Thursday, December 27, 2007

Disneyland LPs

In addition to the 30 or so Disneyland 45 rpm records the wife owns, we returned from Christmas dinner at my mom's with 29 Disneyland LPs. These are all from the 1960s and I remember playing them when I was six -- the same age our daughter is now. Plan is make copies of these for my brother and sisters for next Christmas.

At some point my parents must have tried to sell these at a garage sale because they all have price stickers for $2 or $3. Originally, most of them sold for $1.98.

Here's the list:
  • #1289, 1965: It's a Small World, 18 favorite folk songs
  • #ST-1908, 1963: 101 Dalmations in story and song
  • ST-3905, 1962: Story of Pinocchio (complete story, all the songs and music, plus a 24-page colored illustrated book)
  • #1202, 1963: All the songs from Walt Disney's Pinocchio
  • #1203, 1969: Songs from Bambi
  • #1204, 1963: All the songs from Walt Disney's Dumbo
  • #1304, 1967: Songs from the Jungle Book
  • #1231, 1964: Lady and the Tramp, All the songs from the Motion Picture
  • ST-1927, 1963: The Story of an Incredible Journey
  • DQ-1246, 1963: The Story of the Littlest Outlaw
  • DQ-1253, Walt Disney presents the story of Hansel and Gretel (music from the Humperdinck opera and one of the voices is Marni Nixon)
  • ST-1910, 1961: Story and songs about Walt Disney's 3 Little Pigs
  • 1208, 1968: All the songs from walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland
  • DQ-1251: The story of Treasure Island
  • ST-3906, 1962: Story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (with illustrated book)
  • ST-3922, 1964: The Story of Mary Poppin with songs from the motion picture (Marni Nixon and Richard M. Sherman)
  • ST-3910, 1962: Story of Peter Pan (with illustrated book)
  • #1259, 1964: The Little Engine That Could
  • #DQ-1249, 1964: The Story of Robin Hood
  • ST-1912, 1963: The Prince and the Pauper
  • ST-1917, 1963: Adventures of Little Hiawatha
  • ST-1915, 1963: The Story of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
  • ST-1924, 1963: Presents the Story of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
  • ST-1907, 1963: Story of Swiss family Robinson
  • ST-1911, ????: The Absent Minded Professor
  • ST-1920, 1963: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow


A couple years ago, while visiting Disney World, I tried to buy a CD version of Sleepy Hollow. The Disney store at Downtown Disney had a music kiosk where you could create your own CDs. Most of the available material was recent crap from their shows on the Disney Channel, but there were also a few old ones. I wanted Sleepy Hollow and Peter and the Wolf. Unfortunately when I tried to burn my copy, the CD burner broke and the shop drones had no idea what to do. Not only that, but that kiosk was apparently the only place in the entire Disney universe one could purchase those tracks. No other kiosks around, no ability to download from iTunes or elsewhere. That seriously sucks and makes no sense. Most likely, most of the stories listed above have never been made available in any modern format. I wouldn't be surprised if few were ever printed after the mid 70s.

When we were back this past May, the kiosk was still there with all "old" songs purged. If I'd been in the market for a Hannah Montana mix CD, that was where I needed to be. Otherwise, worthless. So while I plan on sharing most of these with the usual streaming through the Vox account, Sleepy Hollow will be available as an mp3 download*. Suck it, Disney**. Set your music free. And by free I mean available to purchase. It's called capitalism, you should try it. You have a product I want to give you money for, so let's make this work. Though I guess I don't really need you anymore, do I? I'm probably missing a record or two I'd like to have, so we might still be able to do business. If you get your act together.


*Halloween 2008

**Uh, that's a joke

7 comments:

P_J said...

It's a small world, after all. I did the same thing at my mom's at Thanksgiving, and came back with about a dozen or so Disney story albums, including a few you don't have here. I don't think I found our copy of The Boatniks, though.

I did snag a weird story album from the Florida Orange Growers about an lonely glowing orange bird who befriends a family, is rejected by them, then wins them over by warning them of danger. Hmmmm. Sounds like another heartwarming "misfit is accepted when he proves his usefulness" story.

I'd think Disney would have a nice cash flow from reissuing these on CD. I don't understand why they have't, since they're obviously not averse to making money.

Did you ever do the post about how you record from albums onto PC? Do you need special software?

Bill_45 said...

Did you ever do the post about how you record from albums onto PC? Do you need special software?

I will take care of this in the next couple of days.

Jim S-- said...

Disney should sell these old albums on ITMS for maybe $1.99 each. I bet people like me who grew up with them would buy them just for nostalgia. One of my favorites was the Robin Hood one, the one that has the title character on a horse and about to fire an arrow downward.

justkim said...

I wish I still had my collection of Disneyland records. One of the pitfalls of growing up in as a Navy brat was that I didn't get to keep many of my early childhood favorites once my little sister got bored with them.

I remember hearing about the kiosk at the Disney store about the time they closed it down, because it wasn't working right. The article said that most of the music was available on iTunes.

I just checked, and there are two "albums" you can buy from iTunes: Walt Disney Records Archive Collection (Volumes 1 and 2). I just purchased "The Headless Horseman" as sung by Thurl Ravenscroft. (How can anyone not love Thurl Ravenscroft? His name is "Thurl Ravenscroft!)

Anonymous said...

Did you know that Thurl Ravenscroft was also the voice of the original Tony the Tiger? "That's grrrreat!"

If you're a fan of Disneyland's Haunted House ride, he's also one of the four busts, singing the bass harmony part toward the end of the ride. His bust's head has been knocked off, so he's singing along, beheaded and sideways.

(Thurl was a family friend. He came to dinner at my house when I was little and played the piano and sang. He was unbelievably tall...at least to a kid, he seemed a giant. He's the reason I took piano lessons, because he said I had piano-players fingers. Wow. If he said so, it must be true...)

The things we remember....

Spencer Davis said...

I can't believe I stumbled onto this thread. I have been looking for an online version of the Headless Horseman as sung on the 60's 45, which was by Thurl Ravenscroft. What a great story about you meeting him. I still have not found a version of it online. I only have the 45.

Dave said...

I also just found your blog Googling around looking for some Legend Of Sleepy Hollow info, and I found it here.

I also have a forum where myself and about 40 other members have shared almost 200 different Children's Records now including a ton of Disney LPs. Be sure to drop in, and check us out. You'll have to introduce yourself as being from this blog because I've had to block my music sharing sections due to an Internet Troll problem a couple of years ago. Here's the link:

Mostly Ghostly & Children's Records Forum.

Thanks for your great blog!

Dave