Family Guy-The Musical?

On top of my Mixed Bag CD's, I also have Family Guy-Live in Las Vegas to keep my CD player running for the near future. Calling it a musical is not far off, unlike most cartoon sing-song CD's this has a flair to it, mostly due to the orchestrated music from Walter Murphy, some original material was written to fill the holes in-between songs, and most of it is pretty good, depending on how you rate Family Guy itself. It's far more vulgar than the show ever dared be, and all of Quohog's most famous residents show up for an appearence or two, including Adam West. There's even a few guest-stars, namely Haylie Duff and Jason Alexander. Haylie has a duet with Stewie, which is mostly funny, hearing Hillary's little sister curse is a little guilty pleasure I suppose, and Stewie is Stewie, so you like him or you don't. Jason Alexander shows up on a song called "All Cartoon's are F*ckin' D*cks", about various cartoon characters and their naughty exploits. It's pretty funny, but very vulgar, hearing Chris say the F word was slightly disturbing, and Alexander's part is probably the best.

Most fans of the show will like the album, it's filled with low-brow and high-brow humour, and when mixed with MacFarlane's love for musicals and his wit with lyrics, it's mostly successful. I'd have loved to hear some of the great songs from the episodes pop up, particularly Road to Rhode Island, but hearing Brian and Stewie duet on a medley of TV theme songs is equally swell (including fav's Perfect Strangers, Family Ties, Who' the Boss, Golden Girls, Charles in Charge and Growing Pains). So, if you like the show, seek this out, if not, it's probably best avoided. It also comes with a bonus DVD that I haven't had the chance to watch yet.

Tomorrow, a review of The Couscous Express Soundtrack, and possibly the GN as well. both courtesy of Larry Young.

-L