Beauty and the Beast - James Galway

To start out the week I am posting a soothing cover of the love ballad from Beauty and the Beast by professional flautist SIR JAMES GALWAY which he recorded for his 1993 album AT THE MOVIES.

Galway has been a professional flute player since the early 50s when he played with the Philharmonic Orchestra. He quickly rose to popularity as a solo flautist and is now one of the most well known flute players in the world.

While most of his work is in the classical world, Galway does branch out to the world of pop and showtunes and has two Disney covers, this one and Can You Feel the Love Tonight.

If you think you haven't heard Sir James before, have you seen Lord of the Rings? He was a featured flautist throughout the Howard Shore score.

Beauty and the Beast James Galway 1993

Be Our Guest/Belle - Jakarta

Last year, the JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CHOIR recorded their first album, called THE VERY 1ST ALBUM. This choir from Jakarta, Indonesia takes their work very seriously, recording music and playing televised concerts several times a year.

The quality of this community choir is quite good because it is not made up of volunteers you have to pay a monthly fee of 150,000 rupiahs, which is a very reasonable 16.14 USD. Their album includes several songs from Beauty and the Beast including this medley of Be Our Guest and Belle

Be Our Guest/Belle Jakarta International Community Choir 2007

Whistle While You Work/Heigh-Ho! Heigh-Ho! - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Here is a short Snow White medley from the Walt Disney tribute album WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR recorded by THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR.

There are two songs in Snow White about working, one sung by Snow White as she cleans the dwarfs cabin and one sung by the dwarfs as they mine for diamonds. It is rather peculiar that both of these songs are about making work fun. As a Canadian, I don't know much about American history but I do know that the Great Depression was in the 30s and took most of that decade to recover from. So could it be that Disney had it in mind to create a movie about a poor working girl, forced to live in poverty, who has a cheery outlook on life and sings happy songs about working in order to help the general public through these tough times? Walt started production on this movie in 1934 so I'm sure that the depression must have been on his mind and I wouldn't be surprised if it was an influence on the film.

Under the conduction of JEROLD OTTLEY, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra take these two songs and combine them to make a jolly work song every bit as jolly as the originals.

Whistle While You Work/Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! Mormon Tabernacle Choir 1990

I'm Wishing/One Song - On the Record Cast

Our first introduction to Snow White is as she sings I'm Wishing at the beginning of the film. We quickly get a sense of her character: She is a happy girl, living in poverty but with a natural cheery outlook, but she, like so many Disney heroines, looks for so much more. Suddenly we are met with a new character, a Prince, who shares a sweet song with an embarrassed Snow White.

I'm Wishing and One Song are commonly paired together. They are together on the official soundtrack and many covers take advantage of this coupling. The version that I am posting today for Snow White Week is from the On the Record Broadway Musical and features Kaitlyn Hopkins with Ashley Brown as the echoing well.

The original voice of Snow White was Adriana Caselotti whose father, Guido Caselotti, was a music teacher and vocal coach. One day, while the casting director for Snow White was on the phone with Guido about casting the voice for the lead role, Adriana, who was listening in on another line, began to speak and sing in a child-like voice. Once Disney heard this, he knew that he had found the voice! She was paid 970 for her work.

Adriana never appeared in another movie, aside from a bit part in Wizard of Oz because she didn't want to ruin the magic of Snow White by having her voice heard in other places.

I'm Wishing On the Record Cast 2004

Just Around the Riverbend - Michelle Nicastro

Here is another track off of MICHELLE NICASTRO'S TOONFUL TOO, an album of Nicastro singing cheesy showtune versions of mostly Disney songs.

The track I have chosen is from the Academy Award winning soundtrack from Pocahontas. Just like Ariel's Part of Your World, Just Around the Riverbend is Pocahontas' expression of the need to break out and forge her own life. She feels restrained by family commitments and, like Ariel, ends up disobeying orders to pursue the love interests.

But unlike Ariel, she remains with her family at the end of the film as Captain John Smith sails away. To have the love interests not get together in the end was a bold move for Disney that ended up being a sour note as most fans were expecting the traditional Disney fairy tale ending.

Just Around the Riverbend Michelle Nicastro 1995

He's a Tramp - Bette Midler

Here's a charming cover of Peggy Lee's He's a Tramp from Lady and the Tramp by well-known singer and actor BETTE MIDLER from her 2005 album BETTE MIDLER SINGS THE PEGGY LEE SONGBOOK.

