FAMILY GUY LIVE IN LAS VEGAS [EDITED]

(This package includes a DVD.)

Whose idea was it anyway to take the six members of the The Family Guy from their cartoon hometown of Quahog, Rhode Island to a glitzy stage in downtown Sin City for an evening of musical comedy? Well, it was the idea of series creator Seth MacFarlane, of course.

Irreverence and risk-taking are certainly the hallmarks of the young comedian from New England, and on the CD Family Guy Live in Vegas, he creates 15 original tracks that go even farther than the Fox program does in terms of its randy, un-PC content.

As baby Stewie says on track two after Brian the dog admonishes him to watch his language, "Oh it's a record album for godsakes, let's cut loose a bit."

The CD, which certainly cuts loose, is made up of songs and stage banter performed by the cast members "live" on stage. MacFarlane also invents scenarios where celebrities are singing alongside the cartoon characters.

There's a swinging duet, for example, where the precocious and angry Stewie and his "babysitter" (real-life singer and actress Haylie Duff, playing herself) exchange barbs to the cool strains of the 55-member Walter Murphy Orchestra: the real-life Vegas-based big band that plays masterfully and classily throughout the album's course -- even as the language and lyrics get raunchier and more outlandish as the "show" goes on.

In another instance, The Griffin Family's next door neighbor, sex addict Glenn Quagmire, and real-life Broadway legend Patti LuPone, do a musical re-hashing of an old fling they had together in an original duet called "The 'Q' Man Loves Nobody." There are also appearances by Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander and Batman actor Adam West, playing themselves.

MacFarlane does most of the voices for the show's male cast members, including the dry-humored, dry-martini-loving family dog with the Oxford vocabulary ... and as Brian, he croons in a convincing Sinatra style. Brian's sentimental odes to alcohol ("Dear Booze"), Paris ("The Last Time I Saw Paris"), and Brazilian jazz (with a straight-ahead rendition of the classic Brazilian cabaret song "Slightly Out of Tune") are musical highlights.

The best track is possibly "But Then I Met You," a bossa nova sung by husband Peter and his wife Lois (voiced by Mad TV's Alex Borstein) about the sorry state of their love lives before they met each other and fell in love. A hilarious and definitely unsentimental testament to love and marriage.

The whole concept, with the canned live laughter to create the illusion that these cartoon characters are actually being recorded doing a live show in front of a real audience, works to a "T." And fans of the show will appreciate not only the production values and the quality of the music, but also the chance to experience MacFarlane's Family Guy comedy in a completely uncensored format for the first time.

The package comes with a DVD for a song (not included on the CD) called "Sexy Party" that's a vehicle for Stewie (he raps!), along with two short documentaries on the making of the Live in Vegas CD and on the making of the "Sexy Party" video, where we get to meet MacFarlane behind the scenes.

By T Johnson, Todd Spencer