The MUPPETS MOST WANTED Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD Review)

Muppet Most Wanted Official Soundtrack

Muppet Most Wanted Official Soundtrack

Finally, it’s here, today comes the cure you’ve been waiting for, for getting the song “Let it Go” from Disney’ FROZEN out of your head! It’s the motion picture soundtrack for Disney’s MUPPETS MOST WANTED available from Walt Disney Records. The new movie takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine – the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. From one old school die-hard Muppet fan to another, I’ve got to admit, this soundtrack for the film is pretty great. If you’re looking for a score heavy CD, this is NOT it. But what you will find is an eclectic mix of Muppets and Stars from the film belting out some extremely catchy…almost too catchy tunes that will will have you singing about making sequels and dangerous frogs for the next few weeks! Read ahead for my detailed review of the soundtrack as I breakdown each of the track listings below. And check back at the end of the week as I’ll be giving away a new copy of this CD (and other MMW goodies) on FREE STUFF FRIDAY, curious to think what you took away from it. 

 

The MUPPETS MOST WANTED Soundtrack Review

The MUPPETS MOST WANTED Soundtrack Review

 

First off, I normally don’t do soundtrack reviews, but this one, I “felt” I had to do, given my love for the Muppets. Admit-tingly, I was NOT a fan in any sorts of the 2011 “The Muppets” movie with Amy Adams and Jason Segel. In my opinion, it was a human love story with Muppets thrown in and mis-used. It failed to capture the true essence, flavor and fun of what traditionally the Muppets were. I hadn’t put much hope into this latest sequel given my feelings on the prior film, but an advance screening a couple months of go actually threw me for a loop. The movie gave me hope that maybe after almost a decade since Disney acquired the Muppets, that finally they’d gotten it right. That the Muppets, were back! Now the movie isn’t perfect, but it does harken back to a lot of the comedy, one-liners and zany antics that devotee’s of the classic Muppet movies and of The Muppet Show from television that they used to deliver. Muppets Most Wanted is still is a bit human heavy at times, but it seems at least a bit of a balanced compromise was made for this movie. Still, I’m slowly coming to terms that this is now the world I live in, in which potential hit songs from Muppet movies…are NOT sung by Muppets. (shakes head)

So, I got an advanced copy of the soundtrack early last week and I must admit, when not listening to it on my drive into work and on my ride home from the office, the songs continue to resonate in my head. Luckily for me, the tunes are as fun and vigorous of those traditional comedic skits and colorful characters you remember growing up. Even more fun, is after taking the wife and kids to an early screening last week at the Walt Disney Studios, my children walked away from the movie belting out the soon to be classic songs from the new movie. Hearing my 5 1/2 year old singing her rendition of “I’m Number One” in her best evil Russian Muppet is a treat, followed by a close runner up to my 4 year old delivering a harmonious line of “We’re Doing a Sequel”, over and over and over…all weekend long.

Ok, so here’s my assessment of the CD, with songs from the Muppets and including a hodgepodge of well known celebrities and singers including Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Celine Dion, Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Josh Groban and Flight of the Conchords’s Jemaine Clement. The soundtrack includes multiple songs from the major musical numbers in the movie plus new original selections by Oscar Award Winner Bret Mckenzie.

 

MUPPETS MOST WANTED Official Soundtrack – Track Listings, Semi-Sarcastic Reviews and Spoiler Laden Descriptions Ahead!

1. They’ve Ordered a Sequel – This is the spoken intro by Walter, Statler and Waldorf which kicks off the song on the next track

We're Doing a Sequel

We’re Doing a Sequel

 

2. We’re Doing a Sequel –  This recording includes The Muppets with a special cameo by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. Now this is clearly the big show-starting musical number that kicks off the film and it’s done right. It has the feel good positive vibe of big classic Muppet musical numbers in the style of “Hey a Movie” from Muppets Take Manhattan and “Movin’ Right Along” from the original Muppet Movie. It’s fast, quirky, pokes fun at the itself and the studio making it. Tons of dancers, sets, white tuxes with gold accents, character cameos, confetti and an explosive Busby Berkeley type finale that wraps it all up. The CD included some extra moments not seen in the film, when Kermit is struggling to find a 1/2 decent plot for this film. They include suggestions from Rowlf the Dog, Waldorf and Statler and Lew Zealand. Oh did I mention that it’s also banjo intensive? I mean it brings us right back to the sound of the original Muppet Movie with Kermit strumming his banjo in the swamp, doesn’t get much better than that!