If you've been alive in the later half of the 20th century then you should know who Bette Midler is. She has more albums than you can shake a stick at and a healthy list of movie credits including The Rose and For the Boys which got her two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

Midler's style on this track both vocally and musically is so similar to the Peggy Lee original that it almost sounds the same. A great tribute to Peggy but not that great of a cover. However, I do like having the Siamese Cat Song at the beginning.

He's a Tramp Bette Midler 2005

I just Can't Wait To Be King - Broadway Kids

The BROADWAY KIDS are a singing group made of up of children who have been in a major Broadway production. They practice singing Broadway showtunes and have a big performance twice a year as well as special events and CD recordings.

Broadway Kids has been a starting point for some notable child actors. Lacey Chabert (Party of Five), Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives), Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical), Chris Trousdale (Dreamstreet), and Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible) have all credited Broadway Kids as having helped them get to where they are now.

In 1998 Broadway Kids recorded their third album which included two Disney songs. I Just Can't Wait To Be King was one of them. Some may find it cheesy, some may find it cute, but I find it quite amazing that I'm listening to a bunch of kids who have been on Broadway. I'm leaning more toward the cute side, especially with the kid who is pretending to be Zazu.

I Just Can't Wait To Be King Broadway Kids 1998

When You Wish Upon a Star/Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

As with every third Friday of the month, today is When You Wish Upon a Star Friday and this time I'm featuring a version of the song sung by one of the most famous choirs in the world.

THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR formed in 1847 almost immediately after the Mormons settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Over the years they have toured the world, recorded many albums (its first was recorded in 1910), won many awards, performed for many presidents, and have hosted their own radio program(Music and Spoken Word, the longest running program in history) and television programs. The choir is made up of 360 men and women.

In 1990, under the direction of JEROLD OTTLEY, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recorded a Walt Disney tribute album called WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR. The choir is backed by Columbia Records very own Columbia Symphony Orchestra and together they create a beautiful journey through the history of Disney music classics.

When You Wish Upon a Star/Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee is the lead track on the album and a great blend of the two classic Pinocchio tunes.

When You Wish Upon a Star The Mormon Tabernacle Choir 1990

Colors of the Wind - Lea Salonga

Many Disney fans should recognize the name LEA SALONGA. If you don't recognize the name then perhaps you will recognize the voice. Lea Salonga was the singing voice for Jasmine in Aladdin and Mulan from Mulan I & II.

Her career started in the Philippines in 1978 when she was seven. She took part in many Broadway musicals including The King and I, The Sound of Music, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Annie. By the time she was seventeen she had already recorded two albums and starred in her own tv show, Love, Lea!

Her big break was moving to the UK to star as Kim in Miss Saigon, a role that she would reprise numerous times between 1988 and 2001. She continued to do many musicals and recorded many albums, the latest of which came out a month ago.

This cover of Colors of the Wind is taken from one of her live concerts in the Philippines in 2001. Lea has a great voice and I enjoy listening to her sing these classic movie songs. I think I even like her singing this song more than Judy Khun.

Colors of the Wind Lea Salonga 2001

Gaston - Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

We continue on with Villains Week with a cover of Gaston, the beer-drinking song about the greatness of Beauty and the Beast's lead villain. Gaston's ego is as big as his biceps but his brain is as big as his tact. He is not very smart and is played mostly for comedic effect.

Gaston's major goal in the film is to marry Belle, but when the Beast gets in the way he becomes a very jealous man. So is that what makes him a villain? Jealousy? Many of the Disney villains try to defeat the hero because of jealousy: Cinderella's Step-sisters, Scar, the Queen from Snow White, but Gaston doesn't have as much to gain as all of these villains. He won't be marrying into royalty or inheriting a kingdom. He just wants the girl of his dreams and is being a baby becuase she said no. Whereas Scar is a great, evil villain, Gaston just come off as a hurt little boy who got pushed out of the sandbox.

This cover is performed by the CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA under the direction of ERICH KUNZEL. This song is on the second of three Disney albums that Erich Kunzel has released. THE MAGICAL MSUIC OF DISNEY features all the songs from Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Aladdin and the Lion King.

Gaston Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 1995

Whistle While You Work/Give a Little Whistle - On the Record Cast & Company

Today's contribution to Big Band Week takes us to the world of showtunes. This medley of Whistle While You Work and Give a Little Whistle comes from the On the Record Broadway musical from 2005. Showtunes often use jazz bands in their music because of the big band style fits so well with all those people that are running around and dancing on stage.

After opening the show with a gentle A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, this song launches in and sets the mood of the show. You'll definitely hear the big band quality to the songs with the Company playing the instrumental part at the beginning but you'll also hear the showtunes aspect come out in the A Dream is a Wish interlude and with the Cast's over-the-top scatting.

