The Muppet Show 25^th Anniversary Collection - Music Mayhem And More!

Louise Gold featured as a Muppet performer providing background vocals on a number of tracks

Catalogue number: (CD) Rhino R2 78119

Cast

Featured Character Voices:

Jim Henson (as: Kermit The Frog, Mahna Mahna, Dr Teeth, Rowlf and other assorted characters)

Frank Oz (as: Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Marvin Suggs and other assorted characters)

Richard Hunt (as: Scooter, Wayne, and other assorted characters)

Dave Goelz (as: The Great Gonzo and other assorted characters)

Eren Ozker (as Wanda, Janice and other assorted characters)

Steve Whitmire (as Kermit The Frog [post May 1990], Rizzo The Rat and other assorted characters)

Uncredited

Jerry Nelson (as: Robin, Floyd, Pops, and other assorted characters)

Louise Gold (as Annie Sue Pig and other assorted characters)

Kathryn Mullen (as various assorted characters)

John Lovelady (as various assorted characters)

Production Team

Compilation Produced for Release by - Craig DeGraff

Remastering - Bob Fisher at Pacific Multimedia Group

Product Manager - Pamela Michaels

Discographical Annotation - Reggie Collins

Liner Notes Coordination - Tim Scanlin

Editorial Supervision - Julee Stover

Editorial Research - Steven Chean

Business Affairs - Craig Gates

Project Associates - Karen Ahmed, Michelle Comus, Vicki Haller, Maria McKenna, April Milek, Randy Perry, and, Michael Polis

Special Thanks - Alyson Marie

Track Listing

1. The Muppet Show Theme (from The Muppet Show itself - first season) - The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Dave Goelz, and possibly: Eren Ozker and John Lovelady)

2. Mahna Mahna (from The Muppet Show album) - Mahna Mahna and the two Snowths (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and, Richard Hunt)

3. There’s A New Sound (from The Muppet Show 2) - Scooter (Richard Hunt)

4. The Amazing Marvin Suggs And His Muppaphone Play “Lady of Spain” (from The Muppet Show album) - The Amazing Marvin Suggs and The Muppaphone (Frank Oz with Jim Henson, and, Jerry Nelson)

5. Trees (from The Muppet Show album) - Wayne and Wanda (Richard Hunt and Erin Ozker)

6. A Monologue By Fozzie Bear [The Comedian’s A Bear] (from The Muppet Show album) - Fozzie Bear and Kermit The Frog (Jim Henson and Frank Oz)

7. Bein’ Green (from The Muppet Show album) - Kermit The Frog (Jim Henson)

8. Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear (from The Muppet Show album) - Scooter and Fozzie Bear (Richard Hunt and Frank Oz)

9. Tenderly (from The Muppet Show album) - Dr Teeth and Electric Mayhem (Jim Henson with: Eren Ozker, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz)

10. Wishing Song (from The Muppet Show 2) - The Great Gonzo (Dave Goelz with Jerry Nelson)

11. What Now My Love (from The Muppet Show album) - Miss Piggy (Frank Oz)

12. Happy Feet (from The Muppet Show 2) - Kermit The Frog and Frog Chorus (Jim Henson with: Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Dave Goelz)

13. We Got Us (from The Muppet Show 2) - Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo and The other Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz, with: Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, and, Louise Gold)

14. Closing Theme (from The Muppet Show 2) - Instrumental (The Jack Parnell Orchestra)

15. Rainbow Connection (from The Muppet Movie) - Kermit The Frog (Jim Henson)

16. Movin’ Right Along (from The Muppet Movie) - Kermit The Frog and Fozzie Bear (Jim Henson and Frank Oz)

17. Can You Picture That (from The Muppet Movie) - Dr Teeth and Electric Mayhem (Jim Henson with: Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, and, Dave Goelz)

18. Finale: The Magic Store (from The Muppet Movie) - The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and, Kathryn Mullen)

19. Hey A Movie (from The Great Muppet Caper) - Kermit The Frog, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo and The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and, Dave Goelz, with: Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen)

20. Happiness Hotel (from The Great Muppet Caper) - Pops The Doorman and The Muppets (Jerry Nelson with: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen)

21. The First Time It Happens (from The Great Muppet Caper) - Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy, with chorus (Jim Henson and Frank Oz, with: Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen)

22. Together Again (from The Muppets Take Manhatten) - Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz with: Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, and, Steve Whitmire)

23. I’m Gonna Always Love You (from The Muppets Take Manhatten) - Miss Piggy, Kermit The Frog, Fozzie Bear, Rowlf, Scooter, and, The Great Gonzo (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, and, Dave Goelz)

24. He’ll Make Me Happy (from The Muppets Take Manhatten) - Miss Piggy and Kermit The Frog (Frank Oz and Jim Henson)

25. One More Step ‘Til Christmas (from The Muppet Christmas Carol) - Kermit The Frog (Steve Whitmire)

26. Love Led Us Here (from Muppet Treasure Island) - Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy (Steve Whitmire and Frank Oz)

27. I’m Going To Go Back There Some Day (from Muppets From Space) - The Great Gonzo (Dave Goelz)

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold and Kathryn Mullen were the eight main puppeteers on The Muppet Show, on which Eren Ozker and John Lovelady also puppeteered in the first season.

