3/5 Surprisingly good - in parts
  by Atli Hafsteinsson (Viborg, Denmark)
I take albums made upon the success of a franchise with a grain of salt. At first glance, that is exactly what The Yellow Album appears to be. It was released as a follow-up to the 1990 hit The Simpsons Sing the Blues - oddly, eight years later, when the hype surrounding that had long since died down. I really like SStB, which features a lot of good musical moments as well as funny covers. The Yellow Album is by no means as strong. Give it a chance, though, and you'll discover that it has its charms.

The Yellow Album covers about as many musical styles as a ten-track album can. It has no songs in the reign of "Do the Bartman", but bear with me. It opens with the song "Love?", which turns out to be a surprisingly catchy melody. Other good moments include a cover of "Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves" by Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson (and Lisa Simpson - Yeardley Smith shows once again that she's as good a singer as a voice actress), the funk-fest "She's comin' out Swingin'" and the five-part showdown "Hail to Thee, Kamp Krusty". Unfortunately, there is also some rather sub-par stuff, such as "I Just Can't Help Myself", as well as songs that the label of the Simpsons rather pulls down than supports. Examples of the latter include "Every Summer with You" (the only track with Marge) and Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away".

There are three specific songs, however, which I think justify the purchase and which explain my three star rating. "Twenty-Four Hours a Day" is a funky, lively anthem for Apu, quite insanely catchy. The beautiful "Anyone Else" feels like a heartbreak after Sing the Blues's unifying "Sibling Rivalry". But the highlight in my opinion is "Ten Commandments of Bart", Bart's life's philosophy in his own rap fashion. The track in itself is a truly hypnotic sonic journey; as we spiral backwards through Bart's commandments of anarchy, Greg Haver's musical mindscape rivals the lyrics as the centre of attention, and the result is in my opinion the album's best and most haunting track.

At times the Yellow Album sounds like a pale shadow of Sing the Blues, but at others it stands proud for what it is - a Simpsons tribute album, with some good numbers standing out, as well as nice moments like Patty and Selma Bouvier unexpectedly joining in during the closing moments of "Sisters are Doin' it for Themselves". This is not the album of the century, and don't expect to like it as a whole. Give it a chance, though, and you (like me) could discover something wonderful. "Ten Commandments of Bart" alone is worth the purchase.

3/5 It's alright...
  by William Hoffknecht (Fernley, NV)
So if you are expecting something like "The Simpsons Sing the Blues", you are getting that, but not at the same time.

This album is the same idea as sing the blues, has that awesome album cover, but musically is pretty weak. The vocals and lyrics are not bad, but the background music is really like bad eighties pop.

If you are a hardcore fan of The Simpsons, I recommend it, but only under that condition.

4/5 Were the Simpsons ever on MTV?
  by John M. Stewart (Angwin, CA)
I don't know if they ever were (at least for this album), but it does seem they should be doesn't it. This album has ten tracks of simpson-like fun with multi genera (yes like the taxon) song style action. If you like the simpsons you'll give it about a 3 3/4 if you can figure out how.

2/5 Worst Simpsons album ever!
  by Johnny Heering (Bethel, CT United States)
The Simpsons first album wasn't that good, but it did manage to turn a profit. So they naturally recorded a follow up album soon afterwards. Apparently the record company wasn't too impressed with the results, because there was a slight delay in the release of the album. And by "slight" I mean approximately six years. To be fair to those record company executives who held back it's release, the album does have a few problems. The main one being that it's not funny. Let me repeat that: IT'S! NOT! FUNNY! At all! The whole album is pretty much a disaster. The first album was merely mediocre, but this one is downright bad. The "highlight" here is probably "She's Coming Out Swinging", where Lisa works with George Clinton's P-Funk All-Stars. That track is not too unbearable. As for the rest of the album, the less said the better. To quote Bart Simpson, "I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows."

4/5 And Now For Something Completely Different.
  by tvtv3 (Sorento, IL United States)
THE YELLOW ALBUM is more similar in style to the first Simpsons album, THE SIMPSONS SING THE BLUES. The songs on this album aren't any of the tunes that have been played on the show before. Instead, the cd is a regular album with the cast singing songs with musical stars (Linda Ronstadt, the P-Funk All-Stars). Several genres of music are covered from rap to blues to country to pop. Even though there are a lot of fun pieces, the best song on the album is "Twenty-Four Hours A Day" sung by Apu and his back up singers known as The Squishees. "Twenty-Four Hours A Day" contains a musical variation of everything that makes the Simpsons, the Simpsons. I also enjoyed "Every Summer With You", which is basically a love duet sung by Homer and Marge. Lisa takes a swing at some rocking blues with "She's Comin' Out Swingin'" and Bart and Lisa revel in sibling rivalry in "Anyone Else". THE YELLOW ALBUM isn't the best Simpsons album out there and not every Simpsons fan will like the cd. However, it does have a lot of fun songs and I liked it more than THE SIMPSONS SING THE BLUES.