Here's Animation Authority Mike Barrier's review, posted January 28, 2007, on his site:
http://www.michaelbarrier.com/
Mouse Tracks
I've taken much too long to say something about Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records by Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar, which was published last year by the University Press of Mississippi. I read this book late last fall on an airplane, returning from a visit to Washington, D.C., and I must admit that I approached it with skepticism. It seemed like a book that would appeal mostly to a very specialized audience?collectors of Disney records and a few other connoisseurs of Disneyana?and not so much to people like me, with a broader interest in things Disney.
I was pleasantly surprised. Mouse Tracks is a more attractive and interesting book than I expected, especially in its early chapters, where Walt and Roy Disney?mostly Roy?make frequent appearances. (Merchandise of all kinds was Roy's territory; Walt rarely devoted any time to it.) The book is intelligently organized, with lots of sidebars on individual performers. I might have wished for a little more substantial documentation, but Hollis and Ehrbar have clearly drawn on unimpeachable sources, and I saw nothing to inspire the kind of doubt I've felt when reading so many other officially sanctioned Disney books.
The illustrations are generally impressive, too. I was particularly taken with the one on page 21, a mid-1950s advertisement for the first Disney soundtrack albums, with beautifully designed jackets for the albums devoted to films like Snow White and Pinocchio. "Disneyland Records' original [soundtrack] LPs were meant to take their place alongside other movie soundtrack albums of the day," the caption reads. "Not until later would they be considered primarily children's records."
http://www.michaelbarrier.com/
Mouse Tracks
I've taken much too long to say something about Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records by Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar, which was published last year by the University Press of Mississippi. I read this book late last fall on an airplane, returning from a visit to Washington, D.C., and I must admit that I approached it with skepticism. It seemed like a book that would appeal mostly to a very specialized audience?collectors of Disney records and a few other connoisseurs of Disneyana?and not so much to people like me, with a broader interest in things Disney.
I was pleasantly surprised. Mouse Tracks is a more attractive and interesting book than I expected, especially in its early chapters, where Walt and Roy Disney?mostly Roy?make frequent appearances. (Merchandise of all kinds was Roy's territory; Walt rarely devoted any time to it.) The book is intelligently organized, with lots of sidebars on individual performers. I might have wished for a little more substantial documentation, but Hollis and Ehrbar have clearly drawn on unimpeachable sources, and I saw nothing to inspire the kind of doubt I've felt when reading so many other officially sanctioned Disney books.
The illustrations are generally impressive, too. I was particularly taken with the one on page 21, a mid-1950s advertisement for the first Disney soundtrack albums, with beautifully designed jackets for the albums devoted to films like Snow White and Pinocchio. "Disneyland Records' original [soundtrack] LPs were meant to take their place alongside other movie soundtrack albums of the day," the caption reads. "Not until later would they be considered primarily children's records."
