Lilo & Stitch Soundtrack

[JeffG]

A limited edition version of the "Lilo & Stitch" soundtrack CD is now available at the Disney Stores and at the Disney theme parks. This limited edition (30,000 copies) release has a special lenticular cover, which is on a card placed into the jewel box in front of the regular CD booklet.

At least at the World of Disney store at the Disneyland Resort, the price was only $15.99, so it is comparably priced to what will probably be the typical pricing of the regular edition, which comes out on 6/11.

The CD itself is a rather odd mix of 7 Elvis songs, 2 original Hawaiian-style songs, and 3 tracks of orchestrial score. Five of the Elvis songs are his original recordings.

The five original Elvis recordings are "Stuck on You", "Suspicious Minds", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Devil in Disguise" and "Hound Dog". Several of these are preceded by short dialog clips from the movie. The CD also includes a lively cover version of "Burning Love" performed by Wynonna Judd and an absolutely awful, typical "boy band pop" cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" performed by some group called "A*Teens". I really hope that dreadful track was only thrown on the CD to give something for Radio Disney to play and that it doesn't even play during the film's closing credits...

The two original tracks are entitled "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" and "He Mele No Lilo". Both are performed by Mark Keali'l Ho'omalu and the Kemehameha Schools Children's Chorus and were written by Keali'l Ho'omalu and the film's score composer, Alan Silvestri. Both are catchy songs with a very recognizable Hawaiian feel to them.

The last three tracks of the CD contain about 15 minutes of Alan Silvestri's original score for the film. Silvestri is best known for his frequent collaborations with Robert Zemeckis, which means he is probably most familiar to Disney fans for his "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" score.

One of Silvestri's biggest strengths is his range, showing a lot of skill shifting from bombastic fanfares to driving action cues to very gentle, quiet music all within the same score. The score selections on these CDs cover this entire range and are generally quite pleasant to listen to. I do wish they would have included more score tracks to fill the CD, which is only about 40 minutes long in total, but I suspect that they didn't want to go over 15 minutes due to the added union reuse fees that likely would have entailed.

If you skip the awful "A*Teens" track, this is generally a fun, if eclectic, CD and worth picking up. I definitely would have liked to have heard more of the score, but I'm glad to have what is available.

-Jeff

 

[sam253]

Thanks for the review.
I am afraid I might go back on my word and buy this CD after all. But I think I can wait for the European release and see if there are any bonus tracks included...
I already told my friend this is the first time there is previosly released material on a Disney animated film soundrack album - but then I remembered I was wrong - the soundtrack to Oliver and Company included "Buscando Guayaba" by Ruben Blades.

BTW, the group A*Teens is from Sweden and they were originally put together to record an album of Abba songs. Even the group's original name was Abba Teens... I think they also perormed something on The Princess Diaries soundtrack.

 

[Dirk]

The A*Teens are quiet sucessful here in Europe and in the meantime have released a CD with non-Abba-songs too - I guess Lilo&Stitch is meant to open up the American market for them...

And regarding their version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" - OK, it is not the original one it is a much more streamlined current-hitparade-style pop-version but is just fun and bubbles along in the background quiet perfectly. And: it is being played over the end-credits, at least in the English language version of the movie they showed to the European press.


Yours
Dirk

 

[dfans]

"Can't Help Falling in Love" is the most beautiful song from the album.
I have the A*Teens version & a Mandarin version by F4.
It's very beutiful...I love it very much

 

[sam253]

I somehow thought the Wynonna track would be played over the end credits. Well, it really doesn't matter since neither one of them is an original song.

 

[JeffG]

As of Friday, the special cover version of Lilo and Stitch was selling in the parks for $18.98. I don't know if the World of Disney sells the item cheaper (seems unlikely) but everywhere I saw it, it was $18.98.

Hmm. I didn't look at the price on the CD inside the parks, but it was definitely $15.99 in World of Disney on Sunday. I just double checked my receipt to verify it. DisneyStore.com is also selling the CD for $15.99, so maybe World of Disney is matching the Disney Store price while the stores inside the parks are inflating it.

-Jeff

 

[Gurgitoy2]

I actually enjoyed the soundtrack. I know it's not the traditional Disney fare, but I really had fun listening to it. Since I'm not a big Elvis fan, I hadn't heard his recordings in ages and they were nice to listen to. My favorite track on the CD has to be "Hawaiian Roller Coster Ride"! I love that song; it's very catchy!

I have to make a comparison here though. I have had two recent soundtrack experiences that have been on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

First, I started to get excited about "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron", so I went to Virgin and bought the soundtrack without listening to it...BIG mistake for me!

I hated every single Bryan Adams song, and I couldn't even listen to a whole song straight through. After listening to that soundtrack, I pretty much lost interest in the movie. The songs had no heart, and they didn't seem to fit the time period of the story. Even the Hans Zimmer score was blah. I really can't stress how much I hate that soundtrack!

Two weeks later, I went to the Disney store and bought the "Lilo & Stitch" soundtrack...What a difference! I really enjoyed the eclectic listening experience, and found myself replaying the disc several times over. I know the music styles are totally different, but to me they fit the tone of the movie, and the character's personalities. I could not say the same for "Spirit" (I actually did go see that film too, and my opinion of the soundtrack is still the same...the next "Lion King" my A**!)