The Muppet Show Eight were also the eight main puppeteers on The Great Muppet Caper, from which the songs: Hey A Movie, The Happiness Hotel, and, The First Time It Happens originate.

The Muppet Show Eight were also the eight main puppeteers on The Muppets Go To The Movies.

The Muppet Show Eight featured in the documentary Of Muppets And Men.

The Muppet Show Eight: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold and Kathryn Mullen appear on The Muppet Show Music Album (which includes a different version of The Muppet Show Theme), The Great Muppet Caper (Soundtrack album) (from which Hey A Movie, The Happiness Hotel, and, The First Time It Happens originate), John Denver & The Muppets A Christmas Together , John Denver & The Muppets Merry Christmas 45RPM, Christmas For Kids, John Denver Christmas, Muppet Music Sampler (which feature the songs: Mahna Mahna, Rainbow Connection, Can You Picture That, One More Step ‘Til Christmas, The First Time It Happens, and, The Magic Store) and, Muppet Music Mix ((although Louise Gold seems to be uncredited) which features the songs: The Muppet Show Theme, Rainbow Connection, Happy Feet, The Rhyming Song, The First Time It Happens.).

Six members of the eight: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz and Louise Gold appear on: The Muppet Show Music Hall, For What It’s Worth, The Muppet Show 2 (from which the recordings of There’s A New Sound, Wishing Song, Happy Feet, and, We Got Us originate, along with a different version of The Muppet Show Theme). These six also appear on Jim Henson Present’s Silly Songs (as does the song There’s A New Sound, along with a version of The Muppet Show Theme). These six also represented The Muppets on The Royal Variety Performance (1977).

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, John Lovelady, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen appear on Favorite Songs From Jim Henson’s Muppets (as do the songs: The Muppet Show Theme -in its entirety, Mahna Mahna, Bein’ Green, Movin’ Right Along, Rainbow Connection, The Happiness Hotel, The First Time It Happens, I’m Gonna Always Love You).

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Eren Ozker, John Lovelady Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen appear (although are not necessarily credited on) on Muppet Hits (which features the songs: The Muppet Show Theme, Mahna Mahna, The Amazing Marvin Suggs And His Muppaphone Play Lady Of Spain, There’s A New Sound, Trees, Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear, Happy Feet, and, We Got Us) and Muppet Hits 2 (which features A Monlogue By Fozzie Bear/The Comedian’s A Bear, along with a different version of The Muppet Show Theme).

Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and, Louise Gold puppeteered on The Muppet Christmas Carol, and, Muppet Treasure Island, and can be heard on The Muppet Christmas Carol (Soundtrack album) (from which One More Step Till Christmas originates).

Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise Gold appear on Born To Add.

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and, Louise Gold appear on Elmo’s Lowdown Hoedown.

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen puppeteered on The Dark Crystal, for which Jerry Nelson did some voice-work.

Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and, Kathryn Mullen also puppeteered on Labyrinth, which was directed by Jim Henson.

Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Louise Gold are also credited as appearing on The Count’s Countdown which includes songs by Joe Raposo. However there has been some debate as to whether or not Louise Gold actually appears on that album.

Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, and, Kathryn Mullen appeared in “a burlesque show with some of the Muppet-company”.

Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold with an introduction by Jim Henson can also be heard on Jerome Kern The First 100 Years (although they are credited simply as ‘The Muppets’, rather than as individuals).

Dave Goelz originally sang I’m Going To Go Back There Some Day in the film The Muppet Movie, his earlier recording of this song can be found on the album Muppet Music Sampler.

Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and, Louise Gold puppeteered on The Animal Show, on which Frank Oz did a guest puppeteering appearance.

Louise Gold, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, and, Steve Whitmire puppeteered on Tale Of The Bunny Picnic.

Jerry Nelson, and, Dave Goelz (besides puppeteering on Fraggle Rock itself) did voice-work on the UK Co-Production of Fraggle Rock, on which Louise Gold puppeteered.

Dave Goelz, Louise Gold, Richard Hunt, Kathy Mullen, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, and, Steve Whitmire performed at Jim Henson’s Memorial Service (where Richard Hunt, and, Frank Oz again performed Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear).

Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Louise Gold, and, Steve Whitmire’s recording credits include A Green And Red Christmas.

Louise Gold, and, Richard Hunt had puppeteered on The Ghost Of Faffner Hall.

Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, and Louise Gold had puppeteered on The Secret Life Of Toys.

Dave Goelz, Louise Gold, Kathryn Mullen, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, and, Steve Whitmire puppeteered on Sesame Street (in the early 1990s).

