Little Mermaid [ENHANCED] [EXTRA TRACKS] [SOUNDTRACK] [SPECIAL EDITION]

Alan Menken (Composer), J.A.C. Redford (Conductor), Ashley Tisdale (Performer), Daughters of Triton (Performer), Jessica Simpson (Performer), Jodi Benson (Performer), Jonas Brothers (Performer), Pat Carroll (Performer), Raven-Symoné (Performer), Rene Auberjonois (Performer), Samuel Wright (Performer), Ship's Chorus (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Ashley Tisdale, Daughters of Triton, Jessica Simpson, Jodi Benson, Jonas Brothers, et al.
• Conductor: J.A.C. Redford
• Composer: Alan Menken
• Audio CD (October 3, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Extra tracks, Soundtrack, Special Edition
• Label: Walt Disney Records
• ASIN: B000FZDIL8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,431 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Before Broadway was Disneyfied and Times Square became a mall, the best Broadway musicals were being written for Disney animated features by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman. Their songs for The Little Mermaid created the mold from which their even more popular work (Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin) would be cast. Almost every tune in Mermaid has its (slightly inferior) counterpart in Beauty, for example. But there's no topping the Oscar-winning calypso show-stopper, "Under the Sea"--in which a Caribbean crab convinces you that "Darlin' it's better/Down where it's wetter." Other songs, just as delightful, are even more impressive in the context of the movie. The rapturous "Kiss the Girl" accompanies a scene in which, despite the whispered urgings of creatures all around, the romantic hero does not act on the title's advice! That's the kind of abstract dramatic (OK, comedic) conceit you'd expect from Harold Pinter rather than Disney. And the gruesomely hilarious "Les Poissons" gives us a fisheye view of a kitchen where the seafood chef is a sort of French Ed Gein--a sadistic murderer who brutally tortures and chops up his victims, then eats them! Who says Disney never did black comedy? "...I stuff you with bread/It won't hurt, 'cause you're dead/And you're certainly lucky you are...." Lyricist Ashman may not have been Cole Porter, but he was the next best thing. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good music collection goes with the Special Edition DVD., October 23, 2006

By	Any - Ren He "Princess Kiara" (Nanning, Guangxi/Wuxi, Jiangsu China) - See all my reviews

Just as how I expected, this music collection has been published. Because after the special edition of a movie had been published, its soundtrack CD would come along as well. At the beginning, I expected that this CD must be just like other special edition CDs, having recorded all songs from the movie but without scores. But this one is so different, it's really complete.
Disc 1, I can say that, is the soundtrack of "The Little Mermaid". All the songs and scores which are familiar to us are in this disc. It a great difference to any other special edition CDs, all the songs and scores were recorded completely. It's a good chance to those people who haven't collected the initial edition of the soundtrack(The initial edition's cover was more pretty than this one though). It's really worth collecting to no matter who have or not got the initial edition soundtrack CD.
Well, disc 2 is good too. There're songs from the movie sung by other singers. If you have listened to the album "Disney Mania", the 3rd track, "Part of Your World" by Jessica Simpson, won't be unfamiliar to you. It's really the most beautiful version of all versions(except the one in the movie of course) of this song, it impressed me so much. I was a little surprised that "Poor Unfortunate Souls" can be sung in that way, by young men! The tune and style have been changed a lot, then give me very very different feeling. Well, the feeling is not bad! ^^ "Kiss the Girl" and "Under the Sea" were sung by girls, they're very lively though, not so good as the versions in "Disney Mania". However, the tracks in disc 2 are wonderful too. Oh, there're music videos in this disc!
I think this edition of special soundtrack is the best one ever, than any other. The special edition CDs of "Aladdin" and "The Lion King-2: Simba's Pride" made me not very satisfied with them. But this one is quite good in my opinion, it's a great part of my Little Mermaid collection.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JUST like the movie!, October 24, 2006

By	Hannah "Happy momma" (Lakewood, Ca) - See all my reviews

Listening to this in it's entirety is almost as great as watching the movie. My daughter gets happy when she hears the first couple of notes and runs to the TV thinking the movie is on. I was really planning on buying the original CD that was released in 1988 because there were not many reviews for this new release but I'm so glad I changed my mind. This CD sounds great and is truely a score of the movie. Every song is there. If you end up not liking the second CD, doesn't matter because the 1st cd is worth your money already, I didn't mind the 2nd cd but that's not why I purchased the set anyway. made no difference to me, we just keep the first one on repeat and love every minute of it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it then. Loved it now., April 10, 2007

By	Camille M. Lorz "admirallily" (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Little Mermaid was the first video I ever owned myself. Loved it from the first day I saw it. I don't hold the same view as I did as a child but it's still a wonderful story. And the music is just plain fun. The best part of this special edition is Ashley Tisdale's rendition of Kiss The Girl. Let me start by saying I have issues about Disney's need to turn every actor into a singer and every singer into an actor and the promote them to the ends of the earth. And it's not so much Ashley Tisdale - though she's very talented - that makes me love this version of the song. Whoever revised the arrangement is who I'd like to really thank. I love every thing about how this version was put together. Upbeat. Fun. Totally "sqeeable". But then I'm a hopeless romantic.