The Wonder Years (1988-93 Television Series) [SOUNDTRACK]

The Wonder Years (Related Recordings), Various Artists - Soundtracks - Television

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 1989)
• Original Release Date: March 15, 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IOQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,879 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The successful TV series The Wonder Years could be viewed as the ultimate in baby boomer narcissism, a nostalgic generation marvelling at how special it once was (try running that notion by a child of the Depression--or a Gen X'er). Whatever the reasons for its success, the show's musical soundtrack at least tried to reinvent some of its inherently shopworn '60s staples by letting contemporary artists cover them: The Indigo Girls tackling the Youngbloods' "Get Together"; The Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" covered by the son of a late rival, Julian Lennon, "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" given a strange sort of respect by "Was (Not Was)." And for a little modern nostalgia, how about two tracks by (including the saccharine title) by Debbie Gibson? --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Puzzling song selection makes this a CD for WY fans only, September 27, 2003

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As a huge fan of The Wonder Years, I was overjoyed when this soundtrack was released, but unfortunately it barely resembles the type of soundtrack I had envisioned at the time. The whole concept of this particular album is puzzling at best, as only a smattering of these songs were ever used on the show, several of them are inferior recordings by someone other than the original artists, and not one of the songs that really and truly define this wonderful television series are to be found here. You do get the show's theme song, Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' With a Little Help From My Friends, but the album begins to lose focus as early as the second track, an unnecessary cover of Baby I Need Your Loving by Was (Not Was). This pattern continues itself throughout the rest of the album. On the positive side of things, Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound) is a welcome track, as it provided a most memorable opening for the show's second episode; other highlights include CSNY's Teach Your Children, Van Morrison's trademark Brown Eyed Girl, and Carole King's Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

The remaining tracks beg for some sort of explanation. The Escape Club's Twentieth Century Fox not only varies considerably from the other songs collected here, it has nothing to do with The Wonder Years or its era. The Indigo Girls do a good job with Get Together, but why do we have their version instead of the original? Having Julian Lennon perform the Stones' Ruby Tuesday is sheer madness. Then there are the two Debbie Gibson tracks; I for one have always liked Debbie Gibson, and I know that she was a big Wonder Years fan (Danica McKellar actually appeared in one of her music videos), but most people enjoy her rendition of In the Still of the Night less than I do, and even I would prefer to hear the original version of the song. Gibson's second track, Come Home, is actually a song she herself wrote many, many years after the time in which the show was based.

In the end, I can only recommend this soundtrack to devoted fans of The Wonder Years, as a select few of the songs do bring back memories of the show. For the casual fan, there's little point investing in an album that contains so few original versions of classic songs.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars wheres snuffy, June 30, 2003

A Kid's Review

how can they produce a cd of "wonder years" music .. without W.J.Snuffy Walden .... he is clearly responsible for the warm, acoustic melody that underpinned the success of the wonder years...

Scott (aged 8 , Uk)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This CD is not Wonder Years!, June 26, 2004

A Kid's Review

I bought this CD to listen to one of my favorite songs from the show and what did I get nothing. It doesn't even have the songs that were in the show. It's just songs that they just copied from various oldies CD's. There are maybe a few songs that were in the show in there but most of them aren't. It's a good thing I get to hear the score piece in there it's beautiful but the rest of the songs sucks. Don't even waste your money on the other Wonder Years CD's because most of them are the same as this one. Good thing I got my Kazaa to look at the list of songs that were in The Wonder Years so I can make my own instead of buying these crappy CD's.