VARIOUS ARTISTS -- HANNA-BARBERA'S PIC-A-NIC BASKET OF CARTOON CLASSICS (Rhino): It's funny how audio releases of cartoon music are so appealing, and on different levels. On one level, they're great as nostalgia. On a different level, especially with Carl Stallings' compositions from the Warner Bros. cartoons, they're appealing musically. But this set of Hanna-Barbera audio, featuring two new discs added to two previously released, shouldn't be taken seriously (in the fun sense). However, hearing the underscores without the animation gives a new appreciation to the complexity of some of the themes you've heard a million times in their cartoons. Rhino has smartly chosen to include a lot of soundtrack material from the cartoons, which gives the set an appeal to both adults and kids. Overall, the four discs, "Hanna-Barbera Classics," "More Hanna-Barbera Classics," "Best of the Flintstones' Stone-Age Melodies" and "Hanna-Barbera: The Greatest Cartoon Sound FX Ever", are tons of fun. And that's the way it should be. (November '96)