TRIVIA: Originally, the film was called “MUPPETS…AGAIN!”, but about a month after filming wrapped, the studio made a marketing decision and changed the name to “MUPPETS MOST WANTED”. What’s evident in the “We’re Doing A Sequel” song is that when this was recorded, the title of the film; “Muppets…Again!” was clearly worked into the musical number, but never ended up being replaced after the name change. The line was still left in and goes a bit like this;

ALL: We’re doing a sequel. It’s more of the same. Let’s give it a name! 

WALTER: How ’bout The Muppets Again?

ALL: It’s The Muppets Again. With the Muppets again! It’s the, Muppets, again!

 

3. My Name First ___ Your Name – This is the spoken intro by Constantine and Ricky Gervais which kicks off the song on the next track

I'm Number One

I’m Number One

 

4. I’m Number One – Performed by Constantine and Ricky Gervais, this is a fun number that has Villain and Sidekick singing about their rivalry to be the #1 greatest thief of all time. While it’s clear that Ricky Gervais’ character of Dominic Badguy (aka “the Lemur) would love both of their names to go down in history as criminal masterminds, Constantine seems to dismiss this notion in a toe-tapping piano infused dance off. What I loved is, that you rarely hear Ricky Gervais singing, so to hear him perform on this track is a real treat. But I think his visual performance of this song was phenomenal. His facial expressions and his quirky dance moves opposite a dancing frog is one not to be missed. Just some clever rhymes and a truly fun performance.

FAVORITE LINE Constantine: “I’m number one, you’re number two. We’re criminals at large, but I’m larger than you! 

 

5. The Casa Grande – This is the spoken intro by Kermit, Tina Fey, Jemaine Clement, Danny Trejo and Ray Liotta which kicks off the song on the next track

 

The Big House

The Big House

 

6. The Big House  – Performed by Tina Fey with Josh Groban this is the song that introduces Kermit to his new home, a Russian Gulag in Siberia! Nadya (aka Tina Fey) runs the prison and sings the praises of the Big House, promoting it like a 5-Star Hotel for inmates. Again, here’s another instance in which you don’t hear Tina Fey very often. Reporting the new on SNL or producing a variety show on 30 Rock never prepared us for the melodic delivery she commands in this song. Not one of my favorites, any maybe that’s because it’s void of any Muppets, which begins stirring up bad memories of the 2011 film. What it does give off is a fun Doo-Wop type of sound that is reminiscent of the “Da-Doo” song from the musical “Little Shop of Horrors”. Kudos to Tina for pulling off the Russian accent though, she did a hell of  job.

FAVORITE LINE – Nadya: “It’s no Hilton or no Hyatt. But you will have a riot. So please enjoy your stay”

 

7. Stick with Me – This is the spoken intro by Constantine and Miss Piggy which kicks off the song on the next track

 

8. I’ll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu) – In this song, Constantine, posing as Kermit, woos a bitter Miss Piggy with all the caring, compassion and attention that she’s always hoped she’d get from her beloved little amphibian. The world’s most dangerous frog knows exactly what to say to warm Piggy’s heart and win back her trust and her love. Since a vast majority of this album’s songs were written by Bret McKenzie, (part of the New Zealand-based comedy duo “Flight of the Conchords”) it came as no surprise  this song reminded me of some of the outlandishly funny songs Brett and Jermaine performed on the HBO series they gained American fame thru. “I’ll Get You What You Want” gave me immediate flashbacks to some of their 70’s disco sounding, flavorful and weird hit songs like   “Think About It” and “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)“.  The track on the CD includes an extra set of verses, not seen in the movie, of things that Constantine offers Piggy to win her over.

 

9. The Muppet Show Theme – This is the version of the classic Muppet Show theme performed by the cast and mirrors the iconic opening of the old Television Muppet Shows. In the film, this song is cut down for time but the CD has the full version with Pepe the Prawn leading the cast with the latino twist to this all-time classic. What’s nice is if you know the lyrics to the original song, you’ll follow along just fine with the beat to this version.

