MUPPETS MOST WANTED - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2014)

The soundtrack to 2011’s The Muppets starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams is such a joy to put on repeat mode, we declared it our favourite album of the year. The song “Man or Muppet” went on to win an Oscar, and The Muppets return three years later for a sequel where they find themselves unwittingly involved in an international crime caper while on tour in Europe.

While missing the charming and sentimental moments like “Life’s a Happy Song”, “Pictures in My Head” and “Rainbow Connection”, the songs in this 51 minute are chockfull of puns and jokes - so kudos to the album producers for including lyrics to all the tracks.

The CD contains six original songs, two re recordings of popular Muppets songs, three cover versions of familiar pop songs, eight dialogue tracks, an orchestral suite by composer Christophe Beck and five rather disposable demo tracks conveniently packaged as “bonus tracks”.

Academy Award winner Brett McKenzie returns to write music for this sequel. Opening the soundtrack is the big number “We’re Doing a Sequel” poking fun at Hollywood’s addiction of producing sequels. Leading man Ricky Gervais teams up with the villain Constantine to perform “I’m Number One”, a song which tests Gervais’ tap dancing skills (you have to watch the movie to appreciate this one). The movie’s female lead (nope, not Miss Piggy) Tina Fey sings “The Big House” and puts on her best Siberian accent.

Another amusing track better appreciated after watching the James Bobin directed movie is “I’ll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)), a cue with very amusing lyrics. The movie’s third human cast Ty Burrell performs a funny duet “Interrogation Song” with Sam the Eagle, while Miss Piggy gets her big number with, gasp, Celine Dion, in the track that hit our spot on this album - “Something So Right”.

Elsewhere, there’s the familiar “The Muppet Show Theme” with a Spanish makeover and “Together Again” from The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). Covers of the songs “Working in the Coal Mine” (a 1980s song by Allen Toussaint), “Moves Like Jagger” (Maroon 5) and “Macarena” (Los del Rio) are also chuckle worthy.

Like the movie, the fun of this soundtrack is really spotting the cameo performers. Here’s the list of artistes to listen out for: Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, Jemaine Clement, Danny Trejo and Ray Liotta. This is where the lyric booklet comes in handy again. 

ALBUM RATING:

Recommended Track: (13) Something So Right – Miss Piggy, Kermit, Celine Dion and The Muppets

Review by John Li