CD REVIEW: Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition Soundtrack

In 1991, Walt Disney Pictures released the 30th film in their Animated Classics canon, Beauty and the Beast, to wild critical and commercial success, even nabbing an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (It is still the only animated film given this honor.) and becoming the first animated film to won a Golden Globe Award for Best Picture. In addition, Beauty and the Beast became the first film to have three of its songs be honored with Academy Award nominations. (The title track, along with the film's rich score, both won the Oscar.) The soundtrack also won Grammy Awards for Best Album For Children, Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture, Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture, Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group for the pop single version of the title track as performed by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, and Best Pop Instrumental Performance. In addition, the soundtrack was certified platinum three times by the RIAA, and the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast" was certified Gold and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

In 2002, Disney re-released the film, this time to large-screen theaters such as IMAX. The film, which was animated using the CAPS system, (CAPS is a program that takes hand-drawn animation that has been scanned into the computer and allows the color artists to digitally color them and add shading and such, allowing for far more painted cels in a smaller period of time.) was enhanced to fix details that one might not notice on a TV screen or a regular theater screen, but would be very obvious in the larger format. In addition, a song that was dropped from the early storyboards but worked into the Broadway show, "Human Again," was voiced by the original cast, animated, and integrated into the film seamlessly. Just a couple of months prior to the film's January 1, 2002 IMAX premiere, Disney also reissued the soundtrack in a new Special Edition. The new Special Edition contained the digitally remastered original soundtrack, with the addition of Human Again, as well as two songwriter demos and the original early version of the Beast's death music. The new CD was issued in a brand new package with brand new liner notes and a new cardboard slipcover replicating the IMAX reissue's poster.

Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite film. I've seen it at least fifty times, if not more, and the soundtrack is one of my all time favorite CDs. And unlike most subsequent "Special Edition" soundtrack reissues from Disney, this one does it right. The soundtrack has never sounded better. For music that is now sixteen years old, it still sounds fresh and vibrant and new, with the exception of the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast," which naturally sounds dated now. The lush orchestral arrangements of the score, written by Alan Menken, come to life as you listen, and the Broadway-like feel of the songs, written by Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, makes it truly one of the most unique Disney soundtracks of all time.

The three songs from the film that were nominated for the Best Song Academy Award are "Belle," "Be Our Guest," and "Beauty and the Beast." The first two are big, loud, and splashy Broadway-styled numbers that blow you away, while "Beauty and the Beast" is its musical opposite. The subtle track is relatively quiet in its emotions, but very powerful. Performed in the film by Angela Lansbury, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star and Academy Award-nominated movie star best known outside of the film as Jessica Fletcher from the long-running mystery TV series Murder She Wrote and as the title character in the Tony Award-winning musical Mame, her vocal performance is very subtle and vulnerable. In a featurette on the DVD, Angela admits that she'd been hesitant to record the song and didn't want to do it as she felt she wasn't the right one to sing it. But they (As Judy Garland said at Carnegie Hall, "I don't know who THEY are...") insisted that Angela perform the vocal. In that same featurette, composer Alan Menken praised her performance, saying it was an absolutely incredible say in the studio and shared a nice little fact - Angela recorded only one take of the vocal, which is what you hear in the film and on the CD.

"Belle" is the perfect opening number for the film. Within five minutes, you're introduced to several of your major players and get a glimpse into their personalities - odd Maurice, kind-hearted Belle, pig-headed Gaston, and his sockpuppet, LeFou. It's big, loud, very theatrical, and opens the film with a bang. A short reprise that follows soon after also shows you more of Belle's burning desire to get away from "this provincial life" that she expressed in the full-length number.

"Gaston" and its reprise are basically what it sounds like - everyone, including Gaston himself, singing his praises. Another rousing Broadway-inspired number, this one boasts some of the film's most amusing moments. The reprise also shows us a little more of the devious side of Gaston, which comes out slowly as the film progresses, climaxing at the end when he completes his internal transformation into an all-out villain.

"Be Our Guest" is the biggest number in the entire film, performed to perfection by the late great Jerry Orbach, best known as Det. Lenny Briscoe in the TV series Law And Order and as the original Billy Flynn in the original Broadway production of Chicago. The Disney staff pulled out all the stops for this one. It's a non-stop feast for the eyes and ears.

