The Yellow Album


The Yellow Album is The Simpsons second album of originally recorded songs, released as a follow-up to the 1990 album The Simpsons Sing the Blues. Though it was released in 1998, it had been recorded years earlier, after the success of the first album. The title is a play on the name of The Beatles' highly popular self-titled 1968 album, commonly known as "The White Album", with the skin color of the characters of The Simpsons. In addition, the cover is a parody of The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The parody was also used for a couch gag in Season 8 Simpsons episodes "Bart After Dark" and "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show". A similar version of it is on the inside of the United Kingdom version of The Simpsons Season 9 DVD. An outtake named "My Name is Bart" is a parody of musician Prince's 1992 single "My Name Is Prince". In 1993, it was also reported that Matt Groening had penned a rap song to be performed by Bart.
James L. Brooks, producer of the show, wanted to produce a follow-up album based on the popular reception of the debut, but creator Matt Groening was against it. The cast recorded a second album, titled The Yellow Album, but it was not released until 1998, where it suffered poor reception. The album was to be released in February 1993 and feature Prince, Linda Ronstadt, and C&C Music Factory. Plans were in the works for music videos to accompany The Yellow Album.

Production

cowrote and produced "Ten Commandments of Bart."

Track listing

"My Name Is Bart" is a bonus track only found on promotional copies of the album.

Critical reception

The album received mixed to negative reviews.
The Star-Telegram compared the album to , arguing that "the subversion is only skin-deep, especially when both shows thrive on the type of money-grubbing merchandising that results in junk like Chef Aid: The South Park Album and The Simpsons The Yellow Album, both released just in time for Christmas". The Tampa Bay Times said the album "is an uninspired collection whose best feature is a too-tiny takeoff on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", noting that songs such as Ten Commandments of Bart sound dated, though others like Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves are praiseworthy. Allmusic gave the album a rating of 2 out of 5 stars.
Nevertheless, there was some hype leading up to the release of the album. Entertainment Weekly writer David Browne said he "eagerly await" it in March 1993, a month before it was set to be released.