Tomorrowland Area Music [DL/WDW]

[dtats]

Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?

['Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?' merge point. —Admin]

Ok, back when I last visited the Magic Kingdom--August 2001, I recall hearing some different (at least to me) background music being played in Tomorrowland. Although I don't know the names of the track/s I heard, it sounded like music in the style of Raymond Scott...

Anyone familiar with what was being played there at that time, and if so, have a playlist of the selections?

Thanks!
Mike

 

[sds910]

Re:Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?

Mike:

Some months back, the music you describe was posted to one of the Usenet newsgroups. Unfortunately, I've lost the name of the individual who posted, but I did retain his text file along with the music.

Here's the text file -- which sounds to my ears as if it's been written by Jim Hill -- and this should NOT be construed as an argument that *he* posted the music to Usenet:

************************

About the music...

As you wander through "new" Tomorrowland, does it strike you odd that the soundtrack to the boiler-plate and rivited "Future That Never Was" is the same sleepy New Age music that park has been playing since the 1980s?
It wasn't always this way.

When the rehabed Tomorrowland first opened, it moved to the quirky beat of original Raymond Scott recordings. Scott was the prolific composer of jazz music that would later be remembered by most as being the underscore of several Warner Brothers cartoons. The "B" section of his masterpiece "Powerhouse" usually accompanied cartoon visuals of any assembly-line process or factory.

After a number of months, the scratchy original recordings of Scott's work gave way to newly recorded music which sounded exactly like Raymond Scott songs but were in fact close approximations of the tunes, changed enough it would seem to avoid having to pay royalties. This music cheerily played for several months more, until it too suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced once again by the New Age loop which was played in the "old" Tomorrowland.

I was baffled, as Scott's tunes were the perfect aural counterpart to Tomorrowland's new look. And Esquivel's take on "Harlem Nocturne" was still blaring away in Space Mountain's exit tunnel.

Several years later I discovered the Raymond Scott website (raymondscott.com) and on a page detailing public performances of Scott's works, found this entry:

Tomorrowland - DisneyWorld[sic]: (Orlando, FL) six Scott Quintette compositions and recordings blatantly used as musical template for constantly-running soundtrack loop at renovated theme park attraction; infringement settled out of court (1995-96) So there it was -- Disney was too cheap to pay for Scott's songs and was busted for it.

And it turns out this wasn't the first time the Mouse had tried to rip off Raymond -- the score for "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" also illegaly used elements of Scott's "Powerhouse," forcing a lawsuit and ultimately a settlement.

So here, presented for your enjoyment, is the mysterious, Raymond Scott-like second "New" Tomorrowland Area Loop.

*******************

Having repeated all that, I can tell you the following:

1) The Scott soundalikes were composed by George Wilkins.

2) Disney's use of Raymond Scott's original recordings was NOT illegal, as their agreement with ASCAP/BMI allows for unlimited use of 3rd-party music, provided that the music cannot be *synchronized* to anything, and used for background ambience only.

3) Having Wilkins write and record the soundalikes, however, may have treaded heavily into the immoral -- and *dangerously* into the realm of plagiarism. As the original writer above notes, Scott's widow *won* a lawsuit against the ripoff music used for "Honey I Shrunk The Kids".

4) The curious fact that you heard the Scott soundalikes as late as August 2001 suggests a temporary substitution was made for some reason by Media Design, as the New-Age loop is still in general use there.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[dtats]

Re:Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?

Steve,

Thanks so much for providing the background scoop on what was much a mystery to me! I recall hearing the music--I may have even captured a small portion of the loop while videotaping around tomorrowland--but I was always curious as to the music's origins.

Indeed, it did seem fitting to the look of new Tomorrowland; perhaps someday we'll get to hear it there again!

Thanks again for your help!
Mike

 

[X-S Tech]

Re:Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?

Does anyone have a playlist for the original loop? Or at least how many tracks played? What about the second, Scott-esque version?

 

[rob kilbride]

Re:Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott?

Are you Scott fans familiar with the Beau Hunks? They're a group out of Holland that has done some excellent cd's of Scott's music. They have 2 cd's worth of the original Raymond Scott Quintet versions, one cd of some really great arrangements done for the Paul Whiteman band, and a cd of Scotts works for big band (different compositions from his quintet material). They also have done excelllent recordings of Leroy Shields music from the Hal Roach films most noteably Laurel and Hardy and the Little Rascals as well as a cd of Ferde Grofe's works for jazz band.

