Huge Disney Music Collection on the Horizon

Disney Classics, a four-disc overview of the company's vast, eclectic musical landscape arrives on iTunes and CD November 12th.

Each disc features a different theme:

Disney Timeless Classics
Disney Modern Classics
Disney Television Classics
Disney Theme Park Classics

The set boasts an interesting lineup of tracks, ranging from "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" to the theme from "Wizards of Waverly Place". Some picks are obvious standards while some are surprisingly (in a good way) out of left field. In many ways, this set seems to be the spiritual successor to the Randy Thornton-produced collection, The Music of Disney: A Legacy In Song from 1992, as it aims at covering the entire spectrum of Disney's music catalog while picking no more than one song from any particular film or show...with a couple of exceptions this time around.

For die-hard Disney fans, quite a few tracks will evoke smiles. Whether never-before-released or haven't-been-available-in-ages, here are a few of the tracks for the Disneymaniacs:

The Triple R Song
Darkwing Duck Theme
Scarecrow
Minnie's Yoo Hoo (The Mouse Factory version)
Aloha, E Komo Mai (the only good thing about the Lilo and Stitch TV series)

For readers of this site, here's what you're really interested in: The theme park tracks on Disc 4

The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room
Swisskapolka
Yo Ho
Splash Mountain Medley (Disneyland version)
Bear Band Serenade
Grim Grinning Ghosts
It's a Small World
There's a Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow (Rex Allen)
The Great Outdoors
Space Mountain (Dick Dale)
Soarin'
It's Tough To Be a Bug
California Screamin'
The Best Time of Your Life
Space Mountain (Michael Giacchino)
Universe of Energy
Kitchen Kabaret Medley
One Little Spark (the original)
Canada
Golden Dream
Finale (Fantasmic exit music)

I'm mainly pleased to see Dick Dale's 1996 surfer-guitar "Space Mountain" score and "The Best Time of Your Life" landing on iTunes for the first time.

Check out this link for the complete track list. Overall, it looks like a solid collection. There are too many current-era Disney Channel tunes for my tastes, but many younger fans will feel as nostalgic for those tracks as I am for "Scarecrow" and The Mouse Factory. It truly does seem to be a set aimed at the entire fan base.

There's one fly in the ointment: In preview mode, the set is listed as being an album-only collection, meaning single track purchases (except for a single new pop medley) are not offered. I certainly hope that changes by November 12th, as--like many fans--I've already bought 95% of these.

Geeking Out Over the Saving Mr. Banks Trailer

I didn't expect to shift into Disney Geek Overload mode at the debut of the trailer for the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks, but...wow. Let's run down the checklist of fun, here...

1: First and foremost, we've got two great performances by Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson as Walt Disney and Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers.

2. We've got Disneyland portraying itself as a young park. With attraction posters front and center.

3. We've got scenes portraying the songwriting Sherman Brothers caught in a cultural crossfire with very funny results. "Responstable is not a word!"

4. We've got a re-creation of one of Walt Disney's most playful appearances on television, when Tinkerbell sprinkled him with pixie dust in his office, levitating him off the floor--much to his annoyance.