Earlier this year, E1 Music struck gold with Sesame Street: Old School Vol. 1 (1969-1974), a three-disc reissue of some long out-of-print albums recorded by the children's television show cast. It was a pleasant surprise for fans of the lovable Muppet citizens of Sesame Street, who've captivated audiences for 40 years and counting.
On October 25, E1 continues the wave of reissues with Sesame Street: Old School Vol. 2, which will see three albums from the early, sunny days of the show put onto CD for the first time. There's The Year of Roosevelt Franklin, a 1971 album featuring an early, oft-forgotten character from the show's early seasons (the character was dropped following some criticism in the black community); Grover Sings the Blues (1974), which put the spotlight on everyone's favorite blue fuzzy monster (voiced by the one and only Frank Oz) and The Count Counts (1975) which presented number songs in the context of a children's radio broadcast. (Fun fact: many of the songs on this album were written by a Sesame Street animator named Bud Luckey, who now works for Pixar as a character designer and directed an Oscar-winning short for the company, Boundin' (2003).)
Take a look at the tracks after the jump.
Original Sesame Street Cast, Sesame Street: Old School Volume 2 (E1 Music EOM-CD-2120, 2010)
Disc 1: Original Sesame Street Cast, The Year of Roosevelt Franklin (originally released as Columbia C-30387, 1971)
- Roosevelt Franklin Counts - Roosevelt Franklin and Roosevelt Franklin's Mother
- Days of the Week - Roosevelt Franklin and The Kids
- Mobity Mosely's Months - Mobity Mosely
- Keep on Trying - Baby Ray Franklin and Mary Frances Franklin
- The Safety Boy Blues - Roosevelt Franklin
- Just Because - Roosevelt Franklin
- The Skin I'm In - Baby Ray Franklin
- A Bear Eats Bear Food - Roosevelt Franklin and Mary Frances Franklin
- Halfies - A.B. Cito
- Me and You - Roosevelt Franklin and Mary Frances Franklin
- Old King Midas - Roosevelt Franklin
- Roosevelt Franklin's Alphabet- Roosevelt Franklin and Roosevelt Franklin's Mother
Disc 2: Original Sesame Street Cast, Grover Sings the Blues (originally released as Sesame Street Records CTW-22066, 1974)
- What Do I Do When I'm Alone? - Grover
- Name the Animal - Grover, Ernie and the Muppets
- Grover Takes a Walk - Grover
- Has Anybody Seen My Dog? - Grover and Marty
- Four Furry Friends - Grover, Oscar, Herry and Cookie Monster
- Still, We Like Each Other - Grover and Little Boy
- I Am Blue - Grover
- The Two "G" Sounds - Grover and George
- Me - Grover
- I Stand Up Straight and Tall - Grover
- The Question Song - Grover and Little Girl
- Over, Under, Around and Through - Grover
- Just Because - Grover and Little Girl
- Near and Far - Grover
Disc 2, Tracks 1, 4 and 12 previously released on The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album (Warner Bros. BS 2569, 1971)
Disc 2, Tracks 2-3 previously released on Havin' Fun with Ernie and Bert (Columbia C-25506, 1972)
Disc 2, Tracks 5, 8, 10-11 and 13 previously released on The Muppet Alphabet Album (Columbia C-25503, 1971)
Disc 2, Track 6 previously released on Sesame Street LIVE! (Columbia KC-32343, 1973)
Disc 3: Original Sesame Street Cast, The Count Counts (originally released as Sesame Street Records CTW-22069, 1975)
- Introduction
- Ladybug's Picnic - Dwayne Wayne
- Counting is Wonderful - The Count
- It's a Lovely Eleven Morning - Tammy Whynot
- The "15" Commercial - Guy Smiley
- Ten Turtles - The Amazing Slim and His Country Turtlenecks
- The Count's Weather Report - The Count
- Martian Beauty - The Mariners Nine
- Numerical Correspondence (Sing a Song of Numbers) - The Transylvanian Symphony
- Candy Man - Jerry Lee Nelson
- It's Been a Long, Long Time - The Royal Transylvanians
- The Alligator King - The Alligator King
- Count It Higher - Chris and the Alphabeats
- Counting is Wonderful (reprise) - The Count
- Country Six (The Snail Song) - The Amazing Slim
- Numbers in the News - The Count
- 1-2-3-4-5! - Five Bat Night
- Beep - Two Anything People
- Four Big Lions - The Amazing Slim
- I Just Adore "4" (from the musical comedy "Two Plus Two") - Big Bird and the Tarnish Brothers
- The "3" Song - The Amazing Slim and His Counting Fools, featuring "Red" Sales and His Son Seth
- Subtraction Blues - David
- Doll House - Dolly Pardon
- The Song of the Count - The Count
Eric Luecking says
Hell yeah, this is what I'm talkin' 'bout. I own Grover Sings The Blues on vinyl. Great stuff.
Shaun says
Oh this is too fun... I don't know that I really need this stuff, but it would be fun to hear it all again.
Having said that, I really wish the "Old School" DVDs would continue. The two volumes that were released a few years ago are an awesome blast from the past. A shame we haven't seen more. Those DVDs are wonderful, but they barely scratch the surface of all the great stuff Sesame Street did in 1969, and all through the 70s.
What I wouldn't do to have the full Stevie Wonder episode, for instance... Go to You Tube and check out Stevie playing "Superstition" right there on "the street." Six or seven minutes of pure bliss. His giving Grover some music lessons is fun stuff too!