Mary Poppins Special Edition CD Soundtrack

[snowbot]

The new 2-disc <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... osim">Mary Poppins soundtrack</a> is being released today (16 Nov 2004). It finally has the complete instrumental score, plus some great bonus tracks! I plan to pick mine up after work. If anyone else gets it, post your review here!

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006 ... ZZZZZ_.jpg">

<u>Disc One</u>

1. Buena Vista Fanfare (:08)
2. Overture (2:58)
3. One Man Band (:56)
4. Sister Suffragette (1:43)
5. The Life I Lead (2:00)
6. The Perfect Nanny (1:38)
7. Air Mail/Admiral Boom/The Not-So-Perfect Nannies/Mary Poppins Arrives (3:06)
8. A Spoonful of Sugar (4:07)
9. Pavement Artist (2:06)
10. Jolly Holiday (5:22)
11. Jolly Holiday (Reprise) (1:05)
12. Penguin Dance (2:20)
13. The Carousel Horses (4:17)
14. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (2:00)
15. Pavement Artist (Reprise) (1:01)
16. Stay Awake (1:43)
17. Trouble at Uncle Albert's (1:41)
18. I Love to Laugh (2:42)
19. A British Bank (The Life I Lead) (2:06)
20. Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) (3:49)
21. Father's Footsteps (1:17)
22. Fidelity Fiduciary Bank (3:31)
23. Panic at the Bank (2:12)
24. Chim Chim Cher-ee/March Over the Rooftops (6:19)
25. Step in Time (8:41)
26. A Man Has Dreams (The Life I Lead/A Spoonful of Sugar) (4:27)
27. Mr Banks is Discharged (4:46)
28. Let's Go Fly a Kite (1:48)

<u>Disc Two</u>

Tracks 1-21:
<i>The Mary Poppins Story Meeting Excerpts</i> (41:05)

1. Cherry Tree Lane
2. Mr Banks Decided to Hire a Nanny Himself
3. The Children Write Their Own Advertisement
4. The Line of Applicants and Mary Poppins Arrives
5. Notes on Mary Meeting the Banks
6. Up to the Nursery
7. Bert and the Talking Pictures
8. A Carousel Horse Ride to the Seashore
9. The Return Home
10. The Next Morning We Meet the Sweep
11. Uncle Albert's
12. A Change in the Wind and Adventure with Admiral Boom
13. The Bird Woman
14. Mr Banks and the Compass
15. The Compass Sequence: Timbuktu
16. The Compass Sequence: The Land of Sand
17. The Compass Sequence: Tea in China
18. The Compass Sequence: The North Pole
19. The Return Home
20. Everyone Descends on Cherry Tree Lane
21. Mary Departs

22. Hollywood Spotlight Microphone (17:24)
<i>Dick Tufeld interviews the stars, composers, and musical director for Mary Poppins (c 1964): Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke, Richard M Sherman, Robert B Sherman, Irwin Kostal</i>

23. The Sherman Brothers Reminisce About Their Work on Mary Poppins (16:05)

[Escapay]

Hey snowbot,

Thanks for telling us! I can't wait to purchase this soundtrack.

I also bumped up the MP press release since it's related to this.

Escapay

[The Monkey's Uncle]

WHOA!! what a CD! ill have too find me a copy!

[Chris]

I picked up a copy today, and it's fantastic. Run out and get it.  You are in for a real treat. The packaging of it is very nice too.  It contains so many beautiful photographs and artwork.

This new soundtrack has a very nice flow and has some gorgeous moments.  One of my favorites is during the "March Over the Rooftops" when Feed the Birds is heard at that top steeple as they look over the evening city. That is pure magic!

The Jolly Holiday music that has been added is extensive and very well done. "The Carousel Horses" track is especially exciting.

My favorite thing on disc 2 is "Hollywood Spotlight Microphone" the vintage interview with Julie, Dick, and Irwin Kostal and the Shermans. It's really something.

[snowbot]

<i>"Once in a lifetime - and only once - a picture comes along which cannot be compared to any other and to which no other can be compared. A picture which writes a new page in motion picture history. A picture which has such universal appeal that is a pure delight to Father, Mother, Children, Grandparents, and Grandchildren - it makes no difference who. You have made it - Mary Poppins" - Telegram from Samuel Goldwyn to Walt Disney, September 11, 1964</i>


Okay, so I picked up my copy of the soundtrack Tuesday evening at Borders. It is so amazing! I can't stop listening to it. Everyone who loves Mary Poppins needs to go buy this soundtrack.

<b><u>The Packaging</b></u>
Absolutely beautiful. It's made of thin cardboard, with lots of great pictures on the inside and out. It opens up to reveal a cd on either side, plus a section in the middle that houses the book. The disc art is also great, with images of Mary and Bert on each disc. The book is about 40 pages long, including photos from the film, lyrics, explanations for the bonus tracks, and an essay entitled "The Poppins Project" written by Randy Thornton (the special edition restoration producer) on August 27, 2004.

<b><u>Disc One - The Soundtrack</b></u>
The first disc includes the complete soundtrack. Finally! I have wanted this for years. It is done in the style of some of the previous Disney animated feature soundtracks, where it includes all of the orchestration from the film along with the usual songs, and they all flow together very nicely. Irwin Kostal's orchestration work is beautiful, as he weaves together the Sherman Brother's melodies throughout the film. My personal favorite song from this film is "Feed the Birds", and this theme shows up beautifully now and again ("March Over the Rooftops", "Mr Banks is Discharged"). The disc even starts out with the 7 second "Buena Vista Fanfare", which is the music heard when the Buena Vista logo is shown at the beginning of the film. Another highlight is the Jolly Holiday sequence, where we hear the full intro to the song, plus the reprise, and the "Penguin Dance". Fantastic! (Also, the sound quality is superb- crystal clear!)