All of the songs in On the Record were arranged by David Chase who does a remarkable job with this medley. He intertwines the two songs so much that at times I'm not even sure which one I'm listening to! The Give a Little Whistle While You Work line is very clever.

Keep an ear out for a few references to Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and Higitus Figitus!

Whistle While You Work/Give a Little Whistle On the Record Cast & Company 2005

Disney Fantasy Medley - Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Happy New Year everyone! I'm kicking off the new year with a the mother of all Disney medleys!

ERICH KUNZEL loves Disney music. He has recorded three albums full of the music from the films. The best one has got to be the Grammy nominated A DISNEY SPECTACULAR from 1989.

Erich Kunzel conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1965-1977 until the creation of the CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA which he was appointed the head conductor. Kunzel, a master conductor and arranger quickly put this orchastra on the map with his great arrangements of pop music.

A DISNEY SPECTACULAR is performed with Indiana University's Singing Hoosiers who do most of the vocal work on the album.

There are many songs represented in this medley. Are you ready for me to list them all for you?

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Song of the South)
You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly! (Peter Pan)
Main Titles (Dumbo)
Casey, Jr. (Dumbo)
The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day)
Winnie the Pooh (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree)
Love is a Song (Bambi)
Bella Notte (Lady and the Tramp)
The Siamese Cat Song (Lady and the Tramp)
Heigh-Ho (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
Whistle While You Work (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
Give a Little Whistle (Pinocchio)
I've Got No Strings (Pinocchio)
Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty)
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella)
When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)

Disney Fantasy Medley Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 1989

Hakuna Matata - The Chipmunks

It's Terrible Track Friday and today I'm posting a track that is not only terrible, but also has a movie coming out today that looks equally as bad. That's right, it's the Chipmunks.

THE CHIPMUNKS were created in 1958 by Ross Bagdasarian when he wrote The Witch Doctor and sang it under the name David Seville. He used cutting edge technology to speed up the recording of the Witch Doctor's vocal track which gave it a 'chipmunk-sound'. The song was a suprising hit, peaking at #1 in the US for two weeks! It went on to win a Grammy Award for engineering!

Realizing the money making potential he had created, Bagdasarian began recording album after album, starting with the hit song The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).

To date, the Chipmunks have released over 40 albums! Including WHEN YOU WISH UPON A CHIPMUNK in 1995 which features ten songs from Disney movies done in their trademark squeaky voices. The album has novelty value (as any cover album does), but this one gets boring after the first minute of the opening track, Hakuna Matata. And while some of the songs get new musical arrangements, this one sound exactly the same as the original except with vocals in a higher octave. Boring!

Take a listen and see for your self. It sounds just as bad as the trailer for the new movie looks.

Hakuna Matata The Chipmunks 1995

Give a Little Whistle - Michelle Nicastro

Many movies are often mistaken to be Disney. Anastasia is at the top of the list with others like Madagascar and Titan A.E,. Also on the list is The Swan Princess, which tries its hardest to be a Disney movie but just doesn't make the cut. It has the right characters, music, it's even directed by ex-Disney animation director Richard Rich! And it has two direct-to-video sequels too! I can see why it is often thought to be Disney.

The movie stars MICHELLE NICASTRO as the voice of Princess Odette. While Nicastro has had a good career acting here and there in different projects and televsion shows, this is her claim to fame. Mainly, it showed off her ability to sing in a true Disney Princess fashion.

So what did Michelle do? She decided to role with her new fame and record a CD of classic movie showtunes. The album, TOONFUL, is filled with mostly Disney songs with a few from other animated films and a year later she recorded a follow up album, TOONFUL TOO!

Her version of Give a Little Whistle is off the second album and really gives a good sample of how incredibly cheesy these discs are.

Give a Little Whistle Michelle Nicastro 1995

Bella Notte/Les Poissons - On the Record Cast

It's the fifth Friday of the month and that means that I am going to fulfill a reader request. The first request I got was one from an anonymous reader asking for covers of Poor Unfortunate Souls and Les Poissons, obviously this person is a Little Mermaid fan.

Well, I don't really have any covers of either of these songs, except a version of Poor Unfortunate Souls by the Jonas Brothers. But I do have this one from the Disney's On the Record Broadway musical. It is a medley of Lady and the Tramp's Bella Notte and Les Poissons. Is this an unusual pairing for a medley? Yes. But it is part of the seventh session in the musical that features songs about animals (Bella Notte is a little bit of a stretch because it's not really about animals).

