Your Thoughts: Muppets' Oz CD

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

It is Johnny Fiama, not Dr. Teeth that you are hearing. The background voices are Miss Piggy's henchmen.

Ok, thx Phil. I kinda wonderd that!

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

conclusion #1 (wizard of oz)-If the movie is as bad as this soundtrack they should just retire them and only focus on the older stuff ,I hope the soundtrack doesn't reflect the quality of the movie........
conclusion#2 (best of..)This REALLY isn't a "best of...c.d. because it doesn't have all the best stuff on here,it repeats alot of the songs from the rhino c.d. I wish they could have had songs NOT on the rhino release like "never before" and "saying goodbye"


score-I give this release a c-,only because of the older stuff,if it didn't have the older stuff I would give it an F....

Yeah but.... we GOTTA remeber that this is Disneys FIRST Muppet cd ever, so its there turn to re-release the songs under there banner!

 

[GelflingWaldo]

My review:

Disney released their first Muppet CD, "The Best of The Muppets Featuring The Muppet Wizard of Oz ", through Walt Disney Records yester. The CD features 15 songs (6 of which are from the upcoming tele-film "The Muppet Wizard of Oz"). Like many Muppet fans, I am disappointed that eight out of the nine “classics” also appeared on a 2002 CD compilation by Rhino Entertainment, “The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem and More”. I think the CD should be called "The Muppet's Most Marketable Songs + The Muppets Wizard of Oz". "The Best of" part seems like a filler to justify a release the Wizard of Oz songs, and "The Best of" songs are not the top 9 songs the Muppets have done (some are, some aren't, and several "great" songs are missing). But it is still a nice collection of songs. If you don't own a Muppet CD, you should love this release.

I'll take the CD track by track, and let you know what I like and don't like about the CD.

Track 1: "Kansas" by Ashanti
The first track on the CD is a solo by Ashanti, who (in case you don't know) is not a Muppet. I'm not an Ashanti or R&B music enthusiast, but I don't hate this track (or the other Ashanti song on the album). There is something about it that I like, I wish there were some more Muppets in the song, but it's not bad.

Track 2: "When I’m With You" by Ashanti & Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Pepe
This catching little number is the only song on the album to feature Gonzo, Fozzie, and Pepe. Now I understand Pepe has not had many hits songs, but Gonzo and Fozzie (two of the top four characters) are forgotten about in the rest of the CD - which is a little sad. The song is cute, catching, and full of Muppety fun.

Track 3: "The Witch Is in the House" by Miss Piggy & the Electric Mayhem
This song is my favorite new song from the "Oz" portion of the CD. It is full of the Piggy we all know and love. Plus it has the cool and funky sound of the Electric Mayhem backing her up. Sadly the song does not feature the Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem doing any vocal work, but Piggy is backed up by her henchmen.

Track 4: "Calling All Munchkins" by The Munchkin Tap-your-knuckle Choir
This is a short song. Not just because it is sung by rats, but because it is around 15 seconds long. The song is full of fun, but I wish it was longer. It is probably my second favorite "Oz" song, despite its short length.

Track 5: "Good Life" by Ashanti
Another Ashanti solo song. My comments pretty much mirror those of the first Ashanti song (Kansas).

Track 6: "Nap Time" by The Electric Mayhem
This song is an instrumental. Despite being by "The Electric Mayhem" you don't hear Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Janice, Animal, or Zoot doing any vocal work on the track. I really miss the Electric Mayhem songs, but yet again their voices are silent. But the track is a great jam and is full of that classic Electric Mayhem funk we all came to love. I just wish that the replacement puppeteers for Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Janice got a chance to do some vocal work sometimes.

Track 7: "The Muppet Show Theme" by Featuring the Muppets
We've all heard this song 1,000 times before on almost ever Muppet record released. The Muppet Show theme is on this release is different from the one found on the recent CD releases - this version features the original opening version which has a joke by Fozzie Bear.

Track 8: "Mahna Mahna" by Mahna Mahna & the Two Snowths
We all know it, we all love it, and we all own 1,000 copies of it already.

Track 9: " (It’s Not Easy) Bein’ Green" by Kermit
We all know and love this song (or at least I do). The 25th Anniversary CD by Rhino chopped of the opening chords of "Bein' Green" for some unknown reason, which angered me. It was a delight to hear that the opening was intact here. Even though I own a lot of these songs on “The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem and More”, having the song intact was enough to justify buying the CD.

Track 10: "Rainbow Connection" by Kermit
Another classic song (the only song not from " Oz" or The Muppet Show). We've heard it a million times and can recite every word. I love it, but I already own it. Still a classic and a hit.

Track 11: "Lady of Spain" by Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphone
This skit was funny on the Muppet Show, but on a record you lose the charm of the bit (especially if you've never seen the skit performed). I put up with it on the Muppet Show 25th Anniversary CD; but I don't think it should be classified in "The Best of The Muppets". Also Kermit's introduction is cut, making the bit even more awkward to those who have not seen it before.

