Hey there, Hi there, Ho there,
just a short update on two new releases from early October in Japan - the latest additions to the "Disney on CLASSIC"-series. I wanted to gave both of them rave reviews and had them pre-ordered, but having listened to them several times I just can't, too bad. Anyway, here in a bit more detail:
I. "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2007 - Love is Giving - featuring Disney Princess - 5th Anniversary"
According to the cover that should be the CD title, but it actually is normally shortened to "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2007". As in the past years this should be the CD with the release with great new instrumental versions of Disney songs. Unfortunately it is NOT this time. Instead what buyers get is a compilation with only 3 new tracks!
Here the tracklisting with some comments:
1. The Enchanted Fairy Garden from TDL's Fantillusion - the EXACT some recording as released on "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2005". What is that all about?? The 2007 release is not a "best of", so this just annoys me.
2.-4. Disney Love & Ballad Acoustic Selection: Colors of the Wind, Love is a Song, Love Will Find A Way - the three new tracks to be found on the CD. As in the past years these "acoustic" recordings are great, very intimate recordings featuring Takashi Aoki and Kenichi Tsujimoto. Really enjoyed them. Glad that they looked for some more "obscure" material like "Love Will Find A Way" from Lion King II. GREAT. If there is a reason to buy this CD, its to be found in these three tracks.
4.-14. Heigh-Ho, Some Day My Prince Will Come, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Reception At The Palace / So This Is Love, Do Your Hear That? / I Wonder, An Unusual Prince / Once Upon A Dream, Belle, Be Our Guest, Something There, Beauty and the Beast - all(!) 11 tracks are direct lifts from the original soundtrack releases, with the original vocals! Sorry, that is NOT what I would expect on a "Disney on CLASSIC"-release. Maybe the "featuring Disney Princess" on the cover should have been the clue, but with the majority of tracks dedicated to original material from OSTs with vocals, this is just another regular Disney compilation.
Over all result: disappointed. I hope they don't ruin the whole series. Especially for the 5th anniversary it would have been nice if they would have stuck to the concept of instrumental recordings isntead of basically making the release another Disney Princess compilation. Guess next year I need to wait for reviews before ordering.
II. "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2006 - The LIVE"
I guess last year's two CD recording with a live recording of the concert must have been a success seing now a follow up release recorded in 2006 of last year's program. Once again it is a 2 CD release, with the first CD dedicated to various material, while the second CD contains a live performance of the material from an OST release.
CD 1 starts out with a live recording of the all-English version of "Sea of Dreams" - nice enough. Next up (after a Japanese MC track) is a really beautiful medley "The Memories of Walt Disney - The Prologue '1928 - 1953'" running 10:15. It features short(!) excerpts of When You Wish Upon a Star, The Second Star to the Right, Alice in Wonderland, I've Got No Strings, Some Day My Prince Will Come, Turkey in the Straw, Heigh-Ho, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, Casey Junior, Little April Shower and Waltz of the Flowers. The track is mostly instrumental, but includes some clapping along of the audience, the singers singing "Heigh-Ho" and some (not really well working) whistling. Still a great track by Brad Kelley!
Next up on CD 1 is the "Disney Love & Ballad Acoustic Selection" consisting of three tracks: The Second Star to the Right, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes and Someday. Once again three great, intimate instrumental tracks. Great!
Following is (after another short Japanese MC track) a track entitled "The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" clocking in at 16:30. The track is a continuous performance of instrumental parts from the OST performed live at the concert - to be exact: The Blitz 1940, Evacuating London, Lucy Meets mr. tumnus, A Narnia Lullaby, To Aslan's Camp, The Stone Table, The Battle. The whole track continues without any break betweent he various segments, a bit like a suite but misses the closed off feeling of a suite. Nevertheless a good track.
The second CD features a live performance of the Aladdin soundtrack release. As last year with The Little Mermaid the CD features live recordings of the exact tracks as found on the official OST release (OK, obviously with the mangled lyrics on "Arabian Nights" in this case), just in the correct order from the movie. There isn't a single instrumental track extra. It is basically a live performance of the OST CD. The voices of the singers are OK to good, the orchestra does perform OK to good. But does one really need such a recording? It is up to everyone, but I can see it being a great souvenir / memory if you've been to the tour last year.
Unfortunately the listening experience especially on the second CD is diminished by the way it has been recorded. It all sounds as if there is a huge space between the vocals and the orchestra, seperating the two too much for my taste. A bit more work on the mix could have worked wonders here, to make the vocals sound less distant.
Anyway to sum it up: while the 2007 one CD release is only of interest for the three new tracks, the 2CD set with the live recording from 2006 (also released earlier this month) offers quite a bit of interesting material on the first CD (and an OK but no more 2nd CD). I would recommend only the latter release unless you are a big fan of the "acoustic" recordings from the prior "Disney on CLASSIC" releases.