 

10. Answer Some Questions – This is the spoken intro by Ty Burrell which kicks off the song on the next track

Interrogation Song

Interrogation Song

 

11. Interrogation Song – Probably one of my favorite tracks of the whole CD, sung by Ty Burrell, Sam Eagle and The Muppets. It’s fast, funny, full of puns and just a great high-energy song. In it, Sam the Eagle and Inspector Jean Pierre Napoleon question the Muppet’s whereabouts on the night of the crimes at the adjacent galleries next to the theaters that the Muppets were performing in. It’s a fast back and forth between the investigators and the Muppets in question; Constantine, Miss Piggy, Lew Zealand, Bunsen Honeydew, Fozzie and others. The CD includes the interrogation of Gonzo, which is not featured in the movie’s production of the song! Ty Burrell owns this one, he is simply amazing in this…to have mastered the accent and pacing for this piece!

FAVORITE LINESam: Tell us how the art was taken / Jean: If you want to save your bacon / Miss Piggy: I haven’t seen your missing art. All I’ve stolen is audience hearts.

 

12. Oh Foo Foo, It’s Always Been a Fight – This is the spoken intro by Miss Piggy and Foo Foo which kicks off the song on the next track

Something So Right

Something So Right

 

13. Something So Right – It’s an acquired taste, no pun intended for this one, for those who enjoy hearing Miss Piggy sing, this was no exception. Miss Piggy, Kermit, Celine Dion and The Muppets contribute to this track about Piggy’s uncertainty about the big day finally arriving of marrying Kermit. What’s always been such a struggle has now made itself almost too obtainable. She leads the song about her gut feelings of something that seems so right, but feels so wrong. In the film, the comedy of this song was perhaps the continual appearance of Celine Dion, as if she was contractually promised to be in the film a certain length of time, because in some moments she even shares the screen with herself twice. It’s a romantic ballad that in some ways mirror’s Miss Piggy’s past hits like “The First Time It Happens” from The Great Muppet Caper and “Never Before, Never Again” from the original Muppet Movie. 

 

14. We’re Goin’ Underground – This is the spoken intro by Kermit which kicks off the song on the next track

 

15. Working in the Coal Mine – This next track had all the inspired stylings of the classic Muppet Show television episodes (reminiscent of the classic “Coconut” skit)  Jemaine Clement leads the prisoners in a fun rendition of Lee Dorsey’s “Working in a Coal Mine” at the Gulag Annual Revue Show. Little does Nadya know, it’s a cover for a hole being dug under the stage to an underground tunnel that Kermit and pals will be escaping thru so he can get back to the Muppets! It’s a song that has the energy and animation that again, feels like a performance you’d had seen on the classic Muppet Show’s, but minus any Muppets…just humans in this one. Would have been nice to maybe see some other incarcerated Muppets in this act that we saw earlier on “the wall” of the Gulag, I guess they didn’t make the cut at the try-outs.

 

16. The Gulag Finale – This is the spoken intro by Kermit which kicks off the song on the next track

 

17. Together Again – The Muppets with Josh Groban lead the big finale at the Russian Gulag with the hit song made famous in the 1984 version of the Grammy Nominated soundtrack to “The Muppets Take Manhattan”. This time though, with a clever twist, “Together Again“, gets an update with an extra “Again” sung after “Together Again” by the cast. It’s the feel good wrap up to the movie that already has you feeling good, and it’s a borrowed song familiar song from one of the original trilogy of Muppet classics, so how can you go wrong? Visually, the sequence in the film is a bit cheesy with really bad composited/keyed in cameos of all the actors/actresses who showed up thru-out the film. The joke of the cameo is to see them once in the film, but bringing them back in the finale, sort of deflates the purpose of in my opinion.

Moves Like Jagger

Moves Like Jagger

 

18. Moves Like Jagger – Performed by Scooter and the Penguins featuring Pepé the King Prawn during their show in Dublin, Ireland. Yeah…if you REALLY like the Maroon 5 original, then maybe you’d enjoy this. I didn’t, and I didn’t. Scooter should keep to his day job of being the backstage “gofer” and leave the singing to the main the cast. I got about :10 sec into this track before skipping ahead (keep your finger on the NEXT TRACK button, you made need it for the next one)

Macarena

Macarena

 

19. Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix) – Performed by Miss Piggy and The Flamingos, this is another track that just hurts the ears and in the film seemed to also be the ill-favored performance of the Muppet Show’s audience in Spain.

