Review: A Musical History of Disneyland
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Disc 1

Main Street U.S.A.

Track 1 - The Opening Day Speech (Walt Disney)
What a great way to start the compilation!  Walt's concise and moving speech sounds better than ever.

Track 2 - All Aboard (Disneyland Railroad)
Those who have bought the Official Album of Disneyland will recognize this track.  The boarding call for the Disneyland Railroad is a perfect entrance into Main Street U.S.A.

Track 3 - Minnie's Yoo Hoo (Keystone Saxophone Quartet)
Another familiar track for Official Album buyers, this cute arrangement of the classic song showcases the old Saxophone Quartet.

Track 4 - Meet me Down on Main Street (Dapper Dans)
Previously featured on the Music of Disney Legacy in Song compilation, this song was used as background score in many Disneyland television specials.  I'm not sure if it was restored since that album, but it sure sounds a lot better. On a separate note, I've always found it odd that an instrumental version of this song has never found it's way into the Main Street U.S.A area music loop.  The track ends with sound effects of the fire truck. 

Track 5 - Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
This is the complete original attraction from the point in which you entered the theater.  Viewers who are familiar with the newer version which played after the 1985 renovation will notice major differences. The show starts with a spoken autobiography of Abraham Lincoln.  The final speech is also a little lengthier than the more recent version.  The quality of audio is absolutely breathtaking, especially in the closing song Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Having been far too young to remember the original show, this was both highly interesting and entertaining.  I had no idea how much the show deviated from even the original 1964-1965 World's Fair version.

Track 6 - Disney Medley (Disneyland Band)
What would a trip down Main Street U.S.A be without a listen to the famous Disneyland Band?  This peppy track is a fun medley of songs including the March of the Toy Soldiers, Whistle While You Work, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee, and Heigh Ho.  The track concludes with an amazingly clear recording of the Horse-Drawn Street Car complete with the horse's "clip-clops."

Track 7 - Alexander's Ragtime Band (Rod Miller)
As an old Disneyland regular there's always going to be a soft place in my heart for Rod Miller on the ragtime piano near Coke Corner.  There's something comfortable about the way he arranges, he can play something you've never heard before but yet make it feel like you've heard it you're entire life.  Nice choice of song for this compilation, and I'm very glad that Rod Miller gets his appropriate nod in the history of Disneyland music.

Track 8 - Date Nite at Disneyland (Plaza Pavillion)
I absolutely adore this track.  The song is so much fun and delightfully cheesy. The retro vocals, which are very reminiscent of the sound from the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis television show are just great.  One wonders if Date Nites at Disneyland really were this much fun. If they were, I think I feel deprived to have never experienced them.

Moving on to a land that is near and dear to my heart...

Adventureland

Track 9 - Barker Bird (Enchanted Tiki Room)
The track begins with some Adventureland sound effects.  I especially like the inclusion of one of the bird cries. For some reason it always stands out whenever I'm in Adventureland. In a nice touch, the sound effects continue behind the dialogue filling out the track.   A clip of the short-lived Barker Bird in front of the Enchanted Tiki Room
features some hilarious vocal work from Wally Boag. 

Track 10 - Enchanted Tiki Garden (Enchanted Tiki Room)
One of the tracks that most excited me about this compilation is this pre-show audio from the Enchanted Tiki Room.  As a kid I memorized the order of the statues and would quickly run back and forth across the pre-show area in order to catch all the dialogue the tikis would say.  To hear this in such beautiful quality is truly amazing.  In a very nit-picky note, it would have been nice to have the entire opening announcement.  It's missing just a couple lines, but the line "No flash bulbs please, our performers are temperamental and easily upset" always used to make me chuckle, and was one that my dad would quote to me all the time so it holds special sentimental value.  I believe the reason for it's exclusion is that it's been absent in the use of the attraction since it's refurbishment in the mid-90s that led to the deletion of the Offenbach number (which I'm very grateful is included in this compilation.) 

Track 11 - Enchanted Tiki Room
This attraction was on my first tape of attraction audio I recorded live in the park.  Ever since then I've gone to great lengths to compile the audio.  Disneyland Forever only offered parts of the show, and Walt Disney World Forever had some parts that Disneyland didn't (I believe the Offenbach number).  Then of course just recently the Enchanted Tiki Room record was recently restored onto a compact disc as part of the Wonderland Music Project.  None of these can come close to the quality and magic that this version contains. Truly the definitive mix of the Enchanted Tiki Room, this track contains the entire show including segments deleted in the mid-90s (Offenbach and part of Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing) in brilliant stereo sound.  The track ends with a nice nod to the Jungle Cruise with a few sound effects.  After listening to the amazing quality of recorded sounds on this compilation I wish there was an entire release dedicated to Disneyland sound effects.  I guess I'm getting spoiled.

Track 12 - Indiana Jones Adventure Temple of the  Forbidden Eye
This track will be familiar to those who have bought recent official albums.  The attraction's underscore really shines when you hear it isolated.  It features mostly re-orchestrated arrangements of John William's score of the Indiana Jones films.

Track 13 - Swisskapolka (Swiss Family Robinson  Treehouse)
Both highly memorable and infamous, another track that brings back strong memories.  A huge improvement in sound quality to the previously released version on Disneyland Forever.

Track 14 - Tarzan's Treehouse
From the old to the new, this medley takes you on a quick tour through the treehouse.  In an odd choice, the songs are played out of order and the leopard attack show scene version of "Two Worlds" is used towards the end of the medley when in the attraction it's the first scene. The track also includes the sketch room and bedroom versions of "You'll Be In My Heart" and the area music versions of "Son of Man" and "Strangers Like Me."  Towards the end various jungle sounds (mostly those that come from the vines in the post-show that make noise when pulled) are sprinkled in to nice effect.