In every job that must be done There is an element of fun You find the fun, and – SNAP! The job’s a game! -Julie Andrews, “A Spoonful of Sugar,” Mary Poppins (song written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman) There’s certainly an element of fun in catalog music, particularly catalog soundtracks, particularly the somehow oft-ignored discography of The Walt Disney Company. Disney’s somewhat passive approach to a catalog initiative (tempered by their licensing deal with the Intrada label) finally made an about face this spring with the announcement of…
Release Round-Up: Week of December 10
Eric Clapton, Give Me Strength: The ’74/’75 Recordings (Polydor/UMe) One of Clapton’s most prolific periods is revisited with this six-disc box, featuring expanded versions of 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), There’s One in Every Crowd (1975), a remixed and expanded double-disc version of live album E.C. Was Here (1975), a disc of sessions at Criteria Studios with blues legend Freddie King and a Blu-Ray featuring new 5.1 surround and original quadrophonic mixes. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Ella Fitzgerald, The Voice of Jazz (Verve/UMe) A ten, count ’em, ten-disc overview of one of the greatest jazz vocalists ever. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)…
Magic in a Box: Decades of Disney Compiled on New Set
A new box set released today chronicles the musical legacy of The Walt Disney Company with a variety that hasn’t been seen in quite awhile. The new Disney Classics celebrates nearly every medium of entertainment the animation studio-turned-film-titan has dabbled in, from film and television to revolutionary theme park attractions. Disney Classics is touted in a press release as being released in honor of 90 years of musical history as it pertains to the work of Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966). However accurate that might be – Disney’s most meaningful musical contributions really began…
Live From D23: New Albums for Disneyland, Walt Disney World Due in August, Premiere New-to-CD Tracks
Today, you’ll find The Second Disc at the Anaheim Convention Center for the D23 Expo, “The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.” Naturally, every arm of The Walt Disney Company has something to offer here, and naturally, that includes music! Tonight, Disney Theatrical President Thomas Schumacher will host Broadway and Beyond, celebrating Disney on Broadway’s legacy of musicals from Beauty and the Beast to Newsies. Tomorrow, American Bandstand legend Dick Clark will be honored as a Disney Legend, and two composers who need no introduction – Richard M. Sherman and Alan Menken – will unite for…
Special EPCOT 30th Anniversary Reissue Theory: “The Official Album of Walt Disney World – EPCOT Center”
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Today, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Epcot at Walt Disney World with a look back at its first and only Official Album! “There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow/Shining at the end of every day/There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow/Just a dream away…” Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman may have written those words, but Walt Disney lived them. Less than two months before his untimely death in late 1966, Walt…
Be Their Guest: “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives” Digital Album Offers Souvenir of New Exhibition
57 years ago today, on July 17, 1955, The Happiest Place on Earth became a reality when Disneyland opened its doors in Anaheim, California! What better day to take a virtual trip to the Walt Disney Archives? Touted as “the largest Disney archives exhibit in the world,” Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives officially opened on July 5 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. At over 12,000 square feet, the exhibition boasts 500+ artifacts from every area of the Walt Disney Company, from animation to theme…
Friday Feature: “The Orange Bird” Returns to Walt Disney World
Earlier this week, Walt Disney World welcomed back an old friend: Florida’s Orange Bird, absent from the World since 1987! We thought this would be a great time to bring back the Friday Feature, which is usually dedicated to film soundtracks but occasionally takes a Disney diversion! Today, we’re turning the spotlight on the little Orange Bird’s one moment of recorded glory, on which he was joined by a future Oscar winner! Move over, Jose, Fritz and Pierre. There’s a new bird in Adventureland. Well, this new bird is actually an old…
A World of Laughter, A World of Tears: The Second Disc Remembers Robert B. Sherman
Sher ·man ·ism (sher’maniz’em) NOUN: The creation of music abundant in optimism and heart, written for kids of all ages. OTHER FORMS: sher man·ist (Noun), sher man·esque (Adjective) Okay, so that’s not really in the dictionary. But then again, neither is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “fortuosity,” “fantasmagorical” or “gratifaction.” But perhaps they should be. Have any other songwriters broadened the English language as much as Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman? The older of the Sherman Brothers, Robert, died yesterday morning at his home in London, aged 86, survived by younger brother Richard, 83. …
A Fantasmagorical Second Disc Interview! Bruce Kimmel Talks New, Expanded 2-CD “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”
When Richard M. Sherman introduces his Academy Award-nominated song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in concert, he often has to remind his audience that the film of the same name wasn’t a Walt Disney production. Producer Albert R. Broccoli, best-known for the James Bond series of films, signed Richard and his brother Robert M. Sherman for their very first film score outside of the Disney sphere. Like the Bond films, United Artists’ Chitty was based on the writing of Ian Fleming. For Fleming’s story of a most fantasmagorical flying car, “Cubby” Broccoli envisioned…
Memorial Day Special: The Andrews Sisters and the Sherman Brothers, “Over Here!”
We interrupt our regularly-scheduled Memorial Day hiatus to bring you this surprise holiday feature! It was 1972, but 1959 was all the rage. Grease was the word then, as it is now. The little musical from Chicago’s Kingston Mines Theatre had opened on Broadway where it would garner seven Tony Award nominations, run for a then- record-breaking 3,388 performances and spawn a massively successful film version. Grease was the toast of New York, launching the careers of Adrienne Barbeau, Barry Bostwick and Walter Bobbie, among others. But its producers, Kenneth Waissman and…
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