Disney’s “A Whole New Sound” Now Available – Album Review. Please take this review with the knowledge that the writer comes from the 2nd and 3rd wave of punk music. Rancid, Shear Terror, Sick of It All, Ramones, NOFX, and then a little into the 4th wave. I toured with Shelter and No Doubt as an audio engineer in 1996 and worked at a punk club in New Jersey called City Gardens. This does not mean I do not respect the 5th and possibly 6th wave of punk-pop bands like Simple Plan or Yellowcard. I truly like Bowling For Soup and still don’t want to move back to Texas!
I have been a touring Audio Engineer for a few bands in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a band bound for the Country Music Hall of Fame, I got to work with Ray Charles and James Brown. I worked for one of the biggest indie bands of all time, Dispatch. That is the long way to go, I know what goes into recording music, and what a recording should sound like. That does not mean I have great taste in music or know how you hear songs, and I would never tell you what to like or not like. Personal taste in music is just that, personal!
With that out of the way, I have nothing wrong with any band on Disney’s newest music release called Disney’s “A Whole New Sound” (available on Apple Music HERE, Amazon Music HERE, and Spotify HERE). What I take umbrage with is the Disneyfacation of some fantastic punk-pop bands. The audio quality suffers and sounds way overproduced, where each songs just sit in the zone with no dynamics. Which in the punk world is not a good thing.
Related: D23 Tribute to Richard M. Sherman Brings Together Disney Elites for Musical Celebration
Let me put it from a Disney Parks fan perspective if I can do this justice: What were everyone’s complaints about Harmonious and Disney’s Enchantment? The music was generic cover songs that had no emotions, why didn’t Disney just use the originals and be done with it? I did not subscribe to that theory, I enjoyed both nighttime spectaculars. I can see the same argument being used here.
What is the point of this release? Are you selling to kids who were teenagers in the early 2000s and are now in their mid-30s with money to spend and bringing their kids to the parks, or showing Disney Animated movies for the first time? If that is the case, then it works under those circumstances. I mean just look at Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival Eat to The Beat concert series or Garden Rocks this year. Yellowcard is premiering ‘A Whole New World’ at their show.
Finally, music should be dynamic, it should have a feel. I ‘feel’ like the producer found a compressor, and an expander and put every instrument in between them. Compress the music so it doesn’t go past a certain level, and expand it if it gets too quiet so all levels are equal. It takes everything in, mixes them together, and out pops a new Disney song. No longer do we have a Jodi Benson almost whispering the words to Part of Your World, instead we get a muddled approach to classic Disney songs.
But, does this mean it truly sucks and you should not listen? NOPE! If you are of a certain age, you will totally find nostalgic music with bands that remind you of your teen years and form your opinion of the music you listen to now. So, if Plain White T’s make you wanna scream along to ‘Surface Pressure’, then you go pop around with your little ones looking at you like you have lost your ever-loving mind, and sing your heart out!
A Whole New Sound Tracklist
- “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid by New Found Glory
- “Remember Me” from Coco by Mayday Parade
- “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King by Simple Plan
- “I2I” from A Goofy Movie by Magnolia Park
- “A Whole New World” from Aladdin by Yellowcard
- “Go the Distance” from Hercules by We The Kings
- “Surface Pressure” from Encanto by Plain White T’s
- “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story by Meet Me @ The Altar
- “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan by Boys Like Girls
- “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas by Tokio Hotel
- “Let It Go” from Frozen by LØLØ
- “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin by Bowling For Soup
The album’s first single, Simple Plan’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” is available now on all streaming platforms (including Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and more) and the video can be viewed HERE. The second track released, Magnolia Park’s “I2I,” is available now on all streaming platforms (including Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and more) and the accompanying video can be viewed HERE. Third single, New Found Glory’s “Part of Your World,” is available on all streaming platforms (including Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, and more) and the video is viewable HERE. “Go the Distance” from We The Kings is available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music, and more, and the video is viewable HERE.
