Jon Cooke
12-01-2001, 04:19 PM
http://looney.toonzone.net/picts/harvey1.jpg
Yes... believe it or not, a boxed set paying tribute to the music of Paramount's Famous Studios really exists. It is rather hard to find nowadays, but it was released in 1997 by Edel America Records. I just got a copy yesterday, after much searching around.
Here are the contents of the CDs:
Disc 1: CARTOON SONG CLIPS
1. Skip To My Lou (from "To Boo Or Not To Boo")
2. Casper The Friendly Ghost (from "Ghost Of The Town")
3. It's A Hap-Hap-Happy Day (from "Better Bait Than Never")
4. Love In Bloom (from "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow")
5. Listen To The Mockingbird (from "As The Crow Lies")
6. La Cucaracha (from "Cat Tamale")
7. Personality (from "Of Mice And Magic")
8. Tax Collector (from "Robin Rodenthood")
9. Life On The Ocean Waves (from "Ship A Hooey")
10. I'm In The Mood For Love (from "A Bicep Built For Two")
11. Louise (from "Of Mice And Magic")
12. April Showers (from "Audrey The Rainmaker")
13. Song Of The Pirates (from "Swab The Duck")
Disc 2: CARTOON THEME SONGS
1. Casper The Friendly Ghost (from "Boo Scout")
2. Skiddle Diddle Dee (Herman & Katnip) (from "Robin Rodenthood")
3. Little Audrey Says (from "Audrey The Rainmaker")
4. Noveltoon Theme (from "The Awful Tooth")
5. Merry Madness (from "No Place Like Rome")
6. Starts Your Day With A Song (from "Sing Again Of Michigan")
7. Richie Rich
8. Casper, Casper (Whatcha Doin' on the Moon)
9. Here Comes Little Audrey
10. Hiding From Spooky
11. Baby Huey
12. Hot Stuff
13. Richie Rich and Casper
14. The Magic Wand of Wendy
Overall, it is a decent collection. I imagine I would have been more impressed with it if I had picked it up in 1997 (in the days of slower computers and before DVDs were everywhere). The big gimmick of these CDs were that they were billed as "Enhanced". You can play them on your computer and see video clips (in Quicktime) from the actual cartoons.
Here is a screenshot of Disc 1 (http://looney.toonzone.net/picts/harvey3.jpg)
The downside of this, is that the videoclips take up the bulk of the space on the CD. The grand total running time of Disc 1 is a measly 11 and a half minutes if you listened to it on a normal CD player. At least the sound quality is very good and there are some real great tracks included: Buzzy's boogie version "Listen to the Mocking Bird", Katnip's hilariously off-key versions of "I'm in the Mood For Love" and "Love in Bloom", and Louise the Mouse's song, "Personality", from the Herman and Katnip classic "Of Mice and Magic".
Disc 2 comes in at 22 minutes. The sound quality on Disc 2 is a mixed bag. Many of the tracks have a lot of noise. But it's great to have such classics as "Little Audrey Says" and "Skiddle Diddle Dee" on CD. Plus, I love the "Merry Madness" track. Makes me smile everytime I hear it. Tracks 7 - 14 are pretty weird. They are 1960s-style rock songs (in Archie/Josie & The Pussycats/Banana Splits style) about the various Harvey characters. "Here Comes Little Audrey" and "Baby Huey" are the highlights, but are still odd (how else to describe a song that includes lyrics like: "Baby Huey / You're so screwy / I could eat you up").
The set also comes with 3 reprinted Harvey comics (Richie Rich, Casper, and Baby Huey)... complete with advertisements! Those are great. Plus, best of all, a very cool, full color booklet of notes about the history of the Paramount Famous cartoons and Harvey Comics. Plus, a biography of Winston Sharples by Will Friedwald. The book was designed by Leslie Cabarga (the author of The Fleischer Story... so, you *know* it looks cool) and edited together by Jerry Beck.
Here is a scan of the cover of the booklet (http://looney.toonzone.net/picts/harvey2.jpg)
Not bad at all. I just wish there was more music from the classic shorts on there.
Finally, I must say that say the service I got from Footlight Records (http://www.footlight.com/) was excellent. The only copy of the Harvey set they had in stock was used. They called me to ask if the used copy was okay, and told me that the CDs had some marks on them (a result of the weird way the box set is packaged --- the CDs are in plastic sleeves, instead of in cases). In the end, I paid $42 (used) for it. My order arrived nicely packaged, and it turns out the CDs weren't as roughed up as I envisioned. One looked perfect, the other had slight marks on it. Overall, a fine place to do business with. If you are looking for rare or import CDs, check out Footlight.
