This album begins very well, with plenty of music from the new series. There's the new opening theme song. We get a rap about kaiju from around the world. There's a commercial for a dinosaur barbecue restaurant. ("Jingle!") Mark Hamill even appears, as a barker for a spectacular circus that he has to describe because it's held in the dark. This is all very good, with plenty of laugh-out-loud songs.
Next, though, are instrumental songs from the new series. These may have been useful during the skits, but the instrumentals aren't really amusing on their own. And these songs take up about a third of the album!
The last third of the Original Soundtrack are some popular songs from the original series. These would be great -- except these are also instrumental songs! (Mary Jo Pehl almost sneaks back, but...) Since the humor comes from the lyrics, these songs tease funny classic hits and pulls the rug out from under us. Instead of giving us classic jokes, the album plays a cruel joke on the listener here.
I so wanted to like Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return -- Original Soundtrack, and the first third of non-instrumental songs is great. But the bizarre inclusion of so many instrumental songs on a comedy album really brings things down.
Overall grade: C-
Reviewed by James Lynch
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