The Haunted Mansion: Haunted Hits [SOUNDTRACK]

Disney

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: November 26, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Walt Disney Records
• ASIN: B0000UJM3Q
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,266 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Haunted Mansion may not scare up the kind of movie audience numbers Disney hopes for, but the soundtrack manages to cast a powerful spell thanks largely to an eclectic cluster of performers. Expect kids 6 and up to kick it to Raven's bust-a-gut rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," parents to hit the repeat button for Suzanne Vega's eerie, whispery "Tombstone," and everybody to perk up for Morris Day's paranoid interpretation of "Somebody's Watching Me." Barenaked Ladies and the Jackson 5 spice up the spooky mix with can't-miss contributions, but fun covers from unknowns--Brian O'Neal & the BusBoys' bubblegummy "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Monster Mash"--take credit for sending sprits, ghostly and otherwise, soaring. --Tammy La Gorce

Amazon.com
Never a conglomerate to pass up a new marketing opportunity, Disney’s first attempt at turning its popular theme park attractions into a franchise was the mega-success Pirates of the Caribbean. And if this Eddie Murphy-starring follow-up ride exploitation vehicle didn’t quite click in the same way at the box office, its song-score remains a pleasant, pop-savvy thematic tie-in. Anchored by young Mouse House star Raven’s slinky take on Stevie Wonder’s "Superstition," the prevailing mood here quickly evolves into a buoyant, back to the future cocktail of 80's R&B, backed with a chaser of good-natured new wave/alt musical humor. Morris Day infuses a cover of one-hit-wonder Rockwell’s "Somebody’s Watching Me" with his typically effusive personality, while the Barenaked Ladies give the ride/film theme song "Grim, Grinning Ghosts" a wry, jazzy send-up. The choice of originals (Oingo Boingo’s "Dead Man’s Party"; the Jackson’s "Boogie Man") and covers (the Bus Boys’ "Monster Mash") are occasionally pedestrian, if leavened by enough shrewd choices (Suzanne Vega’s smartly creepy "Tombstone"; "Man With the Hex" by Atomic Fireballs; Conti Bros. cover of "Spooky") to give the collection a distinct flavor all its own. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where is the score from the Movie!, December 21, 2003

By	thedoctor "snowblanc" (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

If I wanted Halloween music I buy a Halloween CD just for that occasion. What I wanted was the score from "The Haunted Mansion" movie. What a deception! I can only hope that they will be fair to the composer, Mark Mancina, and release just the original motion picture score from this movie on another CD. A score which was beautiful written and performed. Be sure to check the song tracks before you buy this CD because there is only one piece of music from the motion picture. Don't waste your money!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Addams Family Wannabe, April 17, 2004

By	Philip H. Hopkins Jr. (Chattanooga, TN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As someone who once worked and trained new Cast Members at WDW's Haunted Mansion I can only hope that the idiots in their Marketing Dept. are being strung up for this clearly cheap pandering attempt to get the pop music dollar. Bad enough the film turned out poorly, and it is only compounded by this pile of tracks that aren't even in the film--save for Iz You--the unnecssary and out of place rap song that appears over the closing credits ala the Addams Family movies. How un-original and desparate. Two stars though for Mr. Mancina's beautiful score. It is the only thing that redeems this CD. Though God knows the same idioits in Marketing will be rolling it out at as must-have album every Halloween as if it's on the level of a Mannhiem Steamroller Christmas or something. Ugh!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My review of "The Haunted Mansion: Haunted Hits", December 8, 2003

By	Robert Koehler (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Let me first say that the score featured in the actual movie was amazing. The "Grim Grinning Ghosts" theme was integrated into the score. None of this score however made it onto this soundtrack. Only one track, which features the music from the opening credits (which is amazing!) mixed with the so-so love theme, leaving a happy ending to the track. However, if this track is the "Overture" as it says on the track listing, it should only play what is played up until the point where we first see Eddie Murphy in the film.

Raven's "Superstition" is one of the few good tracks on this album. OK, so it isn't Stevie Wonder, but it is an overall good remixed cover version. Not to mention that Raven has amazing vocal talents.

The song from the ride "Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Screaming Song)" appears twice on the soundtrack; once performed by Barenaked Ladies (in an excellent version, which, contrary to popular belief, was NOT recorded for this album, but for a Disneyland compilation), and once performed by the singing busts from the movie, not the original singing busts from the ride (which I was hoping for). The tracks are listed as "Grim, Grinning Ghosts", with an invalid comma. The original song written by Buddy Baker and Xavier Atencio was entitled "Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Screaming Song)". Usually when the song is performed, several verses are mixed up, but it is always minor. But the "When the crypt doors creak..." verse has always been the opening verse, except in this version performed by the singing busts, in which the verses are very butchered, to the point where one verse is missing, and two verses are incorrect.

Besides the "Overture", "Grim Grinning Ghosts" (by Barenaked Ladies), and "Superstition", this CD is pretty much BLAH. "I Put A Spell On You" is TERRIBLE. Only 3 out of the 18 lines (of the version from "Hocus Pocus" that we are all used to) appear in the track, mixed in with terrible coughing and laughing in the background and a piano sequence which sounds like it was performed by a 3 year old.

If anything, by it for the Overture, it is simply beautiful. And hey, you get some Raven and Barenaked Ladies thrown in there too-

-Robert: [e-mail]