Take a listen anyway. It's cool how they mash these two songs together. And I don't really have anything to say about the history of this song or the performers or anything, except that today is the day that On the Record began performances in Chicago at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Bella Notte/Les Poissons On the Record Cast 2004

I Got No Strings - Diana Ross & the Supremes

Here is another track from the unreleased Disney tribute album from DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES. This time it's the classic I've Got No Strings from Pinocchio.

This song has a bit of irony for Florence Ballard. But to understand this I must give you a bit of Supremes history.

In 1967 the Supremes' record label wanted to jump on the bandwagon of taking the name of the most popular member and giving it top billing. The Miracles had become Smokey Robinson & the Miracles a few years earlier and other groups were doing this too. This was done so that the label could demand more money for booking the act because they were booking two names instead of one!

At this time the Supremes were in the studio recording DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES SING DISNEY CLASSICS and playing shows under the new name. But Flo started showing up to gigs and sessions drunk and sometimes didn't show up at all. Was she upset that Diana was getting top billing? Was she worried that she would go solo and break up the group?

Pretty soon, the Supremes' manager asked Cindy Birdsong to fill in when Flo couldn't make the gigs and sessions. Soon after, Flo was given the boot and Cindy Birdsong became a permanent member of Diana Ross & the Supremes.

So you see, I've Got No Strings was one of the last songs the Flo Ballard recorded with the group. Soon after, her strings were cut and she was free to fly on her own! But it wasn't the life she expected. She released a solo album that bombed and soon fell into poverty and died in 1976 at the age of 32. It's a sad irony.

Half of the songs on SUPREMES SING DISNEY are Flo and the rest are Cindy after Flo was fired from the group. The personnel changes and everything surrounding what was happening with Flo are rumored reasons why this album was never released.

I've Got No Strings Diana Ross & the Supremes 1967

Silly Symphony - On the Record Cast

In 2004 Disney produced a Broadway musical that would feature over 70 over the songs from their ever impressive library. The musical was called Disney's On the Record and was about four young people who were brought together in a magical recording studio to record a compilation album. There's magic, there's romance, blah blah blah... but the most important part is that the soundtrack features two discs full of Disney cover songs!

Some of the songs don't stray far from the originals while others are quite different. Many are medleys, such as this one that I have posted today.

The main quartet on this soundtrack are Ashley Brown, Kaitlin Hopkins, Brian Sutherland, and Andrew Samonsky. Katlin Hopkins replaced Emily Skinner who was the original Diane for the live show.

This medley, dubbed the Silly Symphony, is made up of several Disney songs that feature nonsense lyrics. This medley is probably the best and most clever of all the songs in this musical!

It starts out with a verse from Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and features the choruses from Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious (Mary Poppins), Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (Pinocchio), Following the Leader (Peter Pan), Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Song of the South) and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (Cinderella). The best part of the song is when they start singing all of them AT THE SAME TIME! Brilliant!

Then, to top it off, they use The Dwarfs' Yodel Song (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) as a bridge! Perfect!

In the liner notes it says that Higitus Figitus (Sword in the Stone) is the first song in the medley, but I can't seem to hear any of it anywhere. If anyone can't help me out with this please leave a comment! UPDATE: Thanks to Jane Dark who let me know that the fanfare intro is the chorus to Higitus Figitus! It's so obvious to me now! I don't know how I missed that before!

Also thrown in there are tiny snippets from Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins), Hakuna Matata (The Lion King), and the Mickey Mouse March (Mickey Mouse Club). Wow. They put that together very well. This is the best song in the show and a masterpiece of a cover song.

Silly Symphony On the Record Cast 2005

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - They Might Be Giants

The DVD release of Meet the Robinsons is tomorrow so I thought I would post a song off the soundtrack. This version of the classic Disneyland song There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow is by THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow was used as the theme song to the Carousel of Progress attraction in Tomrrowland. People are taken through a rotating series of room that take you through history and the progression of technology. The last room is a look into the future and was constantly updated to keep up with the times. (Can you imagine visiting the Carousel in 1967 and seeing a look at 1994? That would be wild!)

Robert Sherman, one of the songs composers, has been quoted saying that this is Walt Disney's theme song

The theme song, Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, had a wonderful positiveness about it. In a way, it was Walt's theme song, because he was very positive about the future. He really felt that there was a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day.

In many ways, Meet the Robinsons was a spoof of Tomorrowland (calling it Todayland in the film) and the plot of the movie, a boy visiting the future, makes the inclusion of this song on its soundtrack very appropriate.

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow They Might Be Giants 2007