Fraggle CD collection arrives October 30

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Sounds great Bob! Could you shed some light on the liner notes and sheet music included?

Sure, the liner notes have an interview with Larry Mirkin and Phil Balsam about writing the songs for FR. It's really short, though, and not too in-depth but interesting enough. There wasn't any sheet music, but there are song lyrics. And that's pretty much it.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Don't hold back on us. What are the artwork and linear notes inside like? Do you get the original artwork that appeared on the vinyl versions in there somewhere? How about the "remastered" sound quality?

The original covers do not come with their albums or are found anywhere on the box. There is some artwork, but it's the same stuff that came with season 3. There's some great pictures from behind-the-scenes with Jim around the main 5 Fraggles, Jim performing Cantus, Richard, Jerry and Steve rehersing a song and a picture of JIm and Mike Petersen (whoever he is). The sound quality was amazing, I wouldn't be able to tell they were off LP's, it was that good.

 

[Fluffinella]

I don't understand why a lot of the music from Fraggle Rock (and The Muppet Show too to be honest) has never been released commercially on records. Only a select few tracks seem to get released on a handful of LPs. Surely there are backups of the original tracks on master tapes somewhere? Sesame Street was very different. I don't think ANY song that was used in SS has been left unreleased, or at least not the stuff from the 60s to 90s. Sure, getting a sparkling remastered CD of stuff we only had on vinyl originally is great but I would love to get some rare and unreleased stuff on CD. They could really jack up the price on those kinda CDs and I'd still buy 'em!

I had a very brief but pleasant conversation with Craig Shemin this summer about Muppet music. We discussed the exciting release of this album, and he told me that while more albums could theoretically be done for Fraggle Rock - and he hopes they will, since Henson has the master recordings - unfortunately they don’t have similar masters for the songs from The Muppet Show.

I presume they have the tracks for the songs that were released on vinyl back then, but that is likely all that exists now.

 

[cabbageheat]

Got it

Mine came today, and I was surprised how quickly it arrived.

Its pretty straightforward release, no fanfare, and the box art/design mimicks the DVD sets, so they appear to be an entire "family".

A little disappointing that there are several repeats of songs, per album, but then I forgot this is nothing more then a reproduction of albums produced two decades ago. Its too bad in a way, there are a lot of great songs in the 1st season alone that aren't here. Sort of a bizarre release in some ways (even for back then).

But, you can't go wrong either way, its great music, from talented song writers. Here's to hoping that releases down the road will contain less repeats and more variety.

p.s.

One other thing, when porting it to my Ipod, only one album had any track listings/album title to port. The other albums are void of any kind of track labels/names or anything else. kind of lazy if you ask me, it would have been nice for the cd's to port over with the appropriate title/track listings. Your just stuck creating 2 new playlists and guessing song titles. Nothing major, but for me, it just seemed a tad lazy.

 

[frogboy4]

Gots Mine!

Well, I found one shelved at Virgin Megastore yesterday afternoon so I snatched it up! The Amazon one was going to take until next week (due to my later order thinking it would be easily found in stores). So, the other copy will be a gift to my niece and nephews! I'm certain the songs will be a welcome relief for my sister and brother-in-law on car trips etc. There's only so much Dora etc a person can stand!

My partner transferred the tracks to his i-tunes and had to manually type in the track information for the first and third CDs. I mocked up some art for him as well. The cover art for the collection he found online was lower res and irregularly shaped for his taste. He's one of those glossy high-res technophiles (and of course a blu-ray supporter too, can't leave that out).

I do wonder if a 3 CD volume two will ever surface? I am very pleased with this one!

 

[Mistersuperstar]

Thanks for all the info. Can't wait to get mine now. I wonder how much Fraggle music still exists on the original tapes from when they decided to compile the original 80s LPs? It seems a real pity that the same doesn't exist for The Muppet Show. Maybe one day some of the old master tapes will come to light from Jim Henson's own collection.

 

[ButchCat]

The original covers do not come with their albums or are found anywhere on the box. There is some artwork, but it's the same stuff that came with season 3. There's some great pictures from behind-the-scenes with Jim around the main 5 Fraggles, Jim performing Cantus, Richard, Jerry and Steve rehersing a song and a picture of JIm and Mike Petersen (whoever he is). The sound quality was amazing, I wouldn't be able to tell they were off LP's, it was that good.

Hi guys,

I figured that I'd better answer this letter. The picture you see of Jim performing with Cantus Minstel has me in that picture performing the female Minstrel Brio Fraggle and Steve Whitmire is on the other side of that picture. The question that I feel I must answer is regarding the picture with Jim and Mike Petersen. Like me Mike Petersen was (mainly) a background performer and like me he got to do lead roles every now and then. For example where I did the Storyteller Fraggle Mike played Pedley in an episode called "A Brush With Jealousy". He played the Bailiff in "The Trial Of Cotterpin Doozer". plus a couple more characters in some other episodes. If you read closely in the booklet you'll find that Mike Petersen helped out with the article and interview with Larry Mirkin and Phil Balsam.

Enjoy the CD set gang and take care,

Terry Angus

 

[CensoredAlso]

Thanks for all the info, Terry! I just ordered it, lol, so can't wait to see the photos. And I remember the Bailiff in that episode, very cool.

 

[wembleyfraggle]

Why is it stores don't carry this? You can order it from CD stores, but its not on the shelves? If I would have known that I would have ordered online. The same happened with The Dark Crystal!

 

[SillyRed]

The CD Quality is amazing! I loved hearing "Friendship Song" and "Workin'" and other songs on the CD set! I'm glad I got it! No more neddle Pops when I listen to those songs! I have the Original FR LP I bought at a thrift store.