Yours
Dirk
just a short update on two new releases from early October in Japan - the latest additions to the "Disney on CLASSIC"-series. I wanted to gave both of them rave reviews and had them pre-ordered, but having listened to them several times I just can't, too bad. Anyway, here in a bit more detail:
I. "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2007 - Love is Giving - featuring Disney Princess - 5th Anniversary"
According to the cover that should be the CD title, but it actually is normally shortened to "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2007". As in the past years this should be the CD with the release with great new instrumental versions of Disney songs. Unfortunately it is NOT this time. Instead what buyers get is a compilation with only 3 new tracks!
Here the tracklisting with some comments:
1. The Enchanted Fairy Garden from TDL's Fantillusion - the EXACT some recording as released on "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2005". What is that all about?? The 2007 release is not a "best of", so this just annoys me.
2.-4. Disney Love & Ballad Acoustic Selection: Colors of the Wind, Love is a Song, Love Will Find A Way - the three new tracks to be found on the CD. As in the past years these "acoustic" recordings are great, very intimate recordings featuring Takashi Aoki and Kenichi Tsujimoto. Really enjoyed them. Glad that they looked for some more "obscure" material like "Love Will Find A Way" from Lion King II. GREAT. If there is a reason to buy this CD, its to be found in these three tracks.
4.-14. Heigh-Ho, Some Day My Prince Will Come, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, Reception At The Palace / So This Is Love, Do Your Hear That? / I Wonder, An Unusual Prince / Once Upon A Dream, Belle, Be Our Guest, Something There, Beauty and the Beast - all(!) 11 tracks are direct lifts from the original soundtrack releases, with the original vocals! Sorry, that is NOT what I would expect on a "Disney on CLASSIC"-release. Maybe the "featuring Disney Princess" on the cover should have been the clue, but with the majority of tracks dedicated to original material from OSTs with vocals, this is just another regular Disney compilation.
Over all result: disappointed. I hope they don't ruin the whole series. Especially for the 5th anniversary it would have been nice if they would have stuck to the concept of instrumental recordings isntead of basically making the release another Disney Princess compilation. Guess next year I need to wait for reviews before ordering.
II. "Disney on CLASSIC - a Magical Night 2006 - The LIVE"
I guess last year's two CD recording with a live recording of the concert must have been a success seing now a follow up release recorded in 2006 of last year's program. Once again it is a 2 CD release, with the first CD dedicated to various material, while the second CD contains a live performance of the material from an OST release.
CD 1 starts out with a live recording of the all-English version of "Sea of Dreams" - nice enough. Next up (after a Japanese MC track) is a really beautiful medley "The Memories of Walt Disney - The Prologue '1928 - 1953'" running 10:15. It features short(!) excerpts of When You Wish Upon a Star, The Second Star to the Right, Alice in Wonderland, I've Got No Strings, Some Day My Prince Will Come, Turkey in the Straw, Heigh-Ho, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, Casey Junior, Little April Shower and Waltz of the Flowers. The track is mostly instrumental, but includes some clapping along of the audience, the singers singing "Heigh-Ho" and some (not really well working) whistling. Still a great track by Brad Kelley!
Next up on CD 1 is the "Disney Love & Ballad Acoustic Selection" consisting of three tracks: The Second Star to the Right, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes and Someday. Once again three great, intimate instrumental tracks. Great!
Following is (after another short Japanese MC track) a track entitled "The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" clocking in at 16:30. The track is a continuous performance of instrumental parts from the OST performed live at the concert - to be exact: The Blitz 1940, Evacuating London, Lucy Meets mr. tumnus, A Narnia Lullaby, To Aslan's Camp, The Stone Table, The Battle. The whole track continues without any break betweent he various segments, a bit like a suite but misses the closed off feeling of a suite. Nevertheless a good track.
The second CD features a live performance of the Aladdin soundtrack release. As last year with The Little Mermaid the CD features live recordings of the exact tracks as found on the official OST release (OK, obviously with the mangled lyrics on "Arabian Nights" in this case), just in the correct order from the movie. There isn't a single instrumental track extra. It is basically a live performance of the OST CD. The voices of the singers are OK to good, the orchestra does perform OK to good. But does one really need such a recording? It is up to everyone, but I can see it being a great souvenir / memory if you've been to the tour last year.
Unfortunately the listening experience especially on the second CD is diminished by the way it has been recorded. It all sounds as if there is a huge space between the vocals and the orchestra, seperating the two too much for my taste. A bit more work on the mix could have worked wonders here, to make the vocals sound less distant.
Anyway to sum it up: while the 2007 one CD release is only of interest for the three new tracks, the 2CD set with the live recording from 2006 (also released earlier this month) offers quite a bit of interesting material on the first CD (and an OK but no more 2nd CD). I would recommend only the latter release unless you are a big fan of the "acoustic" recordings from the prior "Disney on CLASSIC" releases.
Yours
Dirk
