Andy Sturmer - Scooby Songs - Non-Album Tracks (1999-2023)

Here's a strange album, probably one of the strangest I've ever posted on this blog. It mostly consists of songs about the Scooby Doo TV show and movies!

The only reason I care about such songs is due to the person who wrote and sang them: Andy Sturmer. If you're not familiar with his name, he was one of two main co-writers for the power pop group Jellyfish, and he sang most of their songs. In my opinion, he is a pop songwriting genius, and has a great voice. But after Jellyfish broke up in the early 1990s, he decided he didn't want to be in a band and live the rock and roll lifestyle. In all the years since then, he's kept a very, very low profile.

But that's not to say he hasn't still done music. He recorded an album's worth of demos around 1999, but never released him. Luckily, they were leaked to the public and you can find them here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/11/andy-sturmer-holding-out-for-something.html

He also got deeply involved with Japanese pop music. He's had a long association with the Japanese duo Puffy AmiYumi, writing many hit songs for them and producing even more. I like a lot of their music, despite the fact that the vast majority of their songs are sung in Japanese, even most of the ones written by Sturmer. (I have to assume he learned to speak Japanese since he has such a deep connection the Japanese music. He even sang a song in Japanese back when he was in Jellyfish.) I may post a Puffy AmiYumi compilation, if there's enough interest and if I get around to it.

Sturmer's relationship with AmiYumi blossomed in the late 1990s and continued into the 2000s. But increasingly after 2000, he found more work applying his ability to write catchy pop songs for commercials, TV shows, and the like. The vast majority of these had him write the songs but other people would sing them. However, by and by, he developed a deeper relationship with the people making new Scooby Doo TV shows and TV movies, especially TV movies. 

Frankly, these sound pretty bad, with titles like "LEGO Scooby Doo! Haunted Hollywood" and "Scooby Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon." (Keep in mind WWE is the name of a professional wrestler association.) Even so, songs were needed, and Sturmer has such a magic touch that even songs about the Scooby Doo gang sound pretty good to me.

The vast majority of the songs here are from various Scooby Doo related projects. However, the first three songs are from different projects, including a song for a Winnie the Pooh project and one for a Batman one. Also, the fifth song, "Himawari," sounds very different from all the rest. It's sung entirely in Japanese. It comes from a 2007 tribute album to the Japanese band Unicorn, another band that he has connections to, including production work.

On the downside, these songs are often short, and about Scooby Doo related themes. They also sometimes have weird noises over them, because none of these have been officially released on record as far as I know (other than "Himawari"), so sounds from the TV show or movie often overlapped with the music. I tried to clean that up as best I could (that's why four of the songs have "[Edit]" in their titles, because those had more editing done than the others), but I couldn't clean everything.

On the upside, if you like the power pop hooks of Jellyfish, you should like this. It's somewhat different, more commercial and less rocking, for instance. But the songs are nothing if not catchy. Plus, I only selected the ones actually sung (or co-sung) by Sturmer, and he has a great voice. Furthermore, I don't think anyone has ever put together a collection of these songs before, so this should be new to just about everyone.

This album is pretty short, at only 31 minutes. However, Sturmer is still at it. The last two songs are from 2023. So I hope more songs will emerge and I'll be able to add to this album. Better yet, I hope he puts out some original music that doesn't consist of Scooby Doo songs!

01 Fourth of July Parade (Andy Sturmer)
02 The Little Things You Do (Andy Sturmer)
03 Batman, the Brave and the Bold [Instrumental] (Andy Sturmer)
04 When the Circus Comes to Town (Andy Sturmer)
05 Himawari (Andy Sturmer)
06 On the Case (Andy Sturmer)
07 I Don't Know about You (Andy Sturmer)
08 Appetite (Andy Sturmer)
09 Wake Me Up to Say Goodnight [Edit] (Andy Sturmer)
10 Brand New World [Edit] (Andy Sturmer)
11 Hollywood (Andy Sturmer)
12 No Pain, No Gain (Andy Sturmer)
13 Scooby-Doo, Scooby Don't [Edit] (Andy Sturmer)
14 Scoobystition [Edit] (Andy Sturmer)
15 Go Big (Andy Sturmer)
16 Where Only Heroes Go (Andy Sturmer)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16227824/ANDYSTRMR2003-2023_ScobySngs_atse.zip.html

I put the album cover together. I found a photo of Sturmer, but I have no idea where or when it's from. It's probably from his Jellyfish days, because he hasn't been photographed much (or at all) since then. I scattered some Scooby Doo characters around him, in keeping with the music content.