"Something There" crams what would take almost an entire movie in non-musical and crams it into about five minutes. In this song, we see the budding friendship between Belle and the Beast. This song comes after the Beast gives his library as a gift to Belle. (One of my favorite scenes in the entire film, and I'm PISSED that the score for this scene isn't on the soundtrack.) In the original version of the film, this immediately segues into the bathtub scene where the Beast is preparing for the ballroom scene, so seeing the original theatrical version, to me, it kinda leaves me wanting more now. Just a little more interaction between the two. Which leads me to...

"Human Again" is the new song here. Well, it's only new in that it wasn't previously included in the film. The song was actually part of the storyboards and was even demo'd. (The full-length demo can be found on the now out of print The Music Behind The Magic box set. An edited version of the demo can be found, along with early storyboard footage, on the DVD.) However, due to a motif in the song about the passage of time, which caused some story issues, the song was deleted. When Disney was preparing the film for its stage adaptation, the song was dusted off and they realized that if they merely removed the "passage of time" bit from the song that it would actually work. Now, I much prefer seeing the Special Edition of the movie with this song. It feels so much more complete and offers something the original film didn't have - anything about the breaking of the spell from the point of view of the enchanted objects. It also provides one more little moment between Belle and the Beast, which also goes back to the original storyboards - Belle teaching the Beast how to read.

"The Mob Song" is the final song in the film, save for the pop version of the title track during the end credits. In this song, Gaston finally makes the transition that has been building up throughout the entire film from a pig-headed dumb guy to jerk to full-blown villain who would literally kill to get his way, never getting the hint that no matter what he does, Belle will never want to marry him. The best part of this is the same thing that's great about all of the songs - it's not just there for the sake of being there. It shows character development and moves the story along.

As for the gorgeous score, there's two tracks that stand out for me - "The Beast Lets Belle Go" and "Transformation." Both are gorgeously dramatic when they need to be and subtle and soft when necessary. "Transformation" ends with a beautiful choral reprise of "Beauty and the Beast."

My only complaint about this soundtrack is that I wish more score was present on here. I find it hard to believe that there's only approx. 55 minutes of music in a 90-minute movie where it seems like you're hearing background music almost every minute. The Special Edition CD is just under an hour and five minutes, meaning they could have placed 10-15 minutes more of score cues and such on here and made it more complete. I'm sure ALL of the score wouldn't fit onto here, but most of it would be nice. Especially the score from the scene where the Beast gives his library to Belle, which I think is one of the most beautiful pieces in the film.

However, it's hard to find any other fault with this CD. The sound quality is fantastic, the music is gorgeous, and it's just CLASSIC. I give it 9 stars out of 10. If only Disney had given the Pocahontas soundtrack this same treatment when they released a new DVD edition of the film with the deleted song "If I Never Knew You" fully animated and integrated into the film. Instead, they chose not to even BOTHER re-releasing it or anything, making the song commercially unavailable outside of the DVD. Shame on you, Disney!

Peter Pan (1960 NBC Telecast Starring Mary Martin) On YouTube!

In 1955, NBC broadcast the Broadway musical adaptation of Peter Pan. The telecast featured the original Broadway cast, which included Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. The live broadcast was a massive hit for NBC, and another live performance would be done a year later. Once again in 1960, NBC broadcast the final live performance of Peter Pan. This time, the performance was preserved on color videotape for posterity. As opposed to rebroadcasting it annually, NBC only rebroadcast it three more times - in 1963, 1966, and 1973. After the 1973 broadcast, NBC was unable to locate the videotape and the production was presumed lost until it was discovered in 1988. In 1989, NBC rebroadcast the special for the first time in sixteen years. Shortly afterwards, NBC and GoodTimes Home Video released the special onto home video, where it remained in print for many years. A DVD release in 1999 was quickly put out of print and now goes for $250+ on sites like Amazon.

In 1990, I recieved two videos for my birthday. The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan. And I watched both of them obsessively, absolutely loving both of them. Years later, I somehow lost my tape, but managed to tape a Disney Channel broadcast in the mid 90's, albeit the signal was nasty, so it wasn't amazing quality. Fast forward to around 2002 - I check out the video from the library and make a copy. Fast forward another couple of years - someone on LiveJournal sends me a DVD-R taken from their VHS copy. Not only that, but I now also own a good quality legitimate VHS copy.

