K-Tel Presents Funny Favorites – Not like you remember!
Written: Apr 21 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun songs from the past, brings back some wonderful memories.
Cons: Songs not like I expected for a few, but a majority were close.
The Bottom Line: This is not a terrible disk but depending on what song you truly want, it might be a disappointment if it is not what you remember!
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| Magick1's Full Review: Funny Favorites [Box] |
I was looking for a song (Beep Beep) and I did a search on one of my favorite websites to see what they had for this song in particular. I did not want to purchase a single song, and hoped that I could find something that provided me other songs that I remembered and would enjoy and had the Beep Beep song.
I found this K-Tel Presents 2 CD set and it had quite a number of songs on it that sounded enjoyable and some that were a super bonus as I loved them too, but really hadn’t thought about them in a really long time.
All told there are 28 songs on this compilation. I, believe it or not, know most of these songs. The ones that I did not know, well, they would have been better staying obscure (at least to me). Some of you out there might enjoy the collection and some of the tunes that I think might have been better off in a box in the corner might appeal to you.
Let me break out the list for you so you can possibly have some of your memories triggered by this mix:
Disc One:
The Purple People Eater
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Over Night)
Surfin’ Bird *
Here Comes the Judge *
Wooly Bully
Splish Splash *
Mule Skinner Blues *
Sugar Shack
Alley Oop *
Pac-Man Fever
Leader of the Pack
Mr. Bass Man
Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips with Me
Tie Me Kangeroo Down, Sport *
Disc Two:
Monster Mash
Short Shorts *
Charlie Brown
Junk Food Junkie
The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)
The Curly Shuffle *
Midnight at the Oasis
Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)
The Jolly Green Giant
Troglodyte (Cave Man)
Winchester Cathedral
Beans in my Ears
May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose
Beep Beep *
* This cover states “New Stereo Re-recordings by the Original Artists. Selections marked with an (*) are the original recordings. This has a copy write of 2005 by BCI Eclipse Company, LLC.
Overall Impressions
Well, I have to say first and foremost, it has been great to hear a lot of these selections again. I was raised with a lot of these songs over the years and I truly enjoyed them. These songs, on the other hand, are a bit of a disappointment. I did not see when ordering that there were 9 songs that were original recordings.
Now, mind you here, I don’t know the songs that I grew up listening to were original or not. But, I do know that by listening to these songs, most of them do not sound like I remember them. Especially, the most wanted song on the disk of all Beep Beep. Some of you might remember this more as the The Little Nash Rambler. This is one of the original recordings, BUT by Sonny Shroyer. The original, I now know, was done by the Playmates. The song on this album has this Sonny Shroyer yakking over the track of the song. I totally hate it. What a bummer too.
But, some of the gems that I do truly enjoy are as follows:
Junk Food Junkie
This is done by Larry Groce: He is the singer on this version as well as the original person. It seems almost like there is a portion that is cut off mid-song. But, the song recording was from a live show apparently, so it’s possible the artist just stopped mid-sentence while singing to let the crowd cheer. I still enjoy it and it still has the wonderful feeling of hiding a major secret from everyone, eating Twinkies and junk food late at night so no one knows what a junk food junkie he truly is, that “Mr. Natural”.
Tie Me Kangeroo Down, Sport
This is done by Jim Springer, not the original singer. But, the version is fairly close to the original and is enjoyable. It got me singing right along as soon as I heard it!
Alley Oop, Sugar Shack, The Purple People Eater, Wooly Bully, Splish Splash, Pac-Man Fever, Monster Mash, Short Shorts, Charlie Brown, The Little Old Lady from Pasadena and The Curly Shuffle all seem fairly close to the originals without a tremendous amount of deviation, which is nice.
Alley Oop is sung by the original group The Hollywood Argyles and sounds just perfect to my ears! (Alley Oop, Oop, Oop Oop!)
Jimmy Gilmer, the original singer of the Sugar Shack does a fair rendition. It states that it is not the original recording, but the song truly sounds like I remember it from days gone by (and movies like Forest Gump).
The singer, Sheb Wooley, was the original The Purple People Eater singer and this version is similar to how I remember it. (It was a one-eye, one horned flying purple people eater….)
Uno, dos, three four, One, two, tres, quarto….leads us to the Wooley Bully rhyming, rhythmic song with a catchy beat that you will find yourself tapping your toes to instantly. The beat repeats through the song and is a very basic song that you can find a lot of elementary or junior high school students easy to catch onto and play! This is sung by the original group Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs!
Splish Splash I was taking a bath, all about a Saturday night….what a fun little party song! But, this rendition is done by the Sha Na Na group, rather than the original Bobby Darin. But, Sha Na Na did a decent version and it was catchy like I remember, so this wasn’t a bad song at all!
Now, an 80’s song pops in here, but am I ever glad it did. I LOVED playing Pac-Man when I was growing up. This song done by Buckner and Garcia (originally and on this compilation) was fun to have on this collection! I truly enjoy the song, just because of the fact it is about a video game. The thoughts in the song were so true of the time, “I have a pocket full of quarters and I am heading to the arcade”. I cannot recall how many quarters I went through when Asteroids, Pac-Man, and others came on the market. I was a game junkie! Speedie, go get Pac-Man! What a catchy, synthesized song. I have no clue why I like it so much other than it invokes so many memories every time I listen to it, I cannot help but feel relaxed and smile!
Monster Mash is still one of those songs you hear around Halloween. This one is done by Bobby “Boris” Pickett the original and it is just as catchy as it was originally. But, it was not an original recording! (Maybe the original recordings stunk and they were recorded to get the “hit” that they became?) Who knows, but this is a fun song.
The other songs, for the most part, seem to be by the original group and they are not badly done. But, some of them should not have been put on this compilation (Beep Beep). Overall, it’s enjoyable to listen to and the songs I just cannot stand, fast forward right by them, no issue. But, I think I will keep my search open for a better version where I can get more songs like “Running Bear” by Preston and others of this nature. I can say that my daughter (who is now 5) enjoys these 2 discs tremendously. She finds them funny and thinks it is totally crazy that I can sing most of these songs. Well, another generation has been turned onto some fun, playful and clean songs from the past. Keep the music alive!
If you are looking for songs from the past, this might be an album for you. But, check the songs out wherever you can prior to purchasing it so you won’t be disappointed. I did not listen to the most wanted song of all due to being struck by nostalgia when I saw some of these song titles and listened to those thinking the “Beep Beep” song was fine. Next time, I will not make that mistake. Overall value, it was reasonably priced so I don’t feel robbed and a lot of the songs are fun, pretty close to original and we are all having a fun time listening to these songs (over and over again).
~Thanks for spending time with me today!~
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Listening
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