Search - Disney :: Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade

Make it stooooop!!!

GuessHoo57 | Kelmar1 | 12/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a big fan of the music from "Electric Light Parade" since I first went to Disneyland in 1976. The parade wasn't playing but I bought a small picture disc of the parade, on vinyl, for 50 cents anyway. The music that came out of that small record changed my life and has never stopped entertaining me. I have several versions of it, including the original "Baroque Hoedown" that Perrey/Kingsley recorded. I worked the actual parade in the 80's and even though I heard it every night, twice a night, for months, I never got tired of it. There were always new subtle changes to the floats with new musical "stages" and I'm always looking for recordings of them. I know this music by heart, and love it.



I recently sampled a small snippet from the parade as it plays in Tokyo. I'd heard it was slightly different, and was pleased to hear it sounded like a welcome variation. I got this CD immediately.



I'm sure that in the context of the actual parade it works, but I was disappointed with the music. After a promising opening--new instruments, arrangement and a beat-driven version of the "Hoedown," the underlying "baroque" was lost altogether. One of my favorite aspects of the original version is that everything is tied to the original "hoedown" theme, there are layers and layers of depth, all syncopated. Here that disappears, each new theme comes in solo.



But even that would've been acceptable. The real offense here, and the reason I probably won't listen to this much: about 1/3 of the way into the 20 minute running time the electronic sounds disappear and are replaced by all that orchestral bombast that made the score to "Fantasmic" so easy to hate. Disney music became increasingly schmaltzy in the 90's and so did their scores for park attractions, and this is no exception. It just gets louder and more bland as it goes, until I was crying "uncle!" to make it stop. Finally the electronic themes resume at the end, but it's too late--even the wonderful "Electric Light Parade," that last bastion of old-school Disney charm, has succumbed. I can just see the formal-suited execs sitting around a big table, trying hard to squelch anything that's remotely interesting or creative in the Disney output machine, replacing everything with sterile, sentimental, emotionless, "by-the-books" pablum for bored, slightly feeble-minded, ritalin-challenged 4 year olds and the parents that have to entertain them. A real disappointment.



I doubt anyone will come across this and read it but felt compelled to write this as a formal "Buyer beware." This is NOT an iprovement, it's an unwelcome change. I gave it 3 stars, however, because track 2 is a more traditional form of the parade with a few incredibly subtle changes I've never heard on any other recording and a new stage, "Swan Lake" that was unremarkable but nice for a completist like myself."

Dreamlights Is The Version We've Been Dreaming Of!

GuessHoo57 | 07/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Main Street Electrical Parade is considered a classic by many Disney fans. The parade has gone through many changes and appeared on three different continents since it's inception in 1972.This new Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade CD is one that will definitely be one you will want to add to your collection. The new Electrical Parade music (Dreamlights) is one that combines many of the former Electrical Parade sounds with new ones including Beauty and the Beast, Woody, Jessie, and Buzz, Winnie The Pooh, and more. The entire track is over 20 minutes long of magical crisp sound!If you've heard about the parade or are a fan of the US versions of the Main Street Electrical Parade, this is definitely a CD to add to your collection. This disc also includes a copy of the original Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade soundtrack that ran with the former version of the parade from 1985 - 1995."

A Very Advanced Version of the Original, But NOT a Clone

Steven D. Boutet | 08/16/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dreamlights is such a magical parade, probably because of the nostalgia from the original, and that nostalgia is very much presented in the music. However, if you are expecting the same musical lineup you are going to be let down. There is a lot of stuff from the original mixed in there but most of it is completely new. It's still really great to listen to and you really feel like you are there because they include all of the dialog from the parade on the track. A word of warning though, this is a JAPANESE CD, which means that there are several parts of dialog that are completely in Japanese. That doesn't hurt it though because it's still a great listen!"