I've always loved this adaptation of Peter Pan far more than any other - even Disney's, and I'm a major Disney fan. But I didn't grow up watching Disney's over and over again. In fact, I didn't even own Disney's version in any format until the 2002 DVD re-release. Never got to tape a TV broadcast or anything. But I absolutely loved the music from this version, plus I think the cheap sets and special effects give it a charming feel. After all, it IS nothing more than a play on tape.

Posted below are a few musical numbers from the 1960 NBC telecast.







More clips, as well as the entire telecast, split into 15 videos, can be found here.

Public Domain Goodies

Being someone of little income, I've found something that truly satisfies my DVD addiction - the $1 DVD.

That's right, for the ridiculously low price of $1, you can buy one, sometimes even two movies on one DVD. Anywhere from 1 to four hours of scratchy dirty worn faded out-of-focus dreck for $1.

Not always dreck though. Some well-known classics can be bought, in varying degrees of video and audio quality, for $1. Films like the 1937 version of A Star Is Born, Charade, Of Human Bondage, The Little Princess, Gulliver's Travels, many a Hitchcock classic, Our Town, and many many more.

Of course, some awful dreck that's only good for children and fans of bad films is available there as well.



I've owned this on VHS for years. I used to LOVE watching this movie, despite the fact that it has oh-so-little to do with the actual story of Thumbelina. This program is actually an edited down version of the 26-episode Japanese TV anime series, titled Oyayubi Hime Monogatari, or The Story Of The Thumb Princess.

Since discovering that this title was even available on DVD, much less in the dollar DVD bins (Thanks to Digiview, one of the more popular manufacturers of $1 DVDs.), I've been on the lookout. But I've had no luck. Until just last year, when I was in Wal Mart buying Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics album. I decided to also do some pilfering in their $1 DVD bins near the front of the store. Lo and behold, I found it! Thumbelina: A Magical Story, a charming little childhood favorite, on the amazing medium of DVD for the insanely low price of $1! I snatched it up along with their DVD of an Australian animated version of Wind In The Willows that I also used to own on VHS, (I eventually sold it. The sound mix was terrible. The music always drowned out the dialogue.) plus a couple of Digiview Toon Factory compilation DVDs.

The DVD, for $1, is surprisingly good quality. I have the feeling they somehow had access to the original tape master, and not just one of the VHS tapes released in the mid 90's by Starmaker, which would have provided a nastier transfer. It is obvious when watching that a videotape was the source for the DVD transfer, but it must have been a high quality one.

I do believe that this, unlike many $1 DVDs, is not in the public domain, but was released through a licensing deal with Digiview.

Another fantastic buy from the $1 bin is Brentwood Home Video's Great Literature On Film, Vol. 1 DVD, which contains two films - Cyrano de Bergerac featuring Jose Ferrer, and Of Human Bondage starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard.



I bought this DVD to see what the quality of their transfer of Of Human Bondage was, as well as to see the other film. I haven't yet watched Cyrano, but I've most definitely watched Of Human Bondage again.

The transfer on this particular DVD edition is NOT perfect, but it's definitely light years above the typical $1 DVD transfer. It's actually on par with the print that's shown on TCM and may even be from the same source material. It's still slightly scratchy and dirty, and the sound is a little harsh, but frankly, I'd say the transfer is on par with that from any major studio.



Another great $1 DVD purchase was made when I picked up a couple of Treasure Box Collection releases. I've still not watched either of the films on this Cary Grant Double Feature DVD, but I've previewed them. The transfer of Amazing Adventure is passable. But the transfer of His Girl Friday is absolutely spectacular. I can't believe this was only $1! Very clean, crisp, and clear. Very little in the way of dirt, grain, etc. Great buy.

In addition, I also enjoy the 20 and 50 movie packs from Mill Creek Entertainment. For anywhere from $5 to $20, you can get an instant library of films and hours of boredom killers. I currently own the Family Classics 50 Movie Pack, the 100 Cartoon Classics set which is now out of print and was released back when they were TreeLine Films, and the Musicals 20 Movie Pack.



