Little Mermaid Splash Hits Album Review
Theme Song by Brian Setzer and owned by Walt Disney Records
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We’re going to do things a little differently this time around. Instead of a visual medium the subject of today is Little Mermaid albums. Yes there was actually a time when The Little Mermaid was so popular that many albums were produced. Some of them had the classic songs from the film while others had new original songs. The albums were an obvious way for Disney to utilize Jodi Benson’s fabulous singing voice to keep the spirit of Ariel alive long after the film. These albums sold considerably well, but they faded away when Mermaid’s popularity dwindled. Some of you might have caught the fact that I didn’t talk about the musical numbers in the TV show review. I left that part out because this album features most of the songs in the show so I figured I would talk about them here. Now it’s time to talk about an album that hasn’t been seen or heard from in 20 years. This is Little Mermaid Splash Hits!
This is pretty much the song from the show that everyone remembers. This song appears in the episode “Evil Manta”. Ariel is trying to break the Manta’s spell by singing about togetherness and how the only true way to beat prejudice and hatred is with love and understanding. A beautiful song with a beautiful message. The song is well written enough that it avoids the trap of being preachy which is always a plus.
This is a song that is sung by Sebastian(Samuel E. Wright) in the episode “Whale of a Tale”. This song has no real purpose in the story. It’s just a song for Sebastian to sing in an Atlantican event called “the Spring Celebration” that is soon crashed by Spot: the Killer Whale that Ariel has adopted.
This is a fun “get up an’ go get ’em” song. It appears in the episode “Message in a Bottle”. It’s a duet between Simon the Friendly Sea Monster and Ariel. Ariel having a caring heart encourages the shy, sheltered, and misunderstood monster to muster the courage to get out of his cave and spend a few days in Atlantica.
This song appeared in the episode “Whale of a Tale” (before “You Got to be You) and it’s Ariel trying to convince Spot that it’s okay and that she and Flounder are going to take care of him. It’s also to convince Flounder that taking him in is a good idea. The song is generic, but then again it’s not trying to be the next “Part of Your World” or anything. It serves it’s purpose in the story of the episode and it’s a very sweet and gentle song.
SEA FLOOR STRUT (ORIGINAL SONG)
This is the first original song of the album. When it comes to actual musical analysis this song should be bad, but since this song is made for the little kiddies it’s an okay song where Sebastian teaches us an Atlantican dance called the sea floor strut.
This song is from the episode “Double Bubble”. The Lobster Mobster and Shrimp kidnap a sea duke’s twin merbabies and wish to hold them for ransom and the outlaw duo want to make the kids go to sleep. So they naturally sing a gangsta’ version of a lullaby. This song worked in the show, but I don’t think it was meant for CD release. Still it can be an amusing song to some. There are a few good lyrical moments in the song, but it’s far from the best song on the disc.
PLEASE DON’T WAKE THE WHALE (ORIGINAL SONG)
You might think this song is from the whale episode. No, this is an original song. This is an okay song. Nothing really stands out or is hummable, but I will say this song can get funny. The funny thing about this song is that Ariel gets pissed off. You can hear Jodi Benson’s voice getting a little ticked because Ariel is trying to make a whale (presumably Spot) go to sleep, but assholes won’t shut up and keep rousing the whale from his slumber. I find it funny hearing Ariel get pissed so it’s worth a listen.
REEF WITH A VIEW (ORIGINAL SONG)
This is an interesting song. The song pretty much comes out of left field. The song is sung by an Atlantican nightclub singer, who is a new character that wasn’t even featured in the show. His name is Wayne the Newt. He sings a song about a dream home (or reef in this case) with his wife. Since this song is just being sung for entertainment purposes at a club there’s no real story point to it. The song is okay and it’s certainly unique. Seriously he’s even introduced by an announcer and is backed up with a band called “The Chowderheads”. WTF? And I can’t resist “BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT”!!!!!!!!
LOBSTER MOBSTER’S MOB (TV SHOW)
This song appeared in the episode “Urchin”. The first half of this episode is featured in my review of the show so some of you might have heard it already. This song is sung by the Lobster Mobster and Shrimp. The criminal duo try to convince the orphan that a criminal life is glamorous. This is a much better song then Beddie-Bye Blues. It’s more entertaining, but still it’s more effective if you have the show’s visuals backing up the song.
Judging by how the title is spelled you might’ve guessed that Sebastian is singing this song. You’re right! This song appeared in the episode “Red” (the first half of the episode is available in the show review). Like “You Got to be You” this song doesn’t really serve a purpose in the story of the episode. It’s just a song that Sebastian sings during the party that Ariel is hosting. The song is fun and entertaining and is a perfect song to play during your toddler’s birthday party.The cool part about this song is that it’s the extended version!
THE EDGE OF THE EDGE OF THE SEA (TV SHOW)
This song appeared in the episode “Stormy”. Ariel wants to take up sea horse riding and she obviously wants to ride the wild exotic horse named Stormy. Unfortunately King Triton forbids it because Stormy is a wild sea horse and has a reputation of being very rough and being virtually impossible to tame. Ariel foolishly believes that she can tame him and senses something of a kindred spirit in the horse. She sings this song not only to free Stormy, but to free herself as well.
IN MY BLUE BACKYARD (ORIGINAL SONG)
This is a great song. It’s calm and soothing. This song adds to Ariel’s character development. Ariel sings about how she loves to just explore the undersea realm and to not be bound by borders. The interesting thing is that this shows how much Ariel loves and respects the undersea realm no matter how much she wants to live on land. Jodi Benson is as always great and captures the right emotion to show that Ariel does love the sea.
The album comes to a close with Ariel singing about the true value of home and is actually a perfect extension of “In My Blue Backyard” because it talks about how much she loves her home. She pursued to live on land in order to find an answer to where she belonged in the world as well as to fuel her curiosity. One of the lyrics is about that no matter how far she is away from it her heart will always belong to her home. She may want to live in our world, but she will always love Atlantica and the entire undersea realm.
Final Thoughts
This album is a really neat collection of songs from the television show. Some songs shouldn’t have been on this disc, but isn’t that the case with every CD. This is worth every penny especially if you’re a fan of the Atlantican universe like myself.
BEST AND WORST
Yeah I’m going to steal Paw’s best/ worst segment. For worst I’m going to give it to “Sea Floor Strut”. It’s just a song that was thrown in for 2 year olds and it wasn’t even well written. Plus there’s no visuals to have you really learn the dance anyway. What a load of bullcrap! For best I’m going to go with “In My Blue Backyard” with “In Harmony” coming in at a close second. “Blue Backyard” is just so soothing and catchy as well as advancing Ariel’s character. I’m going to leave you with a link to “In My Blue Backyard”. Next time I’m going to close Mermaid Month with another album that can be considered the LOST EPISODE of the TV show!
