Polynesian Village Resort [1971]

[FoxxFur]

Hey all;

So I've been in contact with a blog reader for about a week now who had the fortunate foresight to, in the early 80s, bring a tape recorder with them to WDW and tape a number of songs found in the Poly music loop. I've been able to identify some of these and in my opinion, these songs probably represent the original Jack Wagner music loop, from 1971 or 1972.

I can't ID all of the songs myself, so I'd like to create a support topic for it, but of course I'm concerned to do this while not compromising the standards of conduct of this community. In the past I've seen clips be posted and then removed at a later date; would uploading 30 second clips of the music be acceptable practice? Thanks!

 

[Magic Music]

30 second clips are fine but best if hosted elsewhere.

 

[FoxxFur]

Thank you Jay!

Okay, here goes. These are 30-second excerpts that I've uploaded to MediaFire. They never were especially good quality and still aren't; they come off 30-year-old cassette tapes, after all.

The first is a version of "Blue Hawaii". In this case the song is easy to identify but I haven't been able to track down the performer.

Poly 1: [Link removed. —Admin]

[floatleft]

[/floatleft]Stars Over Maui
101 Strings Orchestra
The Magic of Hawaii
:cd: . [itunes=[URL="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stars-over-maui/id328815943?i=328816414%5D%20:itunes:%20%5B/itunes%5D"]https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stars-over-maui/id328815943?i=328816414] :itunes:[/itunes] [/URL]. :mp3:


Here's the second one. This sounds for all the world like Martin Denny but I cant find the exact track, and I've been spinning my records for days now:

Poly 2: [Link removed. —Admin]

[floatleft]

[/floatleft]Tune from Rangoon
Martin Denny
Quiet Village: The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny
:cd: . [itunes=[URL="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tune-from-rangoon/id325263980?i=325264031%5D%20:itunes:%20%5B/itunes%5D"]https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tune-from-rangoon/id325263980?i=325264031] :itunes:[/itunes] [/URL]. :mp3:


Here's the last one. After a few seconds our intrepid recorders decide to move on, which is why the music gets dim:

Poly 3: http://www.mediafire...y0b9q/Poly3.wav

 

[jksoundman]

The Martin Denny track is Tune From Rangoon off of Quiet Village.

 

[jksoundman]

I believe the first one is Stars Over Maui by 101 Strings. Sadly, I have no clue on the 3rd. FoxxFur - Would you be willing to share the rest of the list?

 

[Magic Music]

If Stars Over Maui was part of the original 1971 loop, it would have been sourced from 1961's "101 Strings in a Hawaiian Paradise" (Side B, Track 1). I'm linking to the earliest 101 Strings Hawaiian-themed CD release I could find, 1993's "The Magic of Hawaii," but it contains a different set of tracks than the 1961 vinyl LP.

 

[FoxxFur]

Wow, you guys are quick.

I was being careless last night and accidentally excerpted "Stars Over Maui" instead of the unknown Blue Hawaii. In any case, here's Blue Hawaii:

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/i8351or63v7c605/Poly4.wav

One thing that convinces me that this is the 1971 or 72 loop is that "Stars Over Maui" is also used in a reel from the Wagner collection labeled "Adventureland Veranda" which seems to be the original interior loop. For this loop Wagner recorded some wind chimes and faded them in between each song. In the full tape you can hear these chimes abruptly cut in at the start of the song, as if he just duped the Veranda loop and cut it apart for use in the Poly loop. I'd expect that music may not have begun playing at the Poly until 1972 when construction finished.

It's great that Quiet Village - of course the Denny I didn't have on hand - is also represented in the loop. The song "Kalua" from Primitiva is heard in the 1971 Sunshine Pavilion loop.

The only other track I haven't posted is "Hawaiian Memories" by The Living Strings. This was reused in the 1983 Polynesian Terrace loop at Tokyo Disneyland and, I've been told, the 1976 Tahitian Terrace loop at Disneyland. That's all I have; the guys who recorded these loops were just after some ambiance instead of what we'd today call "reference recordings".

 

[Weezknight]

Which is the 3 hour loop, the one that these songs are from, or the new one?

 

[Magic Music]

Which is the 3 hour loop, the one that these songs are from, or the new one?

The old loops were under an hour. The current [2010] loop runs 3 hours 57 minutes.

 

[Weezknight]

The old loops were under an hour. The current [2010] loop runs 3 hours 57 minutes.

Thanks. Is there a thread open for research into the current loop? Didn't see one by searching, but I may just be blind.

 

[Magic Music]

Is there a thread open for research into the current loop?

Not at the moment. I have the current loop mostly finished, it's already online, but it won't be visible until after I've fixed a couple of problems that cropped up after the forum software was upgraded.

 

[FoxxFur]

The rest has been identified! ^_^ Here's the full listing:

"Hawaiian Memories" by The Living Strings album Hawaiian Memories
"Blue Hawaii" by Al Caiola album "Solid Gold Guitar Goes Hawaiian"

"Stars Over Maui" by 101 Strings album In A Hawaiian Paradise
"Tune From Rangoon" by Martin Denny album Quiet Village
"Pretty Maui Girl" by Diamond Head Beachcombers album Music Inspired by the motion picture Diamond Head

Shame that no live recording of the rest exists, but hey, ten minutes of original Poly music is better than none, right?