Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records

by Tim Hollis, Greg Ehrbar, Leonard Maltin (Foreword)

Around the world there are grandparents, parents, and children who can still sing ditties by Tigger or Baloo the Bear or the Seven Dwarves. This staying power and global reach is in large part a testimony to the pizzazz of performers, songwriters, and other creative artists who worked with Walt Disney Records.
Mouse The Story of Walt Disney Records chronicles for the first time the fifty-year history of the Disney recording companies launched by Walt Disney and Roy Disney in the mid-1950s, when Disneyland Park, Davy Crockett, and the Mickey Mouse Club were taking the world by storm. The book provides a perspective on all-time Disney favorites and features anecdotes, reminiscences, and biographies of the artists who brought Disney magic to audio.
Authors Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar go behind the scenes at the Walt Disney Studios and discover that in the early days Walt Disney and Roy Disney resisted going into the record business before the success of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" ignited the in-house label. Along the way, the book traces the recording adventures of such Disney favorites as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Cinderella, Bambi, Jiminy Cricket, Winnie the Pooh, and even Walt Disney himself. Mouse Tracks reveals the struggles, major successes, and occasional misfires. Included are impressions and details of teen-pop princesses Annette Funicello and Hayley Mills, the Mary Poppins phenomenon, a Disney-style "British Invasion," and a low period when sagging sales forced Walt Disney to suggest closing the division down.
Complementing each chapter are brief performer biographies, reproductions of album covers and art, and facsimiles of related promotional material. Mouse Tracks is a collector's bonanza of information on this little-analyzed side of the Disney empire.
Learn more about the book and the authors at www.mousetracksonline.com.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Music, Pop Culture

233 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2006

Reviews

[Chris Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as it was/is part of the Disney empire not previously covered. The profiles inserted throughout were informative, but tended to be distracting at times.

[Tom Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for Disney record Audiophiles and Disney history buffs. Greg and Tim give fans an in-depth look at what it was like behind the scenes during the creation of our favorite Disney vinyl. They build a case for how a fan favorite, Annette Funicello, may have saved all of Disney with her hit records and massive record sales. This book also brings to light and gives credit to all the people who made Disneyland Records and Vista label records the incredible success they were. Who doesn't love the music Disney has given us over the years? From Roy Rogers singing The Ballad of Pecos Bill, to Greg's all-time favorite album of Darlene Gillespie's and Tutti Camarata's Alice in Wonderland album, these stories are here for you to enjoy forever.

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to finally learn about some of the people behind the names on Disney record labels! The text is quite lively and has interesting anecdotes, but is often interrupted by the inset biographical profiles. I would have preferred these to be kept at the beginning or end of each chapter so they wouldn't interfere visually with the main text. I also wish there was a section of pages in color, so that some of the album art and vintage advertisements could be fully enjoyed.
Mouse Tracks is still a very accessible history of this niche topic, and I learned quite a bit from reading it!

[Frank Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and essential to understanding how Disney music became so entrenched in pop culture

[Tracey]

Gift from Scott Feb 2008