Track 12: "Halfway Down the Stairs" by Robin
I love this song. I was upset it was not on any other CD before. I was excited it was on this CD. It is the only " classic song" on this CD that is not also on Rhino's Muppet Show 25th Anniversary CD. Oh did I mention I love this song?

Track 13: "What Now My Love?" by Miss Piggy
The Kermit and Piggy intro to "What now my love" is cut a bit on this CD (when compared to past releases). I was never a fan of this song, and think that another unreleased song would be nice in its place.

Track 14: "Tenderly" by The Electric Mayhem
Another song that I think could have been replaced with another better (or at least unreleased) classic, but since it is the Electric Mayhem and they are actually singing I'll let it slide.

Track 15: "Happy Feet" by Kermit and the Frog Chorus
It was great on the Muppet Show, it was great on the last CD, but I think it's a little over rated. It was great on television, I'm just not sure if a CD can do it justice.

Over all I give the CD a "B+". I like the new "Oz" songs; I'm impressed that Disney released the songs from a TV-movie on CD (especially before it even airs).

I like how they included some "classic" tracks, but wish they had dug into the archives more. I would have enjoyed some unreleased (or under released) stuff like "Memory Lane" by Gonzo; "Mr. Bassman" by Floyd and Scooter; "Pennsylvania 6-5000" by Bobby Benson's Baby Band; "Saying Goodbye" from The Great Muppet Caper; or even the original version of "I'm Going to Go Back there Someday" by Gonzo.

The "Oz" songs are not the 6 greatest songs in Muppet history, but they aren’t bad. I'm glad to see original music coming back into the Muppet productions ("Muppets from Space" lacked new songs, and "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" had only 1 or 2 "new songs"). I like this CD (maybe not as much as the Rhino 25 Anniversary CD), and I'm glad Disney cared enough to release it. I suggest that you consider picking up a copy.

 

[pppapazo]

I haven't heard the soundtrack, but I've seen the movie and I've got a couple of comments based on that.

#1) Given that Dorothy really does need a song at the beginning and that the Muppets don't come in until later, I think that Kansas is a particularly interesting way to start the movie, at least visually.

#2) The Munchkin song isn't supposed to be a full-fledged song and ordinarily wouldn't show up on a soundtrack. I'm happy that the folks producing this CD went out of their way to include it.

#3) The Electric Mayhem doesn't sing in either song, although Dr. Teeth and Animal each have one line in Naptime. It appears that this part may have been cut from the CD, though.

 

[TogetherAgain]

If you don't own a Muppet CD, you should love this release.

"Saying Goodbye" from The Great Muppet Caper;

I'm glad to see original music coming back into the Muppet productions

*sorry I butchered the post for quoting purposes, I just left the stuff I'm commenting on*

Seeing as until this afternoon, I did not own ANY muppet music, I definately love this release.

I'm assuming you mean "Saying Goodbye" from the Muppets take Manhattan...

And I agree 100% that it's great to have original muppet music. My personal opinion is "what are the muppets without music?" so ... yeah I'm rambling.

And one other thing I meant to comment on... track 5, "Good Life". I'm obsessive... everybody's been saying its Ashanti, solo, but kermit, gonzo, fozzie, and miss piggy have one line each. and if you listen close, at one point you hear animal say "good life! good life!"

So to summarize this post: I'm nit-picking like crazy, I'm sorry, and I love the cd. I'll be quiet now.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I'm assuming you mean "Saying Goodbye" from the Muppets take Manhattan...

Yes that is what I ment, I don't know what I was thinking. (I must be loosing my mind)

 

[dwayne1115]

Man i hope alot of people buy this Cd even though you may have a lot of the old songs still go ahead and buy the Cd to support the muppets.

 

[T-Bird Chick]

I haven't heard the soundtrack, but I've seen the movie and I've got a couple of comments based on that.

#1) Given that Dorothy really does need a song at the beginning and that the Muppets don't come in until later, I think that Kansas is a particularly interesting way to start the movie, at least visually.

#2) The Munchkin song isn't supposed to be a full-fledged song and ordinarily wouldn't show up on a soundtrack. I'm happy that the folks producing this CD went out of their way to include it.

#3) The Electric Mayhem doesn't sing in either song, although Dr. Teeth and Animal each have one line in Naptime. It appears that this part may have been cut from the CD, though.

if you've seen the movie then does johnny and piggy have somthing going on cause i have the soundtrack and i was listening to "The Witch Is In The House" and it sorta sounded like they do. Is it true?

 

[No1MuppetFan]

I read on Amazon.com and it said that this is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Does anyone know what the multimedia computer files are?

 

[MWoO]

OH! If it has computer multimedia files that means it could have video files or music videos on it! That's a reason for me to buy the sound track if I find it at Target.

In the movie Jonny is kind of Wicked Witch Piggys boy friend. We never see Piggy return his love though. It might be one of those things where he thinks he is her love while she has no interest in him. Oh, and if you notce Piggy's bath or table, there is a frog picture frame. I guess Piggy always has a thing for frogs.