 

20. Muppets Most Wanted Score Suite – Composed by Christophe Beck, this 3:20 instrumental mash-up gives little hints of the Muppets globe-trotting adventures, but certainly doesn’t capture the magic that Christophe delivered with FROZEN. It would have been nice to hear more of his work on this CD then some of the added extras they threw in. Maybe at some point down the road we’ll hear some extended cuts of his Muppets Most Wanted score work, I have a feeling we’re being short-changed here from some really good stuff.

 

Kermit & Bret McKenzie

Kermit & Bret McKenzie

BONUS TRACKS

21. We’re Doing a Sequel Demo – Performed by Bret McKenzie, this is probably one of the more impressive things I’ve heard in a long time. Bret, doing his impression of the Muppets during the demo recording of “We’re Doing a Sequel”, is fantastic. The music seemed to be already in place, and it sounds like he recorded this to give the Muppet performers a guide to the delivery timing. Bret’s nasaly Kermit is fun, but his other impersonations of Muppets like Piggy and Gonzo almost seemed spot on. Just as enjoyable hearing this as hearing it with the main cast.

 

 

 

22. The Big House Demo – Performed by Bret McKenzie, this is a slightly longer earlier version of “The Big House” with Bret at times delivering in a female voice and then giving off a bit of a crooning soft-rock ballad performance. Some of the lines that got cut from the song were cute, but you can see why it was trimmed down for time, it does seem to go on a bit too long. Again, impressive work from this talented singer/songwriter.

 

23. What You Want Outtake – Performed by Bret McKenzie, this is has all the feeling of an ELVIS meets Jerry Lee Lewis inspired outtake. Heavy on the piano keys, it’s like an enthusiastically spastic rendition of “Greased Lightning” meets “Great Balls of Fire” sung by The King of Rock & Roll. The editing in the movie to match the beats of this song would have driven anyone cutting this crazy, maybe this is why it never made it and evolved into the more disco sounding “I’ll Get You What You Want”. Regardless, you will find yourself cranking this one up in your house or car and doing some air-tickling of the ivories!

 

24. I’ll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu) Demo – Performed by Bret McKenzie, this is the demo of the “I’ll Get You What You Want” song, just with some heavy reverb. I’m not sure why this was included on the CD, it’s hard to understand, even given the fact that we know the lyrics to the version sung by Constantine. It’s like putting a VHS version of a movie on a Blu-ray as an extra, why would I want to watch that when I can see and hear the film at a much higher quality? Warm back up your “SKIP AHEAD” finger for this one.

 

25. Something So Right Demo – Performed by Bret McKenzie, who granted, does a spot-on Miss Piggy in a song that regardless, still makes me cringe and anxiously slam my finger down on the “SKIP AHEAD” button of my CD player in my car…only to learn that this is, as the end of the film tells us right before fireworks launch and explode into the faces of Muppets; THE END

 

In the end, the majority of the songs on this album are destined to have their place in the favorites of classic Muppet Music, just like “Rainbow Connection”, “Movin’ Right Along”, “Can You Picture That”, “Hey a Movie”, “Somebody’s Getting Married”, and “Mahna, Mahna”

It was nice that though 2011’s The Muppet’s went over my kids heads (and they were already Muppet fans from a young age), that this latest film not only rejuvenated their love for Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie and the gang, but inspired them to request watching some of the classics that this Muppet enthusiast has held close to his heart for nearly 4 decades. You’ll love the movie, you’ll love the soundtrack (maybe minus a few tracks), but overall, some great fun!

The Muppets Most Wanted soundtrack will be released on a “deluxe edition” CD and digital download by Walt Disney Records on March 18, 2014 to coincide with the film’s theatrical release on March 21.

Order your copy on AMAZON or iTUNES

Special thanks to Walt Disney Records for the advanced copy. Again, check back this Friday for your chance to win a this CD, plus a Muppets Most Wanted Prize pack full of some fun promotional items for the film, brought to you by our good friends at Walt Disney Theatrical Marketing.

Muppet Most Wanted Official Soundtrack

Muppet Most Wanted Official Soundtrack

 

Don’t forget that inserting your CD into your computer also gives you access to bonus special features from the film and connects you to other great music produced by Walt Disney Records!

BONUS Content on CD Menu

BONUS Content on CD Menu

 

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