The Wonder Years (1988-93 Television Series)

The successful TV series The Wonder Years could be viewed as the ultimate in baby boomer narcissism, a nostalgic generation marvelling at how special it once was (try running that notion by a child of the Depression--or a Gen X'er). Whatever the reasons for its success, the show's musical soundtrack at least tried to reinvent some of its inherently shopworn '60s staples by letting contemporary artists cover them: The Indigo Girls tackling the Youngbloods' "Get Together"; The Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" covered by the son of a late rival, Julian Lennon, "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" given a strange sort of respect by "Was (Not Was)." And for a little modern nostalgia, how about two tracks by (including the saccharine title) by Debbie Gibson? --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

It's as good as you want it to be...

Many customers have chosen to give this CD a poor review. In response to them... This CD is wonderful. It reminds me of loading in the back of my parent's car with my brother and sister and driving to the Florida coast for summer vacation. So the songs are not the orignial. Big deal. It contains memories for me and I am proud to have it in my collection. An amazing show...an amazing CD! June 10, 2006

A difficult one

Although I liked the cover picture and could never give 1 star to anything connected to the Wonder Years, I have to say I was more than a little dissapointed to discover that Fred Savage wasn't singing all the songs. A wasted opportunity. November 16, 2005

A good old classic

These songs are really good. My favorites are Ruby Tuesday, and Baby I need your loving. I have listened to this crusing down the highway with the windows down and brings back old memories. It is worth buying, don't expect a Gem, but expect some good classic songs. November 7, 2005

This CD is not Wonder Years!

I bought this CD to listen to one of my favorite songs from the show and what did I get nothing. It doesn't even have the songs that were in the show. It's just songs that they just copied from various oldies CD's. There are maybe a few songs that were in the show in there but most of them aren't. It's a good thing I get to hear the score piece in there it's beautiful but the rest of the songs sucks. Don't even waste your money on the other Wonder Years CD's because most of them are the same as this one. Good thing I got my Kazaa to look at the list of songs that were in The Wonder Years so I can make my own instead of buying these crappy CD's. June 27, 2004

Puzzling song selection makes this a CD for WY fans only

As a huge fan of The Wonder Years, I was overjoyed when this soundtrack was released, but unfortunately it barely resembles the type of soundtrack I had envisioned at the time. The whole concept of this particular album is puzzling at best, as only a smattering of these songs were ever used on the show, several of them are inferior recordings by someone other than the original artists, and not one of the songs that really and truly define this wonderful television series are to be found here. You do get the show's theme song, Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' With a Little Help From My Friends, but the album begins to lose focus as early as the second track, an unnecessary cover of Baby I Need Your Loving by Was (Not Was). This pattern continues itself throughout the rest of the album. On the positive side of things, Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound) is a welcome track, as it provided a most memorable opening for the show's second episode; other highlights include CSNY's Teach Your Children, Van Morrison's trademark Brown Eyed Girl, and Carole King's Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

The remaining tracks beg for some sort of explanation. The Escape Club's Twentieth Century Fox not only varies considerably from the other songs collected here, it has nothing to do with The Wonder Years or its era. The Indigo Girls do a good job with Get Together, but why do we have their version instead of the original? Having Julian Lennon perform the Stones' Ruby Tuesday is sheer madness. Then there are the two Debbie Gibson tracks; I for one have always liked Debbie Gibson, and I know that she was a big Wonder Years fan (Danica McKellar actually appeared in one of her music videos), but most people enjoy her rendition of In the Still of the Night less than I do, and even I would prefer to hear the original version of the song. Gibson's second track, Come Home, is actually a song she herself wrote many, many years after the time in which the show was based.

In the end, I can only recommend this soundtrack to devoted fans of The Wonder Years, as a select few of the songs do bring back memories of the show. For the casual fan, there's little point investing in an album that contains so few original versions of classic songs. September 27, 2003

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