Hollywood Records release a number of previously unreleased songs from the musical TV series Galavant. Galavant is a dashing knight, down on his luck, determined to reclaim his reputation and his "Happily Ever After" by going after the evil King Richard, who ruined it the moment he kidnapped the love of Galavant's life, Madalena. Galavant is assisted by Princess Isabella, whose kingdom of Valencia Richard has conquered, and Sid, his squire...

I'm assuming that at some point in the past an album of music from the show was released, but these 20 tracks (30 min, 57 sec) were left off, for whatever reason. As there's also another release coming out from Hollywood Records (the 2-disc Galavant: The Complete Collection) the label is kindly ensuring that those who bought the first release don't have to buy the new 2-disc album in order to own all the songs released. Now that's refreshing: a label that really cares about its customers and isn't just trying to cash in on their love of the show.

I have to admit that I haven't seen the show, so I'm not getting the best out of the album as while I can pretty much follow the story, there's no booklet to follow. But it whet my appetite enough that I'm planning on watching the series as soon as possible.

The album is packed full of diverse and memorable songs. In fact if at least a handful of them don't lodge in your mind then I'll be surprised. I've been humming/singing these spontaneously much to the annoyance of those around me.

It's an interesting album, but if you haven't bought the previous release (if there was one) then I'd strongly advise you to pick up the 2-disc release which includes all of the tracks here as well as loads more.

The musical styles pay homage to so many well known musicals and most are packed full of dark humour. Fans of the show will love this, but lovers of Musicals will also be impressed with how varied the tracks are.

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Darren Rea