 

[Skipkid]

History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

['History of Tomorrowland Music Loops' merge point. —Admin]

Hello everyone. first time here really, I figured if I'm going to get the answers for my many park audio questions, I should come here!

Anyways, throughout the long process of organizing the music I have, I keep running into questions about the music loops in Tomorrowland over the years, so I'd like, with (your) help to put together a nice time line of music played in the area.

1971-1990? - I have no clue
1989-1994 - New Age Loop
1994/1995? - Raymond Scott recordings?
1994/1995? - A George Wilkins' rip off of those recordings?
1995-2003 - New Age Loop
2003-Today - Futuristic Medley Loop

Any help I'd love. I have the New Age Loop, Eleven of the Wilkins recordings, and the Current Loop.

p.s. Also with the Wilkins loop. On AllEarsNet they claim the lobby music in Alien Encounter (r.i.p.) was twelve tracks composed by Wilkins. I'm not sure if this is the same music or not, but I'd love to know, if someone has answers. Or if anyone with the Wilkins sound-alikes has them, could they tell me if there are twelve in the loop, or only eleven, because I only have eleven

thanks and hello once again
skipkid.

 

[X-S Tech]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

I only have half an answer to one of your questions. In regards to Alien Encounters Lobby, I don't think it's that they played George Wilkins music, so much as they just piped in whatever played outside. So during hte Raymond Scott loop, that's what they played, the New Age music, that's what was played inside, etc...

As for the number of tracks in the George WIlkins loop, that's the sort of thing that can be a bit tricky. For one thing, as far as I know all that's leaked out has been:

Track 1 (2:45)
Track 2 (3:13)
Track 3 (3:18)
Track 4 (3:00)
Track 5 (2:58)
Track 6 (2:23)
Track 7 (2:38)
Track 8 (2:21)
Track 9 (2:30)
Track 10 (2:39)
Track 11 (2:52)

The thing that sucks is that these aren't really seperate tracks. The whole thing was one big loop, with some pauses between some of them, so somewhere along the line, someone chopped the loop into individual pieces (this is becoming one of my big pet peeves). Some fo the tracks it doesn't matter on, but others flowed right into each other and now there's a big pause between them. What my point is, is that these tracks could probably be edited even, more making 12 or more tracks, or patched a bit to reduce the number. So to my knowledge, the above is the track and times for the complete loop.

 

[Skipkid]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

Those are the eleven I have. I don't think I've ever listened straight through them, so I'll have to do that and see what you mean about splitting them. I'll also have to listen carefully to it because I discovered a track I had a few days ago. which sounds quite like the Wilkins ones, but couldn't fit it into the parts i was quickly listening to.

However, now that i think about it. If they sound so similar, it could be a track from the Raymond Scott loop. Is there a track listing around for this loop?

Edit-- I take that back. I listened to the unlabeled track, and it was the exit music from Space Mountain. I still don't have any info at all about that Scott loop...

 

[nelsonj3]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

I was just going through some home video of Tomorrowland from 1989 and 1990. I can hear some BGM going on, but it isn't long enough to get a good feel for what it is. However, it didn't sound like the New Age Loop. I always thought that the New Age Loop didn't start being played until Tomorrowland was refurbished.

 

[X-S Tech]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

It should still be the New Age loop at that time. The Raymond Scott stuff came in for the first month or so of Tomorrowlands 1994 refurb.

 

[Skipkid]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

I just sent an email to an faq address on Scott's site.. don't know if I'll get an answer back though. It was regarding track names as well as specific dates. This should be known or kept in records somewhere because of the lawsuit, right? Anyways, I'll let you know if I get a reply.

 

[sds910]

Re:History of Tomorrowland Music Loops

I have the actual Raymond Scott loop and have recreated it from the source material. The loop only played for a brief time in 1994 and was -- incredibly -- only 15 minutes' worth of music that repeated endlessly, ad nauseum. It consists of the following pieces, all of which were subject to some tricky editing into a continuous loop by someone at WDI:

Powerhouse (Saturday Night Swing Club, WABC, 5/1/37)
Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals (Rehearsal, 4/16/37)
The Toy Trumpet / The Penguin (Your Hit Parade, 12/31/38)
Moment Whimsical (Rehearsal for Your Hit Parade, 12/17/37)
Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner (Saturday Night Swing Club, 4/10/37)
Steeplechase (Rehearsal for Your Hit Parade, 4/22/39)

All of the tracks were sourced from the Stash Records CD, "The Raymond Scott Project, Volume One: Powerhouse" (ST-CD-543), a CD drawn from transcription discs of rehearsals and radio airchecks from the private collection of Raymond & Mitzi Scott. The CD itself, from 1991, was very badly distributed at the time and is somewhat of a rarity, even to fanatical Scott collectors.