-Jon
Yes... believe it or not, a boxed set paying tribute to the music of Paramount's Famous Studios really exists. It is rather hard to find nowadays, but it was released in 1997 by Edel America Records. I just got a copy yesterday, after much searching around.
Here are the contents of the CDs:
Disc 1: CARTOON SONG CLIPS
1. Skip To My Lou (from "To Boo Or Not To Boo")
2. Casper The Friendly Ghost (from "Ghost Of The Town")
3. It's A Hap-Hap-Happy Day (from "Better Bait Than Never")
4. Love In Bloom (from "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow")
5. Listen To The Mockingbird (from "As The Crow Lies")
6. La Cucaracha (from "Cat Tamale")
7. Personality (from "Of Mice And Magic")
8. Tax Collector (from "Robin Rodenthood")
9. Life On The Ocean Waves (from "Ship A Hooey")
10. I'm In The Mood For Love (from "A Bicep Built For Two")
11. Louise (from "Of Mice And Magic")
12. April Showers (from "Audrey The Rainmaker")
13. Song Of The Pirates (from "Swab The Duck")
Disc 2: CARTOON THEME SONGS
1. Casper The Friendly Ghost (from "Boo Scout")
2. Skiddle Diddle Dee (Herman & Katnip) (from "Robin Rodenthood")
3. Little Audrey Says (from "Audrey The Rainmaker")
4. Noveltoon Theme (from "The Awful Tooth")
5. Merry Madness (from "No Place Like Rome")
6. Starts Your Day With A Song (from "Sing Again Of Michigan")
7. Richie Rich
8. Casper, Casper (Whatcha Doin' on the Moon)
9. Here Comes Little Audrey
10. Hiding From Spooky
11. Baby Huey
12. Hot Stuff
13. Richie Rich and Casper
14. The Magic Wand of Wendy
Overall, it is a decent collection. I imagine I would have been more impressed with it if I had picked it up in 1997 (in the days of slower computers and before DVDs were everywhere). The big gimmick of these CDs were that they were billed as "Enhanced". You can play them on your computer and see video clips (in Quicktime) from the actual cartoons.
Here is a screenshot of Disc 1 (http://looney.toonzone.net/picts/harvey3.jpg)
The downside of this, is that the videoclips take up the bulk of the space on the CD. The grand total running time of Disc 1 is a measly 11 and a half minutes if you listened to it on a normal CD player. At least the sound quality is very good and there are some real great tracks included: Buzzy's boogie version "Listen to the Mocking Bird", Katnip's hilariously off-key versions of "I'm in the Mood For Love" and "Love in Bloom", and Louise the Mouse's song, "Personality", from the Herman and Katnip classic "Of Mice and Magic".
Disc 2 comes in at 22 minutes. The sound quality on Disc 2 is a mixed bag. Many of the tracks have a lot of noise. But it's great to have such classics as "Little Audrey Says" and "Skiddle Diddle Dee" on CD. Plus, I love the "Merry Madness" track. Makes me smile everytime I hear it. Tracks 7 - 14 are pretty weird. They are 1960s-style rock songs (in Archie/Josie & The Pussycats/Banana Splits style) about the various Harvey characters. "Here Comes Little Audrey" and "Baby Huey" are the highlights, but are still odd (how else to describe a song that includes lyrics like: "Baby Huey / You're so screwy / I could eat you up").
The set also comes with 3 reprinted Harvey comics (Richie Rich, Casper, and Baby Huey)... complete with advertisements! Those are great. Plus, best of all, a very cool, full color booklet of notes about the history of the Paramount Famous cartoons and Harvey Comics. Plus, a biography of Winston Sharples by Will Friedwald. The book was designed by Leslie Cabarga (the author of The Fleischer Story... so, you *know* it looks cool) and edited together by Jerry Beck.
Here is a scan of the cover of the booklet (http://looney.toonzone.net/picts/harvey2.jpg)
Not bad at all. I just wish there was more music from the classic shorts on there.
Finally, I must say that say the service I got from Footlight Records (http://www.footlight.com/) was excellent. The only copy of the Harvey set they had in stock was used. They called me to ask if the used copy was okay, and told me that the CDs had some marks on them (a result of the weird way the box set is packaged --- the CDs are in plastic sleeves, instead of in cases). In the end, I paid $42 (used) for it. My order arrived nicely packaged, and it turns out the CDs weren't as roughed up as I envisioned. One looked perfect, the other had slight marks on it. Overall, a fine place to do business with. If you are looking for rare or import CDs, check out Footlight.
-Jon