'Round Springfield #14: The Simpsons Sing The Blues

I've brought up in previous reviews that the initial mania of The Simpsons in 1990 was astronomical. Merchandise was coming out of the woodwork for every little piece of minutia that the first season provided. It wasn't all without controversy. Take for example when Bart Simpson shirts were banned from school. And even eventually when president George Bush said American families needed to be more like the Waltons and less like The Simpsons. The Simpsons weren't just a part of the zeitgeist, they took it over. So, what do you do when you've reached such heights? Make a music album of course!

David Geffen, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the success of the Simpsons, pitched the idea of a Simpsons Album, which began work mere weeks before the premiere of season two. The album would be more focused on blues and rap music, mostly a Simpsonized take on classics like Born Under a Bad Sign and Memphis Soul Stew. But what the album needed was original content as well, and that's where the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson comes in. Jackson was a fan of the show, especially a fan of Bart (get your mind out of the gutter. Bart was the face of the franchise at the time.) and helped produce Do The Bartman, which would be the hit single of the album, and one of the two songs to receive a music video. After months of work, The Simpsons Sing The Blues was released on December 4th, 1990 and would sell over two million copies in the United States alone, despite middling reviews. And since I'm a middling reviewer, I'll cover the entire album for you right now.

TRACK #1: DO THE BARTMAN

The album starts with the biggest track, Do The Bartman. And it's definitely not hard to see the Jackson influence within, sounding very akin to Michael's distinctive style in this era (still between the Bad and Dangerous albums). Nancy Cartwright raps about Bart's life and how much of a hip dude he is. It's very dated, but the kind of dated that somehow doesn't lose its charm all these years later. But what really compliments the song is the music video, which really feels like a loving tribute to the first and second season of the show, giving us the most lively and animated look into Springfield up to this point. It's an absolute classic.

TRACK #2: SCHOOL DAY

Next up is where the quality of the album begins its real dregs. It's a redo of a classic Chuck Berry song, only with Bart and Buster Poindexter singing about the monotony of a school day followed by his routine after school. It's pretty forgettable. Not offensively so, but just one you'd quickly skip over if you had a physical copy.

TRACK #3: BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN

Another cover, this time Homer singing the classic "Born Under a Bad Sign." I'll give Dan Castellaneta credit, he does get into it pretty good. I do love the guitar work from B.B King which really makes the song more than Homer lamenting how pork rings will carry him to his grave. Not to mention the ending with Homer throwing out possible names for his future in the blues industry, which feels a lot like Dan ad-libbing. Nothing super special, but better than School Days.

TRACK #4: MOANIN' LISA BLUES

Next up is a longer version of the song Lisa sings with Bleeding Gums Murphy back in "Moaning Lisa". It doesn't really add anything new or special to the original, but again I really like the instrumental, including Joe Walsh on slide guitar and John Sebastian on harmonica. Other than that, I appreciate it for at least adding a bit more to what was the best episode of season 1.

TRACK #5: DEEP DEEP TROUBLE

We have the second original Bart rap, and this time we go from Michael Jackson to the Fresh Prince as this theme was produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff (who also provided the scratches). The song gives us a look at how Bart continues to get himself into deeper and deeper trouble. Be it accidentally running over the sprinkler, throwing a party which gets the house trashed, or going to the barber and being shaved bald. It's a fun little song and just as memorable as Do The Bartman, though without as much of the energy that the original provided.  But I think as the years go on, I appreciate a bit more and more than Do The Bartman, mainly because the music video was just as great with a lot of that Klasky Csupo energy.

TRACK #6: GOD BLESS THE CHILD

We get another cover, this time of a Billie Holiday song. Outside of a cute little intro as Lisa would prefer not having a synthetic track but a live band instead. Again, it's fine, in fact it's a far more well done cover than what we've gotten so far in the album. Yeardley does put in some effort, and sounds really good in the song, so I'll give it that as well.

TRACK #7: I LOVE TO SEE YOU SMILE

From Billie Holiday to Randy Newman as we have Homer and Marge having a cute little duet. But let's be honest, you listen to that music and you're waiting to hear one of them say "You got a friend in me". I could also say this is way too schmaltzy to enjoy, but I've heard worse, and again I do like the piano work from Dr. John.

TRACK #8: SPRINGFIELD SOUL STEW

Another cover, this time with Marge trying her best to pull off some King Curtis. Suffice is to say, the strength of this is again the instrumentals. Sadly I'd prefer having that without Marge's interludes. Other than that, it's another cover. Take it for what it is I guess.

TRACK #9: LOOK AT ALL THOSE IDIOTS

And now we reach the real MVP of this album, it's a song from Mr. Burns. Burns sings about how he runs a power plant filled with idiots, particularly focusing on Homer, and his plans to one day essentially kill him. But since this is Mr. Burns, he'll forget who Homer is in a few minutes anyway. I absolutely love this track. I love how Burns and Smithers play off each other, and just the funky beat of the track. I really wish this would have gotten a music video. Easily the strongest non-Bart piece of the album.

TRACK #10: SIBLING RIVALRY

And we end the album with Bart and Lisa in an original track, singing about how they both drive each other crazy. Not really the strongest song to end this album on really. I again love the song's background beat over the singing. In the end, it's okay, but of the non-covers, I'd say this is the weakest by far.


So, in the end, The Simpsons Sing The Blues is kind of bad. Save for three songs (Do The Bartman, Deep Deep Trouble and Look at All Those Idiots), the rest are pretty mediocre, especially the covers. Honestly, if i wanted to hear these songs, I'd just go for the originals. The best way to really describe this album is that it's the perfect vanity project to represent this era of The Simpsons. It's no surprise that even the show themselves would mock this with jokes in the show (Simpsons Go Calypso?). Honestly, I wouldn't really come back to this, even out of curiosity, save for the three songs I mentioned above.

Oh, and we'll get to the Yellow Album eventually. If you think this album was a mess, oh just you wait.

NEXT TIME ON "ROUND SPRINGFIELD"...

"BART GETS AN F"