Anyhow, I still think that despite Disney having chosen Elvis songs to replace newly written ones. I still prefer that over hiring some "pop" star to write them! And, I for one, am looking forward to seeing "Lilo & Stitch" soon!

Ben C.

 

[David S.]

Yes, even though I really enjoyed Spirit as a film, the songs didn't exactly blow me away. But then again I'm not much of a Bryan Adams fan, either. I did enjoy the Zimmer score but in general I am not exactly in a rush to buy this soundtrack. There are films where I love the music and am not crazy about the movie, and this is kind of the opposite. I really enjoyed the story, visuals, and the message, though.

As for Lilo and Stitch, I will keep an open mind while watching the movie. While in theory I prefer that films use completely original recordings for the soundtracks instead of pre-existing recordings available elsewhere, this doesn't mean that the movie as a whole will automatically be bad and I have absolutely nothing at all against Elvis and in fact enjoy many of his songs.

David

 

[Michael Zielski]

David and Ben, thank you for emphasizing the fact that we all need to keep an open mind, and see Lilo and Stitch for ourselves, and judge it AFTER seeing it, and not before. I was falling into the rut of initially being negative about the film because of the Presley songs, but I'm coming around, and am actually looking forward to seeing the film(listening to my Mom's old "Blue Hawaii" LP woke me up a little, too). It sounds like it will be rather striking visually, with a minimal use of CGI, and colorful watercolor backgrounds; the story itself also sounds as though it has much more substance than one might initially have thought--the Elvis songs might indeed be quite appropriate, and better than you say, David, than songs composed by the "pop star of the hour"! And some local Hawaiian talent was also used for at least two songs, to give a local "roots" feel to the music, which I always thought would be a great idea. So let's all give it a chance, I'm hoping for a pleasant "Hawaiian sleighride"! Michael.

 

[quasi72]

:

Well, I got the soundtrack, indeed, and... let me think... I do love the first title, with that choir of kids on the background. I think that the score-instrumental tracks should have been more. I miss more contents in the cd, like in Atlantis, for instance. There's much more score than just 3 titles. Elvis... well, it's Elvis. What can I say? But I think that 5 songs by the King are too many in a Disney soundtrack such as this. I believe that those lines of dialogue by Lilo before those songs help a lot.

Not my favorite Disney soundtrack, but a cute one and of course, a must-have if you like Disney music and its evolution. This is a new step (back, I think, but a step). Oh, and I cannot wait to see the film this friday. I am so incredibly freaking excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Michael Zielski]

I guess I don't understand why, with the CD clocking in at only about 40 minutes, more of Alan Silvestri's score was not included on the soundtrack release? Or for that matter, why not even a separate release of the score? "Spiderman" was worthy of two CD's, the first release being songs, and then, finally, Danny Elfman's score was released. Why can't Disney do the same? Michael.

 

[Dirk]

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there,

after listening twice to the soundtrack CD (finally) and having enjoyed the movie already I can only say: Disney give us a second CD with the score (and maybe again the Hawaiian songs)!!

When the first song started I really enjoyed the CD, but after the second Elvis song I got totally bored, not even the short dialogue lines could help. See, I really like Elvis but the soundtrack CD totally misses any atmosphere with the exception of the Hawaiian songs and the score - at least for me. All I got was a too short CD with a bad compilation of Elvis songs in good quality. If they had to go for Elvis songs in such a large number they should at least have put something in between the songs. Or why not be a bit more adventurous and even do an E?vis remix?? The first ever oen is currently topping the single charts in the UK for several weeks in a row!

Even so cover versions are mostly so-so I can't tell you how releaved I felt when the A-Teens song finally came along on the CD - after all that Elvis stuff at least something fresh and young.

For me the movie had a wonderful, fresh, summer-style atmosphere but the soundtrack with all that Elvis is much more subtle, a little bit dusted.

Thank god they added at least three score tracks - even so that is not enough if you ask me.



To come to an end let me make one more statement: the question regarding the Elvis songs was a basic one which was answered during the creation of the movie. Once included in the movie they had to be on the CD I guess - but then I think they are misplaced in the movie anyway and the few Elvis-performances by Stitch don't justify the large number of Elvis songs (but this is personal taste only) which don't fit the overall atmosphere and feeling of the movie for me. But the question regarding the playing length of the soundtrack CD and therefor the amount of score included was only a financial decision. With under 40 minutes Disney is going in the wrong direction! And I can't help the feeling Disney tries to sell us all a second CD to make even more money ... which would fit into the overall tactics of the company recently ... instead of coming up with a decent product in the first place try to cash in twice with an inferior product first and a seoncd one answering the wishes of the guests later (inferior in thsi case is meant to the fact that deliberately the space on the CD is not used even so the legal rights for the release of the score are owned) - unfortunately.



Yours
Dirk

 

[sam253]

So I went and bought the soundtrack.
On my CD, there is no dialogue between the Elvis songs. I was a little surprised by that. (It is the Canadian pressing, so I guess they're a little different from the US ones.)
But that is really a minor thing, and I did buy the CD solely because of the new material. And I was completely satisfied with it. Wish there'd been more...

Those of you who've seen the film - are the 3 score tracks as they are in the film, or compiled from different scenes like on the Mulan and Tarzan soundtracks?