 

[DisneyChris]

['The New Tomorrowland at WDW in the 90s' merge point. —Admin]

When the New Tomorrowland premeired, I was working at WDW's Magic Kingdom in the college internship program. The background music they played back then was a retro 1930s sound. I liked it, but it did not last long. It was soon replaced by a more conventional idea of what futuristic music sounds like.

While clicking through iTunes this weekend I made a cool discovery, so thought I'd share, for anyone who does not know already. I found a composer named Raymond Scott, who seems to have been the inspiration behind the original New Tomorrowland compositions. His music, written back in the 30s, seems to have the exact same feeling. Anyone interested, go check him out. His music is very interesting, and different for the period. It was also used in may Warner Brothers cartoons, as well as for the main title ofr Honey I Shrunk the Kids. He has a best of compilation CD available on ITunes. Check it out and let me know what you think of it.

 

[Horizons]

Information that was posted several years back on this subject (thanks to sds910).

In 1994, with the conversion of Tomorrowland into the "Future that Never Was," the new-age loop was replaced with a loop comprised of old Raymond Scott recordings. Apparently, the loop was rather short, running close to 15 minutes. The playlist was as follows and all tracks can be found on the CD "The Raymond Scott Project, Volume One: Powerhouse."

- Powerhouse
- Dinner Music For a Pack of Hungry Cannibals
- Toy Trumpet
- Penguin
- Moment Whimsical
- Reckless Night on Board on Ocean Liner
- Steeplechase

A reconstruction of this loop, running 15:14, has been made and is some form of circulation. After its short use, a different loop, arranged by George Wilkens, was installed which was, in essence, a knock-off of the Raymond Scott loop. There are 11 tracks of the Wilkens loop in general circulation, all with no stated track names. These 11 tracks were obviously cut from a single loop, but I haven't been successful in tracking down the uncut version. Perhaps, due to legal reasons, the Wilkens loop was removed shortly after installation with the New Age loop being used once again.

 

[X-S Tech]

[post=4422]Tomorrowland BGM ala Raymond Scott[/post]

The second post at the above link has a bunch of info about the Raymond Scott loop. The reconstruction is super super accurate. The original version of the loop was constructed by WDI from sources that were less than stellar and featured many cracks and pops (maybe it was intentional to make it feel retro?). The rebuilt version that's in circulation is beat for beat the same, it was just built (by a member here at the forums ((not me))) using cleaned up tracks that were unavailable to WDI when the original was being produced.

 

[Horizons]

Is there a version of the Wilkens loop around that is full, rather than the individual tracks that were cut from the loop?

 

[X-S Tech]

If there is, I haven't seen it.

 

[Timekeeper]

['Tomorrowland Area Music at DL and WDW' merge point. —Admin]

I wrote my first blog post and here are the results:

[entry=341]The Current Tomorrowland Area Music at Disneyland and Walt Disney World[/entry]

Comments will be posted here. I hope I'm not usurping anybody's attempt on the loop, if anyone's doing it. One minor note is why the TDL Loop is not listed is because somebody else has already listed the loop, so I'm not going to add it.


Timekeeper

 

[SeaCastle]

Thanks for tracking down the song names for this loop. This is one of the most distinctive for me and I always enjoyed hearing it.

NPR did a report about Space Age design, and featured the "Seize the Future" theme in the transition music for the report. However, when looking back at the list of the music used in the show, the piece was only labelled "Tomorrowland Theme", with no artist or track information. I don't think that the music was included in the story, but if you're interested you can listen to it here.

 

[wedroy1923]

['Space Mountain Concourse / Tomorrowland Area Music' merge point. —Admin]

Does anyone know when the Space Mountain Concourse music containing the Tomorrowland 2055 tracks was installed at Disneyland? Is it still used?

Tied to this is another question: When was the current Tomorrowland area music, the version similar to what is used at the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland installed? Did it replace the Space Mountain Concourse music?