It’s official: Christmas has arrived early! This surprise gift takes the form of an all-new vinyl release of the elusive The Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack. That’s right, you can bring home cheeses for the meeses with a shiny vinyl from iam8bit, The Muppets Studio, and Walt Disney Records. They’re putting the iconic Miles Goodman and Paul Williams’ music from, objectively, the best-ever adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, on a single LP with 17 tracks. (Though we should note that Brett Goldstein’s take on The Muppet Christmas Carol definitely wins best adaptation of the adaptation).
The Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack release comes with completely remastered tracks. It includes “When Love Is Gone” performed by Meredith Braun’s Belle, as well as a cover of the moving song from performer Martina McBride. This song has a whole history. Paul Williams originally wrote and shot “When Love Is Gone” for the movie. However, then chairman of Disney Jeffrey Katzenberg felt the song came across as too “sophisticated emotionally” for children. He cut the song from the theatrical cut. Then Disney lost the song. But they recently found it again and put back into the The Muppet Christmas Carol‘s 4K release. And now it’s here on this soundtrack. Such a journey.
The vinyl release comes with some beautiful art. Its jacket features an original illustration by Kevin Wilson. Kermit the Frog’s Bob Cratchit sits at the center of the jacket among the 1992 movie’s Muppet cast. But perhaps our favorite part of the package is the center-label art. The label features the perpetually grumpy Statler and Waldorf as Jacob and Robert Marley.
The Muppet Christmas Carol vinyl soundtrack will be available on iam8bit’s site on November 26 at 9 a.m. PT. They’ll have the exclusive version for $29.99; it’s pressed on “Ghosts of Christmas Blue” translucent vinyl. Meanwhile, distribution partners and retailers will have green and red vinyl variants.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.