1982 Epcot Entrance Medley

[Eric Paddon]

Late reply to this and the link is now gone, but I spotted this after I'd been listening the entrance medley cue released in 1984 on cassette for quite some time and then one night I caught "Le Mans" on TV and when this particular section came up at the film's climax, I started doing the biggest WTF double-take of all-time at how this small snippet was part of the EPCOT entrance medley more than a decade earlier and there is NOTHING else in the "Le Mans" score that shows any sign of being borrowed or recycled (nor is there any evidence as far as I know that Michel Legrand had anything to do with any Disney park music). It was clearly no coincidence, but how it came about we'll likely never know.

 

[bshelly]

Here is a link to that soundtrack, Go to 34:22 or so and within 10 seconds, you'll hear it. I've not seen the movie, but sure enough, there it is!

 

[Eric Paddon]

Even if you like racing, "Le Mans" is a very tedious movie to sit through. It was basically Steve McQueen's personal vanity piece to give him a chance to race on-screen after he'd failed to get a role in "Grand Prix" a few years earlier. There is almost no plot at all, just racing footage weakly stitched together.

Glad the soundtrack is up again on YT so others can do this comparison to the same section in the Entrance Medley.

 

[klounk]

Late reply to this and the link is now gone, but I spotted this after I'd been listening the entrance medley cue released in 1984 on cassette for quite some time and then one night I caught "Le Mans" on TV and when this particular section came up at the film's climax, I started doing the biggest WTF double-take of all-time at how this small snippet was part of the EPCOT entrance medley more than a decade earlier and there is NOTHING else in the "Le Mans" score that shows any sign of being borrowed or recycled (nor is there any evidence as far as I know that Michel Legrand had anything to do with any Disney park music). It was clearly no coincidence, but how it came about we'll likely never know.

Hello I am new here and I know this is quite late to reply this topic. However I had the same kind of WTF-double-take effect listenning years later i bought the Epcot LP to a pop cd and am quite sure now that in "Epcot Entrance Medley", there is another well known composer that clearly had something to do with it... please listen to the gimmick of entrance medley from 0'36 to 0'44 and then to "one more river" from "Pyramid - the alan parsons project" (1978), i will post the link in next message. then listen back to entrance medley from 2'45 to 3'18 and then right after this, try the intro of the song "shadow of a lonely man" from the same alan parsons project "pyramid" album of '78 (link will also be in next message)... No coincidence either, right ? And as far as i know, I don't think Alan Parsons had anything to do with Disney Parks music either... Concerning Michel Legrand, at that time in 1982 when Epcot entrance medley was recorded, he was actually in America working with Barbra Streisand on her musical movie Yentl... It is likely to think he accepted a few gigs when he was out there in LA... Makes sense don't you think... ? But how many genious composers did they need for this incredible medley ?!!

 

[klounk]

Hello I am new here and I know this is quite late to reply this topic. However I had the same kind of WTF-double-take effect listenning years later i bought the Epcot LP to a pop cd and am quite sure now that in "Epcot Entrance Medley", there is another well known composer that clearly had something to do with it... please listen to the gimmick of entrance medley from 0'36 to 0'44 and then to "one more river" from "Pyramid - the alan parsons project" (1978), i will post the link in next message. then listen back to entrance medley from 2'45 to 3'18 and then right after this, try the intro of the song "shadow of a lonely man" from the same alan parsons project "pyramid" album of '78 (link will also be in next message)... No coincidence either, right ? And as far as i know, I don't think Alan Parsons had anything to do with Disney Parks music either... Concerning Michel Legrand, at that time in 1982 when Epcot entrance medley was recorded, he was actually in America working with Barbra Streisand on her musical movie Yentl... It is likely to think he accepted a few gigs when he was out there in LA... Makes sense don't you think... ? But how many genious composers did they need for this incredible medley ?!!

 

[DexterRiley]

I think that's a big ole "Yes"...esp. to the "Shadow of a Lonely Man" clip. I supposed the first one could be coincidence but given that they OBVIOUSLY lifted from the second, who knows. Nice find!

 

[Eric Paddon]

I can hear the similarity in "Shadow" though its not quite as direct as the "Le Mans" segment is, but that is amazing that for other parts of that particular cue that don't stem from "Energy You Make The World Go Round" (which is what the bulk of the cue is based on) the person who did the arrangement resorted to these lifts and practically copied the orchestrations too! We'd have to know who did the specific orchestration of the cue to figure that out.

 

[ispace]

OK here's another obscure source for the Epcot Entrance Medley I recently discovered. This one blew my mind.

I stumbled upon this obscure 1977 song called "Let It Lie" by a British progressive rock band named Trickster. The first 40 seconds (actually from 0:04 - 0:40) opens the Epcot Entrance Medley. It seems to have been re-recorded for Epcot but is very faithful to the original. I can't find any mention of this connection elsewhere.

It seems that George Wilkins stitched together several commercially released tracks for this medley, some of which are still waiting to be discovered.

 

[Magic Music]

Fascinating.

 

[ispace]

Wow this forum has really died. Where has everyone moved to? Or is no-one interested in park music any more?

 

[bshelly]

Unfortunately, much of the park music is unimaginative and is just plain boring anymore. It doesn't tug at my heartstrings like the 70's/80's Disney Theme Park tracks did. Even more, they don't have an audience anymore since they don't release park music on CD anymore. Everything has gone "Digital" but it is not lossless audio, so I'm not really interested. I just watched EPCOT Forever and was really disappointed with the arrangement. I think the guy who did it was super ADD. It was all over the place and did nothing to strike any emotion from me. No Main Entrance Medley music in it either, which is ridiculous.

 

[bshelly]

OK here's another obscure source for the Epcot Entrance Medley I recently discovered. This one blew my mind.

I stumbled upon this obscure 1977 song called "Let It Lie" by a British progressive rock band named Trickster. The first 40 seconds (actually from 0:04 - 0:40) opens the Epcot Entrance Medley. It seems to have been re-recorded for Epcot but is very faithful to the original. I can't find any mention of this connection elsewhere.

It seems that George Wilkins stitched together several commercially released tracks for this medley, some of which are still waiting to be discovered.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing this