I Bought the "Fantasia" LP, Yay!

M

musicradio77

Member
Yesterday, I went to a record store called "Yaya's" where they sell used vinyl, and guess what, I found the soundtrack to "Fantasia". It was a 3-record album and it's in good condition. This soundtrack is a collectable for every Disney fan. It had a rainbow Buena Vista label on it. They did that on numerous Annette Funicello albums as well as the "Mary Poppins" soundtrack. It comes with a 24-page book about the songs and the film. It is a great find. I hope I should keep the LP for years to come if I'm a Disney collectable. I also have the same album on cassette with the anniversary edition. That was from 1990 where "Fantasia" was re-released as a 50th anniversary. Last time I saw "Fantasia" I saw in theaters was 16 years ago. That brings a tear to my eye. I have the original VHS release in my collection, but I don't have the DVD of the special edition because I didn't have a chance to get since all of the "Fantasia" DVD's as well as the 3-DVD Anthology edition is still out of print. :( Try Ebay for all the "Fantasia" stuff. I have this pic courtesy of Ebay of the album that I bought today. Here it is.

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Here is the pic of the label.

Fantasia-Side1.jpg
 
SpectroPluto

SpectroPluto

Member
aww! That TOTALLY takes me back! My local town library in Guilford, CT had that exact same album and it had a sturdy plastic sleeve that kept it safe.

I used to listen to it at the library all the time! (along with the "Bedknobs & Broomsticks" record ;D

Thanks for sharing that with us!
 
M

musicradio77

Member
See if you can find the '80s DIGITAL SOUNDTRACK LP then we can talk.
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I don't have the digitial soundtrack of that on vinyl., only the original 1957 3-LP version of the soundtrack. This was long before the digital soundtrack was put out back in the 80's. Since the beginning of the sountrack album, Robert O. Cook did the re-recording for the 3-LP version of the triumphant 1940 classic. Back then, it was mono, but the stereo version of that album was released a year after the original 1957 LP was put out on mono. Back in the days of the old Hi-Fi components. Stereo was the coming of age since "Fantasia" was first put out. According to the liner notes from the original LP:

To those who thrilled to the motion picture "Fantasia", this album will recall many thrilling and delightful moments. We recommend that the volume control on your phonograph be kept moderate room level for the fullest enjoyment. The quality and dynamic range of the original recording has been preserved as carefully as possible so that the thunderous vigor of "Bald Mountain" and the delicate beauty of "Nutcracker Suite" will be heard in their proper perspective. It will be immediately apparent to critical stereophonic recording, and so much calm is made. Nevertheless, we feel that this album will provide rich musical enjoyment to countless listeners who have encouraged us to make it available.

There is also a short film on what Hi-Fi was made since the soundtrack to "Fantasia" came out called "How to Listen To.. New Dimensions in Sound". It was produced by RCA and the Jam Handy Organization. You can hear the difference between a Hi-Fi or stereo. Enjoy this entire film. This is an MP4 formatfor those of you who have a video iPod compatible with the MP4 format. You should watch it and enjoy! This film was not made by Disney if you are familiar with the "Fantasia" album.

New Dimensions in Sound

If you enjoyed the film, please post. Thanks!
 
M

musicradio77

Member
this thread inspired me...so I am watching the movie now! Thanks, guys and gals! ;D
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You're welcome, near the end of the film, Mr. Smith was talking about the selection from Ferde Grof?'s "Grand Canyon Suite" by Arthur Fideler & the Boston Pops Orchestra. This was the answer to Walt Disney's Oscar winning featurette "Grand Canyon". It was shown with the initial release of "Sleeping Beauty" with just the same view of the Grand Canyon in a different movement. It was featured on the DVD of "Sleeping Beauty", but it's now out of print, but I have the VCD of just the movie. There was also another film called "Living Stereo" which is not made by Disney where a guy was talking about the new stereo records and stereo phonographs. You can hear "Grand Canyon Suite" in the middle of the film, this was inspired by Disney's Oscar winning film. If you are a "Fantasia" expert, enjoy this great film.

"Living Stereo"
 
M

musicradio77

Member
By the way, the film about "Living Stereo" also featured an excerpt from the "Grand Canyon Suite". The music was inspired by Walt Disney's award winning featurette "Grand Canyon" when it was released with "Sleeping Beauty" in 1959.

This was another short film which was inspired by "Fantasia" and the soundtrack to a 3 record album.

According to Wikipedia:

The first commercial motion picture to be exhibited with stereophonic sound was Walt Disney's Fantasia, released in November 1940, for which a specialized sound process, Fantasound, was developed. Fantasound used a separate film containing four optical sound tracks. Three of the tracks were audible, and the fourth track controlled the volume level of the theater's amplifiers. The film was not a financial success, however, and after two months of road-show exhibition in selected cities, its soundtrack was remixed into mono sound for general release.

When "Fantasia" came out in 1957 as a 3-LP soundtrack, it was released in High Fidelity as WDX-101, the stereo edition I have was STER-101. Wikipedia says:

Stereo recording became widespread in the music business by the fall of 1957, superseding monaural (single-channel) recording. The small record company Audio Fidelity released the first commercial stereophonic disc in 1958.

"Fantasia" was the memorable soundtrack from the coming of stereophonic LP's.
 
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