connection" (from "The Muppet Movie"). Those two songs are timeless without a doubt. They still hold up well twenty years later. As far as monologues goes, my particular favorite is the monolgue between Fozzie Bear and Kermit the frog. That just cracked me up. I also loved the occasional wisecrack from the two guys in the balcony who always puts down the show. I also love the songs from The Muppet movies especially from "The Great Muppet Caper". I love "The First Time It Happens" and "Together Again". All the songs and the occasional monologue on the cd is excellent. Listening to it brings back memories of when I watched "The Muppet Show" on Saturday nights as a child.

Who knows why but the original album and Manh-Manh topped the charts stayed there for months all accross Europe when first released. (Perhaps it has something to do with the Show being made in England after being turned down by all networks in the US.) Any way, this CD includes the origianl album for the first few tracks and then adds musical numbers from the movies. The album tracks are the magic in this CD. Why? Well,you'll know when you hear.