<b><u>Disc Two - Bonus Material</b></u>
<i>The Mary Poppins Story Meetings</i>
Tracks 1-21 are all one piece, an audio recording of a highlights from a series of meetings that took place April 5-10, 1961, between Mrs Travers, Richard and Robert Sherman, and Don DiGradi. It was after these meetings that Mrs Travers (the author of the books) decided to give Walt permission to do the film. Honestly, the audio is poor for this section so it's a bit difficult to follow, but thankfully the liner notes provide clear explanations as to what is being discussed for each track. This is more of a novelty, not something you would want to listen to over and over, but fascinating nonetheless.

<i>Hollywood Spotlight Microphone</i>
This is the highlight of the bonus disc. It is a 1964 interview with Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke, the Sherman Brothers, and Irwin Kostal (conducted by Dick Tufeld). Some highlights include... Julie discussing the way she decided to play Mary, Dick revealing the challenges of playing Bert, Irwin talking about incorporating a vaudevillian English music hall flavor to the score, Julie talks about her "perfect pitch" singing ability, Dick talks about his flat singing (!), and the whole group talks about the meaning and signifigance behind "Feed the Birds"...
Perhaps most interesting is this: Dick Tufeld asks the group if they think <i>Mary Poppins</i> will ever become a Broadway musical:
Dick van Dyke: "Without a doubt!"
Julie Andrews: "But I don't see how it can! Because Mr Disney did so many incredible things in the picture which would be impossible on the stage."
Dick van Dyke: "Oh yes, but I'm almost sure that this is going to become a classic story...
Julie: "Oh I agree there...
Dick: "...and someday it'll be done in the theatre, I'm just sure of it!"
Julie: "...it's as classic as <i>Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz</i>, any of them.
Dick: "or <i>Peter Pan</i>! I think it will be done on the stage. This is gonna make <i>Mary Poppins</i> as famous as <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>.
(Note: The Mary Poppins musical opens next month...)

<i>The Sherman Brothers Reminisce About Their Work on Mary Poppins</i>
This was recorded in Feb 1989, and has been featured on previous Poppins soundtrack CD's. This is an interesting exposition by the Sherman's about their experience of writing songs for the film.

<i>CD-Rom Features</i>
When you toss disc 2 into your CD-Rom drive, you get access to a couple of special internet features, including a link to the website for the new musical ( http://www.marypoppinsthemusical.com ), and links to purchase other Mary Poppins related items, like the Karoake CD.

Well, what can I say? This is a fantastic way to enjoy Mary Poppins in anticipation of the DVD release. You should pick it up today!

[DisneyFan4life]

Great music I am listening to it right now as I write this. So much better than previous CDs from the movie. It is wonderful. It has to be my favorite Disney Film of all time. I does anyone know how the London Musical is?

[Mary Poppins]

Hello,

I'm a major fan of the music from Poppins. I, too, got the new CD the day it was released. The music is wonderful. My favorite track is "Mr. Banks is Discharged," but I also enjoyed the expanded versions of the other tracks. As mentioned by others, the Travers story sessions were poor quality and hard to understand. I got bored with it after a few minutes. I wonder if there could have been other material more appropriate for the CD? (For example, the original overture and intermission music!!) I found the inclusion of these poor quality story sessions rather puzzling, to be honest. This might have been more appropriate as an extra on the DVD?

The photos inside the packaging were great, although I would have preferred a standard plastic 2-CD jewel. The locking mechanism in this special CD case had the CDs locked-in place so tight, that I felt like the CDs were going to break trying to free them! Very poorly designed.

Another Poppins CD not to be missed is the new Karaoke music-only CD. It features 8 music-only tracks from the original orchestrations, which are very interesting to hear without the singing. But for some odd reason, the same 8 tracks are also included on the CD with all-new studio singers filling in for Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke (and others). It seemed odd to me that the originals were replaced for the Karaoke CD. I can only speculate that it was a money thing?

At any rate, would love to hear comments from others on the new CDs (including the Karaoke version), and comparisons to previous CDs and the original LP. BTW, did you notice that they included the tamborine crash ("and a lovely thing she is, too...") in Supercali..., which was missing from the previous Poppins CD.

Peace and Love,

Mary Poppins

[Brink!]

I did not know this was coming out and had been wanting a complete version for a longtime
when i ordered 4 julie andrews films about a little over a week ago (eloise at christmastime , princess diaries 2 royal engagement , rodgers and hammerstein's cinderella, and MARY POPPINS 40th anniversary edition)
and looked trough amazon a day later this new version of the soundtrack was in my recomendations and i was thrilled so i ordered it right away.
I still have to get it though i think a week or so. damn if only i was born with patience
to bad though they did not include the original 1964 soundtrack.
i have it on vynil and apart from i think 3 or 4 tracks all are slightly difirent than they were in the film (the longer overture, spoonful's alternate ending, a difirent laugh take in i love to laugh and jolly holiday without the animal parts in between)
still i'm greatfull to have finaaly gotten the complete holiday (especialy the "now than what would be nice , we'll start with strawberry ice"part
and as mentioned before the tambourine added back in in supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
can't wait to get this one !!!

[Brink!]

wow it came in today, even BEFORE my poppins dvd
just listened to the album and now i'm listening to the bonus disc
i love everything about this release
it evens wettens my appetite for the dvd more than it already was before lol
the sound on the cd sounds better than it did on the 94 cd and that wasn't even bad sounding in it's own right.
i like the fact that in the story meetings songs are featured that didn't make it into the movie
i love the packaging and the disc art