Review

by Emma Shane, January 2003

This is the most recent (2002), and most wide-ranging Muppet compilation album. Around half the album consists of material from The Muppet Show itself, the other half is taken from the six Muppet movies to date. As a fan I would have preferred a compilation album marking twenty five years of The Muppet Show, to just concern itself with that marvellous television programme, however, there may be some value in including selections from the Muppet films, not least as some of the soundtrack albums for those are not currently in print. The wide time-span may also illustrate the changing Muppet careers of such notable Muppeteers as Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire.

Personally I felt a little dissatisfied with the selection from The Muppet Show itself. I think the problem is there was simply not enough of it, and when only a small set of numbers can be chosen, what do you leave out? Obviously it is almost as obligatory to have Mahna Mahna as it is to have a version The Muppet Show Theme, but in the end it comes down a lot to people’s personal choices, and sometimes other people’s Muppet compilation album favourites (such as: The Lime In The Coconut, Who?, The Rhyming Song, Borneo, Mr Bassman and Hawaiian War Chant) are going to get left out. I am however, very pleased to hear We Got Us on the album, because I always thing that song suits the Muppets incredibly well, the lyrics “People may say we are crazy the way we are that we won’t even discuss” just seems to sum up both The Muppets and their performers perfectly. Of course the other delightful thing about that number is that Louise Gold’s lovely big plummy voice leads the backing chorus. The best of the rest from this Muppet Show selection are one double act, namely Richard Hunt and Frank Oz performing Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear, and three excellent solos: Reliable Richard Hunt as Scooter singing There’s A New Sound, as well as one would expect from such an excellent singer as he. Dave Goelz is at his best in Wishing Song. He really sings it very nicely, which is especially amazing considering that at that time he did not have much experience of singing. The other outstanding solo is also very beautiful, Jim Henson as Kermit singing It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green. It’s one of those unique moments when singer, character and song blend so perfectly together you don’t really want to hear anyone else do it.

The film selection is generally pretty good, especially from the three earlier films. Rainbow Connection by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams really is a beautiful song, and here it is sung by the person and character for whom they intended it, Jim Henson himself as Kermit the Frog, this is another number, like Bein’ Green that once you’ve heard it sung in it’s original you hardly want to hear anyone else do it, because it is doubtful whether they could do it justice. That said, I have heard this song done by a West End actress in a cabaret act, but as the ‘actress’ in question is ‘The English Muppet’ Louise Gold, she certainly can do it justice. Movin’ Right Along is a hilarious romp performed with panache by Jim Henson and Frank Oz as Kermit and Fozzie, who sound like they are enjoying it. Meanwhile from The Great Muppet Caper, The Happiness Hotel gives another star of The Muppet musical numbers, Jerry Nelson one moment in the spotlight, leading the rest of the cast, and obviously one has to include Joe Raposo’s award winning The First Time It Happens. On to the third film, Together Again is such an integral part of The Muppets Take Manhatten it just had to be included, while I’m Gonna Always Love You played an important part in Muppet history (it spawned The Muppet Babies series). From the later films, the best number is One More Step ‘Til Christmas from A Muppet Christmas Carol, which gives us a welcome opportunity to hear Steve Whitmire, now firmly in the spotlight as a star Muppeteer, do his Kermit voice, and very very well he does it too.

One of the chief drawbacks of trying to squeeze so much onto one album is that a lot of emphasis has been placed on using the most famous characters (which probably makes a lot of sense when aiming at a mass market), rather than the best of the singing talent. Indeed out the mainstay trio of The Muppet Show’s musical resources, only Richard Hunt’s contribution is properly acknowledges, with There’s A New Sound and Simon Smith And His Amazing Dancing Bear. The other two seem to be a bit overlooked. This means the album relies a good deal on the singing skills of Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and, Dave Goelz. In other words Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie and Gonzo. In the case of Frank Oz’s work, his performances as Fozzie on this album are excellent, as indeed they generally are. However, with the notable exception of The First Time It Happens, his performances as Miss Piggy are not exactly among his best. What Now My Love comes from before he really got into his stride as Piggy, and as for Love Lead Us Here he was past his best in that role, well Frank Oz’s performances as Piggy have never been quite the same since May 1990.

So all in all, is this album worth getting? Well if you are just considering it because you are a fan of Louise Gold then it probably isn’t. If you don’t own much in the way of Muppet albums, but you like The Muppets, then it certainly is. If you are a serious Muppet fan and you already have The Muppet Show Two, or perhaps Muppet Hits 1, and the main film soundtrack albums then I suggest you read the track listing carefully before deciding. But then again if you are that serious a fan, you’ll probably buy the album anyway. After all for us fans it’s always good to support the issue of Muppet albums, I only hope there’s a sequel to this one, to include the good stuff that they couldn’t squeeze onto this one!

Critics Comments

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Links about The Muppet Show 25^th Anniversary Collection - Music Mayhem And More!

Muppet Wiki’s page for this album: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muppet_Show:_Music%2C_Mayhem_and_More%21

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