Their 50 and 100 movie packs come packaged just like the pic above - a sturdy cardboard box that is held closed in the front with velcro and holds 12 or 24 cardboard sleeves that hold each DVD inside, with descriptions of the programming printed on the front and back. On most of these sets, each double-sided DVD has two full movies, two or three short films, or one full movie and one or two short films on each single-layer side. The exception is the 100 Cartoon Classics set. Each of the 12 single-sided single-layer DVD discs contain about eight or nine cartoons. But they're still packaged in the same box with the discs in cardboard sleeves. Their 20 movie packs come in double alpha DVD cases with five single-sided dual-layer DVDs, with four titles crammed onto each disc. The 20 packs often can be found for about $5 in most stores. (A lot of them can be found in Wal Mart's $5.50 bin, and while regular price in the main local store for buying movies and music is $7.99, I got it on sale on Thanksgiving Thursday for $5.) The 50 packs sell for anywhere from $10 to about $20. I imagine the 100 packs sell for anywhere from $15 to $30.

Most of these titles have one thing in common - their copyright no longer exists. For some reason, copyright lapsed on many films and TV shows, putting them into the public domain. And when something is in the public domain, anyone can, and often does, release it. Companies like Brentwood, Digiview, and Mill Creek specialize in taking public domain films or films licensed to them very cheaply and releasing them onto DVD for as cheaply as possible in order to allow the consumer to purchase them for very reasonable prices...many for just $1. The downside is that not all films in the public domain are great and the video and audio quality is often quite iffy. But you get what you pay for, and sometimes, on that rare occasion, you get above and beyond what you pay for. But most of the time, you get what you pay for.

I have many more $1 DVD titles, plus cheap-o DVDs that cost a little more, like $2 or $2.50, but that's another post. But I hope that this encourages you to do a little bargain bin pilfering of your own. You never know what treasures you might find. And if you don't like what you've bought, it's ok. You're only out $1! And do think about picking up some of those great Mill Creek Entertainment sets. Each one likely contains a bunch of turkeys, but for the gems you find inside them, it's absolutely worth the money.

CD REVIEW: Celine Dion - Taking Chances

Artist: Celine Dion
Title: Taking Chances
Genre: Pop/Rock
Label: Columbia
Release Date: November 13, 2007



When the US got its first taste of Celine Dion in 1990 with the release of her first English-language album, Unison, and it's lone top 5 Billboard hit, "Where Does My Heart Beat Now," Celine had already been a Francophone recording star in her native country of Canada for nearly a decade. Seventeen years later, Celine Dion is one of the world's most successful singers. She is reported to have sold an incredible 185 million albums worldwide - more than any other female artist - and is the singer of one of the biggest radio hits ever, "My Heart Will Go On," from the blockbuster film Titanic, as well as the winner of five Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year for her 1996 blockbuster, Falling Into You.

Celine Dion released her last pop album in 2003. The album, titled One Heart, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Albums Charts, and eventually sold 6.5 million worldwide. Just the year before, A New Day Has Come, her first album since taking her "break" from music, had debuted at #1 on the same chart with 558,000 copies sold - her biggest first week sales to date - and sold around 12 million copies worldwide. In 2004, Celine released Miracle, a collaboration with photographer Anne Geddes which celebrates motherhood. And she's also released two Francophone studio albums and On Ne Change Pas, a best-of compilation of her Francophone recordings, including several pre-Sony tracks previously unavailable in any official Celine Dion international release.

Now, with the closing of her wildy successful Las Vegas show, A New Day, Celine Dion has released her 13th English language album, Taking Chances. The album debuted at #3 with 214,556 copies sold, which is fairly good in 2007 numbers for an album without a hit single, but a bit disappointing considering this is Celine Dion.

First week sales aside, time will tell how well this album does. But enough of that. What do I think of this album?

Frankly, I'm a huge Celine Dion fan. I love her beyond the point of sanity. But I don't blindly love everything she does. In fact, Taking Chances is the first Celine CD I've bought since A New Day Has Come over five and a half years ago. That was the last one I wanted to buy. I liked a few songs from One Heart and I enjoyed her Francophone releases. (I do, however, pretend Miracle doesn't exist, but that's neither here nor there.)

