The saga of the Simpson family, and the history and environs of

Springfield, have long been recognized as the most fully imagined

landscape in American culture, surpassing such tough contenders as

George Lucas' Star Wars Galaxy and Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha

County, Sesame Street and Washington Irving's Knickerbocker

region. So at this point, the show's tie-in products -- be they

T-shirts, candy bars, custom chess sets or graduate courses -- have

reached a life beyond mere one-off merchandising. Simpsons products are

practically on a level with the Pledge of Allegiance, or at least the

Franklin Mint -- enduring symbols of American ascendancy. Legend has it

that during the Battle of the Bulge, American GIs weeded out Nazi

infiltrators by demanding answers to such U.S.-specific popular trivia

as "Who is Mickey Mouse's girlfriend?" This kind of strategy would never

work today for the simple reason that the Germans are as familiar with

Chief Wiggum and Ned Flanders as we are.

The Yellow Album is only the second Simpsons album from Geffen,

but it is one of a long line of CDs sung by the cast of the show. The

best known of all the Simpsons albums, Rhino's Songs in the Key of

Springfield, functioned as an original cast album, featuring the

songs written for the show by Alf Clausen (lyrics by the writers). The

two Geffen albums are all-original efforts, and of this concept,

perhaps, the less said the better.

For it's not just that the singing efforts of Simpsons characters lose

their charm when removed from the show, but that no song can do justice

to the show's sly, wry, full-blooded comedy. Consider two show-stoppers

written, respectively, for Lisa and Bart. On some level it makes sense

to have Lisa, the show's most durable feminist, cover Annie Lennox's

"Sisters are Doin' It for Themselves." By the same token, the hip-hop

effort "The Ten Commandments of Bart" (including "Thou shalt be sure to

shake your big rear end") is appropriate, but do we really need to hear

that Bart is a mischievous kid, especially when the rap never quite

lives up to its classic predecessor, "Mr. T's Commandments"? The really

objectionable thing about Simpsons spin-off products is that they

flatten the show, make it seem so literal, rob it of its subtle,

between-the-frames wittiness. Who needs new Simpsons stuff when the show

we already have is so perfect?

Which isn't to say that the album doesn't have its high points,

including an Isaac Hayes-like turn by Apu in "Twenty-Four Hours a Day"

and an appearance by George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars on "She's

Comin' Out Swingin'" (which is actually a pretty good song). But for

those of us with little patience for novelty records, the fact that this

one is sung by beloved Simpsons characters doesn't go very far in making

it enjoyable to listen to. For real Simpsons die-hards, the CD may be

worth buying only for its cover art -- a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's

cover, whose cast of characters reminds us of the richness of

Springfield in a way the CD's music never does.