My passion for Disney Records started when my mom went to Gemco and bought me Mickey Mouse Disco and Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. It began a long-friendship with Disney. And today, I have a large collection of these Disney classics and I still listen to them for pleasure and for nostalgia. My collection ranges from 1956-1988 and they are Storyteller LPs, Soundtracks and Theme Park Soundtracks.
My all-time favorite, of course is Mickey Mouse Disco. Released in 1979, it went Gold, and surprisingly, it reached Platinum and Double Platinum. I still enjoy this classic album along with other Disco classics like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. This album has disco versions of three Disney standards including the Oscar-Winning tunes, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins as well as new tracks such as Macho Duck, a parody of The Village People's Macho Man, Mousetrap, and many others. It's a true classic and you can still get this on Ebay or Itunes.
The Storyteller albums are a crowning jewel in my collection and with great reasons. They come included books with beautiful art or photographs from the movies. I enjoy collecting the albums released in the late 50s due to the fact that many pf the albums featured the art from animated cels and are valuable. In addition, the narration of these albums are done to perfection by actors like Thurl Ravenscroft, Ginny Tyler, Dallas McKennon, Mouseketeers Annette, Darlene Gillespie and Jimmie Dodd, and even Jiminy Cricket.
Disney released Picture Disc titles in 1980 but the Disney parks produced a few soundtracks for the Main Street Electrical Parade (1973 and 1977), America On Parade, It's A Small World and others. The 80s discs included soundtracks from Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Mary Poppins and others, totaling 12 discs, all beautifully illustrated by the folks at Disney.
Disneyland Records was official started in 1956 and headed by Jimmy Johnson after he convinced Walt Disney to produce his own records after the success of Disneyland Park and the TV series Davy Crockett and the Mickey Mouse Club. Before the Disneyland label, many recordings were issued on Columbia, RCA, Capitol and others. The soundtrack albums released from its inception to 1959 are very valuable due to the rare artwork (possibly from animation cels) and the cream of the crop is the original release of the studio version of the score of Alice In Wonderland, featuring Darlene Gillespie and Tutti Camarata. That album alone was worth over $350 because of its one time use of artwork!
A second label, Buena Vista Records was started in 1959 and mostly catered to the teens and adult audiences. It's big success was the soundtrack album from "Mary Poppins" in 1964. In the 1980s, the label released a series for George Lucas' Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies as well as Rainbow Brite, the Star Trek Movies, The Dark Crystal and others.
I must have over 100+ Disneyland/Buena Vista albums to my name and these are my pride and joy. Not only do these records entertain me but have influenced me to see the movies they are based on. Many of these classic albums are available on CD at Disneyland's 20th Century Music Store (at least the last time I heard) and now on Itunes and Amazon.
I highly recommend that you read MOUSE TRACKS-THE STORY OF WALT DISNEY RECORDS by Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar. This book will tell you all about the Disney albums and the people who worked on them.
Official Website:
http://www.mousetracksonline.com/
My all-time favorite, of course is Mickey Mouse Disco. Released in 1979, it went Gold, and surprisingly, it reached Platinum and Double Platinum. I still enjoy this classic album along with other Disco classics like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. This album has disco versions of three Disney standards including the Oscar-Winning tunes, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins as well as new tracks such as Macho Duck, a parody of The Village People's Macho Man, Mousetrap, and many others. It's a true classic and you can still get this on Ebay or Itunes.
The Storyteller albums are a crowning jewel in my collection and with great reasons. They come included books with beautiful art or photographs from the movies. I enjoy collecting the albums released in the late 50s due to the fact that many pf the albums featured the art from animated cels and are valuable. In addition, the narration of these albums are done to perfection by actors like Thurl Ravenscroft, Ginny Tyler, Dallas McKennon, Mouseketeers Annette, Darlene Gillespie and Jimmie Dodd, and even Jiminy Cricket.
Disney released Picture Disc titles in 1980 but the Disney parks produced a few soundtracks for the Main Street Electrical Parade (1973 and 1977), America On Parade, It's A Small World and others. The 80s discs included soundtracks from Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Mary Poppins and others, totaling 12 discs, all beautifully illustrated by the folks at Disney.
Disneyland Records was official started in 1956 and headed by Jimmy Johnson after he convinced Walt Disney to produce his own records after the success of Disneyland Park and the TV series Davy Crockett and the Mickey Mouse Club. Before the Disneyland label, many recordings were issued on Columbia, RCA, Capitol and others. The soundtrack albums released from its inception to 1959 are very valuable due to the rare artwork (possibly from animation cels) and the cream of the crop is the original release of the studio version of the score of Alice In Wonderland, featuring Darlene Gillespie and Tutti Camarata. That album alone was worth over $350 because of its one time use of artwork!
A second label, Buena Vista Records was started in 1959 and mostly catered to the teens and adult audiences. It's big success was the soundtrack album from "Mary Poppins" in 1964. In the 1980s, the label released a series for George Lucas' Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies as well as Rainbow Brite, the Star Trek Movies, The Dark Crystal and others.
I must have over 100+ Disneyland/Buena Vista albums to my name and these are my pride and joy. Not only do these records entertain me but have influenced me to see the movies they are based on. Many of these classic albums are available on CD at Disneyland's 20th Century Music Store (at least the last time I heard) and now on Itunes and Amazon.
I highly recommend that you read MOUSE TRACKS-THE STORY OF WALT DISNEY RECORDS by Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar. This book will tell you all about the Disney albums and the people who worked on them.
Official Website:
http://www.mousetracksonline.com/