To me, the title sums up what this album is about - taking chances. Now I don't even pretend that this is a complete 180 from all the generic Adult Contemporary dreck she's been churning out since 1990. But it's definitely got some freshness to it that, frankly, Celine hasn't had in her music in a long time. Well, freshness for HER. Honestly, this album would be more contemporary in 2004 or 2005 than it is now, but it's not TOO stale yet.

For the first time in a long time, if ever, Celine is bringing to her English-language recordings some of her rock-flavored pop sensibilities that have been a part of her Francophone recordings since her multi-million selling 1995 album D'eux, known in the US as The French Album. True, it's still very pop. Celine will never do real rock and roll. She knows enough to not completely abandon her fanbase. But it's just enough of a twist, and, to even MY surprise, she's very convincing at it. From the opening title track to her cover of the Heart mega-hit "Alone," (Which I think is amazing in its new arrangement with the strings and music box intro, but I must say, even Celine can't sing this song as brilliantly as Ann Wilson.) to the funky bluesy-rocky feel of "Can't Fight The Feelin'," to "Fade Away" which sounds like it would have been at home on Kelly Clarkson's megahit Grammy-winning Breakaway album, the new "let's add some guitars" sound, which could have turned out so laughably bad and contrived, actually succeeds.

In addition, there's a couple of great danceable pop songs on here, which a lot of people might be shocked to find out she's done before. And quite a few of them, at that. (See "Misled," "Love Can Move Mountains," most of Unison, "Sorry For Love," "That's The Way It Is," etc.) However, this album's two major dance pop outings, the Shakira-channeling "Eyes On Me," co-written by Australian megastar Delta Goodrem, and the Euro-dance flavored "Shadow Of Love," are among the best of her career.

Don't think Celine's given up her trademark ballads. "A Song For You" is a gorgeous piano-heavy ballad featuring a gorgeously restrained vocal performance. The two tracks written and produced by Linda Perry, the soft-rock "My Love" and gospel-flavored "New Dawn," blend new and classic Celine effortlessly. The album's closing track, "Skies Of L.A.," written by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, The-Dream and Thaddis Harrell, and produced by "Tricky" and Kuk Harrell, (Tricky and The-Dream were responsible for, among others, the Rihanna hit "Umbrella.") is a gorgeous dream-like piano-heavy track.

The album isn't a complete success, however. Despite the fact that the song "I Got Nothin' Left" is a very VERY good song, her extremely nasal vocal performance on the song almost makes it unlistenable. And not even the great bluesy production and great lyrics of "That's Just The Woman In Me" can make up for Celine's horrific attempt at channeling Janis Joplin. And to be honest, "Right Next To The Right One" does so little for me, but I don't hate it, so it could grow on me.

Finally, the title of the song "Surprise Surprise" really does say it all - it's the surprise of the album for me. When I first saw that track title, I admit. I laughed and expected it to be complete crap. But when the album leaked and I heard it, I was amazed at how much I liked it. And so far, Surprise Surprise and Fade Away, which is my favorite song on the album, seem to be the big fan favorites, and even seem to be favorites of people who aren't even big Celine fans.

To sum this way too long review up, Celine really has taken some chances with this album. If I'm honest, it's not THAT far removed from everything else she's done, and that's ok. Download "Treat Her Like A Lady" or look it up on YouTube for a prime example of what can happen when Celine tries to veer too far from what has worked for her in the past. But it's enough of a change that it doesn't feel like I've heard this album over and over already. I give Taking Chances 9 stars out of 10. Even if it flops quicker than Kelly Clarkson's latest effort, (Which sold a disappointing 698,000 copies in the US and fell off the charts after only 18 weeks. Sad, I love that album too.) I don't care. I think it's the best material Celine has recorded in years, and I'm just hoping the rest of the world realizes this too.

More images from the album. Click the small thumbnails for a larger view:

Welcome!

Welcome to One Of The Living. You may know me from my now-closed Judy Garland sharity blog, Once In A Lullaby. Although there will be no file sharing here, except possibly for things in the public domain, I promise to try to make this blog fun and exciting to read.

Here, I will be posting reviews on films, DVDs, CDs, TV shows, etc., as well as YouTube videos, photos, etc. Things I like, basically.

In case you're wondering, the title of this blog comes from the Tina Turner song of the same name. It was recorded for the soundtrack to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and won Tina the second of four Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.