Main Street Electrical Parade Souvenir Picture Discs

On June 17, 1972, Disneyland guests were treated to a brand new experience in a form of one of the most glittering and unusual parades presented anywhere in the world. The magic of Disney lit up the darkened streets of Disneyland with a cavalcade of scenes and characters from Disney films recreated by a half-million colorful lights. This parade was graced with the electrosynthomagnetic musical sounds of Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingley's tune, "Baroque Hoedown" and a medley of Disney and Patriotic tunes. The parade was an instant hit and the rest is history.

The next summer, Disneyland guests were able to purchase copies of the Parade's sounndtrack on vinyl. The soundtrack record was in a form of a picture disc with a collage of parade floats. The music was performed on the Moog Synthesizer by the late Paul Beaver and Jim Christensen, then Musical Director for Disneyland/Walt Disney World. At the same time, the same music was pressed on a picture disc for the long-running nightly Electrical Water Pageant at Walt Disney World, which inspired the Main Street Electrical Parade. That, too used Baroque Hoedown and the Patriotic Musical finale until 1977.

After 1974, the Parade was on hiatus for America On Parade (1975-1976) but made a return in 1977 with a brand new look. This time, Don Dorsey took over and re-arranged the entire soundtrack and arranged new loops including the Blue Fairy/Baroque Hoedown track with a bass line and melodies, a new Alice in Wonderland loop, an underwater unit based on "Bedknobs and Broomsticks featuring an original song, "A Bit Bubbly" and the then-forthcoming movie, Pete's Dragon.  Don also created a sensational opening for the start of the parade titled, "Electric Fanfare".  Coincidentally, Walt Disney World received their version and both parks released a new picture disc with new graphics.