Review: A Musical History of Disneyland
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Track 5 - Space Mountain
This track starts with some of the communications chat that played in the
queue. Then it fades into the original onboard soundtrack of Space
Mountain. Another one of my all-time favorites, the original soundtrack of
Space Mountain managed to be both incredibly exciting and fun while maintaining
the mysterious mood of outer space. Dick Dale's masterful guitar work
completes the unique sound. Once again I'm going to nitpick a bit here,
and that is that I've always been a little disappointed by the fact that the
drop cue has never been included in the available tracks of the
attraction. For those of who you are not familiar with the soundtrack, the
actual vehicles had certain musical cues that would be triggered by points on
the track. The most distinguishable was a musical cue that played at the
biggest drop of the ride. Again, not a very big deal but when I listen to
that part of the song it just feels a little empty without it.
Track 6 - Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Another track that begins with some fun sound effects. Having never
been on the Disneyland version before, I was very worried that the music would
be the same music that plays at the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully the music
for Disneyland is immensely better than the obnoxious music that plays at Magic
Kingdom. The arrangements of the Randy Newman music ranges from somewhat
creepy to up-tempo marches.
Track 7 - Space Mountain (New Daytime Version)
I never thought I would be satisfied with the replacement of the Space
Mountain score, seeing as I thought the original was close to a work of
genius. I do though love this score, it has a fun "Incredibles" feel that
is just infectious. It is interesting that the track is just around a
minute and a half, because the attraction is around two and half. Either
that means the new soundtrack uses the same launch music as the old one or
there's music missing on the track. This track really makes me excited to
ride the new Space Mountain.
Track 8 - Remember. . .Dreams Come True
When I first heard about a show using the soundtracks of Disneyland I was
overjoyed. Well, I have to say my feeling about the soundtrack is a little
on the mixed side. First of all, the fact that the entire show is
bookended with clips for the Magic Kingdom show Wishes is in my opinion a huge
mistake. The music doesn't really gel for me and I think it's a little on
the tacky side that Disneyland doesn't get it's own anthem for the 50th
fireworks show. The show's first 5 minutes are almost a complete bore for
me music wise, and even Walt Disney's opening day speech is poorly used in my
opinion. Once the show gets going into a tour around the various lands it
improves greatly. It starts with Main Street U.S.A with Maple Leaf Rag
(although not a Rod Miller version to my ears which saddens me) and then it
blends into the Main Street Electrical Parade. After that is my favorite
segment the Enchanted Tiki Room. The re-orchestrated version of this song
is a hoot to listen to and the transition into the Indiana Jones Adventure is
genius. I'm not sure why the original soundtrack wasn't used for the
Indiana Jones Adventure, because the version used in this show lacks a little
bit of the punch the original has. Next is a montage of Haunted Mansion
narrations put to re-orchestration of Grim Grinning Ghosts. There's some
cool arrangements in this section that may remind some of Danny Elfman
music. The following attraction featured is Pirates of the Caribbean,
which focuses on the battle between the town and the Wicked Wench. The
music is deliberately reminiscent of the score used in the Pirates of the
Caribbean movie. The Mark Twain's whistle is the transition into a
beautiful arrangement of Shenadoah. The classic "This heres the wildest
ride in the wilderness" Big Thunder Mountain safety spiel starts the
Frontierland portion of the show. The Ballad of Davy Crockett is arranged
in a "big country" style and sounds fantastic. The next segment uses the
song Ev'rybody's got a Laughin' Place to bring together various attraction's
sound effects. In a brilliant touch the medley ends with the "pop goes the
weasel" from America Sings. Tomorrowland begins very moody with the Space
Mountain communications chat and various dialogue from extinct
attractions. Then, after the Star Tours chime is heard the music
crescendos with the Star Wars Main Theme. Unfortunately the finale of the
show again uses the music from Wishes.
Track 9 - Closing
I always found the closing announcements for Disneyland to be very
charming. Mickey and his friends sing the Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater,
much to Donald's dismay.
Disc 6
Track 1 - Country Bear Christmas
The holiday edition of this show has always been a lot of fun.
Track 2 - It's a Small World Holiday
The track begins with the clock tower fanfare and the Parade of Dolls
arrangement of the March of the Toy Wooden Soldiers. Then it's a
float-thru the holiday version of the attraction. For those unfamiliar
with the overlay soundtrack, the music incorporates It's a Small World with
Jingle Bells. It's nice music, but there's something artificial sounding
with the arrangements (I have the same issue with the Disneyland Paris version
of It's a Small World) that is emotionally flat. Also, the music doesn't
vary nearly as much with the different show scenes so it does sound more
repetitive.
Track 3 - Haunted Mansion Holiday (Premiere Version)
It's nice to have the original version included, as most fans preferred the
premiere soundtrack to the holiday overlay. This also means that this is a
different soundtrack from the Haunted Mansion Holiday CD currently
available. Unlike the current score, this does not use music from
Nightmare Before Christmas but instead intertwines Christmas carols and songs
with Grim Grinning Ghosts.
Track 4 - Main Street Electrical Parade
A nice overview of the parade as
it played in 1996. A neat addition in this mix is the inclusion of the
spoken words of Pete and Alice.
Track 5 - Fantasmic
Fantasmic has always been one of my favorite
soundtracks of Disneyland. After viewing my first performance I
immediately rushed to buy the CD (or more accurately my sister bought the CD,
but I played it a lot more.) I particularly love the Pink Elephants of
Parade electric guitar solo and main themes written by Bruce Healey. This
track features the complete show with dialogue and music.
Discuss It
-- Review by Daniel Kaplan
-- Posted May 9, 2005