On a purely musical level, which is the best musical episode?

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Put aside anything about their plots, their pacing, complaints about Twilight becoming a Princess, Hearths Warming Tail being a retelling of a Christmas Carol, Crusaders of the Lost Mark being rushed WHATEVER. And just think on a purely musical level which musical episode had the strongest set of music?

[Megas 27,062]

Vote goes to Magical Mystery Cure purely on the intro alone. I love that intro

Edited May 18, 2016 by Megas

[Jeric 46,834]

I'm ignoring things like pacing issues and narrative concerns when I answer. Magical Mystery Cure and Pinkie Pride both contained solid songs with a decent score. Crusaders threw in some cool tricks like changing the scale for a song. Hearths Warning Tail though ... several of the songs had arrangements that surprised me in a good way. As RainShadow said about Seeds of the Past 

 

 

 

[it] moves gracefully from the banjo & guitar and more orchestral backing score. As we reach the second part, the orchestration moves more to the latter, with more woodwinds and strings added on top. The song concludes with an emotional part by Starlight, and a toned down backing of simple guitar and strings.

 

Also, that tempo change was amazing. 

 

And Pinkie's Present ... I will again quote the venerable RainShadow

 

 

 

This song itself marks several other events production-wise. First off, in addition to Caleb Chan’s orchestration, Steffan Andrews returns to the series for the first time since Season 4 to help with the horn arrangement, along with Dave Corman. In a first for the series, the song was recorded with a live band at The Warehouse Studios, the same place where the previously released MLP Christmas Album was recorded. The additional quality of the live horns most certainly shows in the final product, and it’s awesome that Daniel Ingram had the opportunity to record this song with them!

 

Live band! To me it was extremely noticeable. Also I would like to point out that if you listen to just the music from beginning to end, the songs and score seamlessly flow! To me that puts Hearts Warming Tail in a lofty position. I personally prefer Pinkie Pride and Crusaders of the Lost Mark as episodes, but the music featured in the latest episode is on a whole new level. 

[Rarity Is Best Pony 634]

I have to side with A Hearthswarming Tail as I felt that it's songs were more varied and to me that would qualify it as the better "musical". However having said that I love all of MLP's songs so any episode with copious amounts of them is a winner in my book.

[Jeric 46,834]

Vote goes to Magical Mystery Cure purely on the intro alone. I love that intro

 

 

Fun fact: Rebecca Shoichet said that Morning in Ponyville was her favorite song to sing so far in the show. It is one of the songs that I think gets forgotten sometimes, but as a fan of Rogers and Hammerstein styled musical theater ... I loved it. 

[Chuckles4lyfe 441]

This is such a difficult poll to answer!!! I absolutely LOVED every musical episode that we've had so far. But if I had to pick 1, it would have to go to A Hearth's Warming Tale. Perhaps because it is still fresh in all of our minds, but the musical variety was just a joy to my ears. It just goes to show that the music staff can still crank out fantastic music that is far from stale after all these years  . 

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

I am, by no means, a musical expert, nor do I have any to consult like @Jeric did. I don't know enough to be a good music critic beyond making witty analogies as to the sound of certain songs. But in terms of tone and scale, I feel that the songs from "Magical Mystery Cure" really fit the tone of the episode the best. All except for the one where she's introduced by those Fluttershy recolors, which felt short, cliche, tacked-on, and blowing Twilight's horn a little too much with its basic lyrics. "A Hearth's Warming Tale" comes very close.

 

I do feel the songs in "A Canterlot Wedding" did better overall, with interesting trickery such as the rumored "deceptive cadence" and the overall Disney-esque tone the songs set up, but there were only a handful of songs in that two-parter.

[cmarston1 5,951]

My vote would also go for Magical Mystery Cure. It honestly has some of the best songs and score to come out of the series.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

o yeah I guess I should I personally got with Hearthswarming Tail cause it had by far the greatest amount of musical variety in it's songs and they were all pulled off really well.

 

 

Weakest for me would probably be Pinkie Pride, none of the songs there are BAD but aside from Pinkie's Lament their all pretty typical Pinkie style songs with some Polka thrown in when Cheese Sandwich is singing. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[twiia 1,842]

The Hearthswarming Tail is my favorite, the songs were simply amazing.

[Steve Piranha 28,769]

Magical Mystery Cure. Each song transmitted the feelings and mood of each character and situation  

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Pinkie Pride! Because Weird Al! Need I say more?

[dekutree64 711]

Crusaders of the Lost Mark has by far the most emotional impact on me. I love every song from it, and cried a lot the first couple times I watched it. The episode itself is my favorite of the series as well, and It's been long enough now to confirm that it will never get old. Doesn't seem rushed at all to me, especially compared to MMC.

 

I think Canterlot Wedding has enough songs to qualify, and it's second place for me. The closest thing to the feel of the classic Disney animated movies since the turn of the millennium Don't forget to listen to the background music during Shining and Cadence's changeling launcher spell. Simply beautiful.

 

MMC is next. I don't like Twilight's sad song, but the cutie mark song and True True Friend are both top notch, and the rest are good too.

 

Pinkie Pride is decent, but I don't tend to listen to its songs that often. The first and last are my favorites.

 

I'll have to listen to the HWT songs again sometime. I didn't especially like any of them the first time. Too soon to judge it.

[NeonCobalt 256]

Ah! Don't make me choose!

 

Ok, but seriously, I chose Magical Mystery Cure. In my opinion, it has the best songs out of all of the musical episodes, with some of them being almost iconic, in my opinion. Although A Hearthswarming Tale comes in a close second for me.

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

MMC, hooves down.  Some of the best songs in the series, right there (I've Got to Find a Way is second only to The Magic Inside, imo), and I actually loved every song in that episode, which is really rare.  Second would be Crusaders, mostly for DT's solo.  That was great.  I was never a big fan of Pinkie Pride.  The songs were forgettable for me.  Pinkie's Lament was pretty good, but still rather forgettable.  And honestly, I was a bit disappointed with Weird Al.  I've always liked him, but I thought his song could have much better.  (I really wanted The Alternative Polka in FIM. :/ )  Hearth Tail wouldn't even get an honorable mention in my book.  It was a solid, decent episode, but in terms of music, it was completely ordinary and forgettable for me.  Luna's part was fairly badass, but still a forgettable song.  The highlight of that episode was Twilight's Pinkie impression.  That might well be the most ridiculously precious that anypony has ever been....ever.

 

Here's a little treat:  you've never heard I've Got to Find a Way unless you've heard the whole thing!