"Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic" - November 17, 2011
by Albert Gutierrez
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, our family
thrived on long-playing records and cassette tapes. We still have a
fairly decent collection of LPs, a few dozen of which I keep in my
room. Among those LPs were Disney records, but they were of the
kiddie variety. They usually were a collection of children's songs
or read-along 45's that only featured one or two songs among the
story. Thus, most of the Disney music that my siblings and I were
exposed to came from watching VHS tapes of the movies and Disney
Sing-Along Songs. However, technology somehow managed to finally get
updated in our home in 1995. We bought our first CD player, and a
set of four CDs. Two of them were Piano Moods and Celine Dion's "The
Colour of My Love," neither of which held much interest for myself
and my siblings. The other two ended up getting much more spins in
the player: "Classic Disney," Volumes I and II.

"Classic Disney" was a compilation CD series that
began in 1995. Each volume featured twenty-five songs celebrating
Disney's rich history with music. Over the latter half of the 1990s,
five volumes were released, featuring 125 songs featured in various
Disney projects between 1929 and 1998. The earliest* song included
was 1929's "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo" (Volume I, Track 25) a natural choice,
as it could be considered the very first theme song for a Disney
character. The most recent song in the collection was 1998's "I'll
Make a Man Out of You" (Volume V, Track 1) from the hit film
Mulan. The other 123 songs ranged from well-known classics like
1964's "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (Volume II, Track 7)
from Mary Poppins to contemporary hits like 1992's "A Whole
New World" (Volume I, Track 1) from Aladdin. Looking back on
it now, it's quite fitting that "A Whole New World" is the
headlining song that leads you into a musical crescendo of Disney
nirvana. What better way to enter the world of Disney music than
through what is arguably their best song of the 1990s?
*Technically, one could argue that the earliest song in the
collection is 1892's "Dance of the Reed Flutes" from The Nutcracker
(Volume I, Track 22). But the version featured in the collection is
taken from Fantasia's 1940 arrangement. Therefore, "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo"
predates it by eleven years.
Since "Classic Disney" was the extent of our musical
Disney collection, it received a lot of play from us. The CDs rarely
left the 5-disc turntable on our player. Sometimes, we would pause a
song on the player, then scramble to find that scene on the VHS tape
of the movie. I still vividly remember one night when we were
watching Mary Poppins: every time a particular song came on
that was in "Classic Disney," we'd pause the movie, find the track,
and then synch the two up. It was very exciting for us to hear the
likes of "Jolly Holiday" (Volume I, Track 10) or "A Spoonful of
Sugar" (Volume I, Track 11) being sung to us from two ends of the
room. I guess you could say this was the NJ Trio's earliest exposure
to a surround sound system in the home!

Even though Volumes III, IV, and V came out in the
later years of the 1990s, we never bought them. We had become too
accustomed to the first two volumes being our definitive collection
of Disney songs, that it seemed weird - to me, at least - to
suddenly have an additional 25/50/75 songs. For most of my life, the
first 50 songs from "Classic Disney" were what I considered the best
of Disney music. All because we got used to hearing them over and
over again. Sure, we picked up other Disney CDs over the years.
2002's Beauty and the Beast Special Edition soundtrack was
one of the first CDs I bought with my own money, and will always be
my favorite animated Disney movie soundtrack. But by the early
2000s, Disney music was no longer the go-to choice when I needed
something pleasant to hear. Even the "Classic Disney" CDs started
getting less play, and eventually, no longer held slots 1 and 2 in
the turntable.
Then, in 2005, I was browsing through Virgin
Megastore at Downtown Disney's West Side. I rarely went through the
CD section; I enjoyed browsing the DVDs more. But there was a sale
on some Disney products, and so I decided to see what they had: a
great big row of CD box sets, on sale for the low, low price of
$27.99! Intrigued, I picked up a box, and found it contained all
five volumes of "Classic Disney"! A wave of nostalgia suddenly hit
me, as I recalled afternoons listening to "A Whale of a Tale"
(Volume I, Track 17) while studying for a math test. I remembered my
sister's robot project, where she attached a tape player to the back
that included the beginning of "Main Street Electrical Parade"
(Volume II, Track 9) among its songs. I knew I had to buy this box
set. I didn't care for the other three volumes, I just wanted an
opportunity to listen to my 50 songs once more.

Of course, I did end up listening to Volumes III,
IV, and V. Thankfully, I grew to love those volumes as much as I did
the first two. It was through these volumes that I gained a newfound
love for most of the songs. I never heard the song "Home" (Volume
IV, Track 4) from Broadway's Beauty and the Beast until I
bought this set, and it's become one of my favorite from the
musical. Even a song like "Are We Dancing" (Volume III, Track 16)
grew on me. I wasn't fond of it when I first saw The Happiest
Millionaire, but after listening to it several times on the CD,
I've grown to appreciate it much more. It's one of the few romantic
ballads from a live-action Disney movie, and easily sits up on top
of the list with Pete's Dragon's "Candle on the Water"
(Volume II, Track 8). And if "Seize the Day" (Volume V, Track 10)
weren't included, I might never have become such a huge fan of
Newsies!
My Disney music collection has grown tenfold since
those original 50 and subsequent 75 songs, and my music collection
in general makes those original 50 seem quite paltry. But sometimes,
when I just want to feel like I'm 10 years old again, I'll pop a
"Classic Disney" in the car on my morning commute, and smile as I
drive away.