Search - Various Artists :: Music From The Wonder Years: Party Time (1983-93 Television Series)

The most enjoyable of the Wonder Years albums

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 09/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Volume 4 of The Wonder Years collection, Party Time, is easily the most fun album of the set, more than living up to its name. This is made manifest at the very start, as The Jackson 5's ABC and Leslie Girl's It's My Party start the music off with great energy and feeling. Bachman-Turner Overdrive's Takin' Care of Business does nothing to slacken the upbeat pace, and Jewel Akens' (Let Me Tell You About) The Birds and the Bees makes sure that the fun is not left behind along the way. The Inks Spots' If I Didn't Care isn't exactly a party tune, and it was old when the golden oldies were still new, but it is a great song known to be one of the favorites of Fred Sanford on Sanford and Son. The real magic here, though, comes in the form of the exhilarating love song Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Diana Ross & the Supremes and the achingly beautiful Smoke Gets In Your Eyes as sung by one of my all-time favorite groups, The Platters. The Wonder Years music is really all about Snuffy Walden, of course, and the first of his two pieces of musical composition featured on this CD is just gorgeous: serious yet playful, it easily evokes memories of treasured moments from the original television series.I do not believe Sky Pilot was ever used on a Wonder Years episode, but the other nine tracks definitely have place in Wonder Years history. The Birds and the Bees appeared in episode 38, "Tree House," a coming-of-age episode that WY fans will probably remember quite well. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes goes back to episode 66, "The Accident," which is one of the most memorable of all WY episodes. All in all, this may be the best of the five volumes in The Wonder Years collection."