Buy it... on the original 1992 pressing if you seek to hear Aladdin as it was meant to be, an entertaining and humorous collection of songs with strong melodic adaptations in the accompanying underscore.

Avoid it... on the 2004 "Special Edition" album if you expect a satisfying and comprehensive presentation of the songs (with the lyrics of the original theatrical release) or the previously missing score material that remains elusive on album.

Menken

Aladdin: (Alan Menken) If you thought the controversy involving the phallic artwork for the poster of The Little Mermaid was juicy, then the subsequent battle between Walt Disney Studios and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee was full blown entertainment all by itself. Disney had been working on adapting the Arabian folktale of "One Thousand and One Nights" for several years (a timeless story of identity issues and lessons about the value of wealth and attempting to be someone you aren't), and by the time they were done with the acclaimed and popular animated musical, it was slammed as being racist and containing a subliminal message urging teenagers to take off their clothes. The stereotypical portrayal of a primitive Muslim culture, as well as the Tom Cruise lookalike as the primary character (opposite a big, angry Arab with a huge nose personifying the villain), became a central issue. To make matters worse, Disney broke an agreement the studio made with lead voice actor Robin Williams involving the reduced salary he accepted for the project in return for only minimal use of his name and character in promotional materials. The studio eventually issued a formal public apology to Williams and only then did he return to reprise his performances in the movie's endless series of substandard straight-to-video, knock-off sequels and other spin-offs. Flying on its own magic carpet ride in the early 1990's, however, was the collaboration between Disney and composer Alan Menken that had soared from The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast to Aladdin in 1992 without even the slightest hiccup. Despite the failing health of Menken's lyricist, Howard Ashman (who passed away before the final cut of the film but is credited with pushing the concept through to Disney in its earliest phases), Aladdin maintained the outrageously profitable Disney musical craze with viewers and listeners of all ages. Following the immense quality of Beauty and the Beast was no small task, however, with the Aladdin predecessor rivaling live action films at both the box office and awards ceremonies (the latter of which even more rare today than ever). Still, audiences were ready to soak up nearly anything from Disney in 1992, and Aladdin was yet another enormous box office and music chart success story.

None of Menken's songs for this final entry in "The Great Disney Musical Trilogy" would achieve the same lasting greatness as those in the prior two, though, with Aladdin suffering the most significant neglect of the three from listeners and viewers in future generations. The television cartoon spin-off of the film in particular failed miserably with its musical adaptations, and the original soundtrack album representing the movie fell badly out of print until a moderately remastered reprint was issued with a different cover in 2001. Finally, in 2004, Aladdin was released on DVD, and in similar fashion to the special edition of Beauty and the Beast, an expanded album of the Aladdin soundtrack was released concurrently. The original Aladdin soundtrack pressing was among the most common used bin finds ever in the history of CDs, which is further evidence of the film and score's arguably poorer long-term performance. But the songs in Aladdin are top-notch, anchored by all-around fantastic vocal performances highlighted by Robin Williams, of course, whose talents in this project are extraordinary to say the very least. Williams' infectious personality steals two of Aladdin's songs, as well as its narrated opening, "Legend of the Lamp." The soft inflection of Brad Kane's singing voice in the title role has always been an attractive aspect of "One Jump Ahead" and "A Whole New World," his tone strikingly different from the exotic voice of Bruce Adler for the prelude sequence, "Arabian Nights," a sentimental favorite. The interlude sequence of "One Jump Ahead" reflects a slower, more contemplative phrase of the song that is as appealing as the equivalent in "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. This interlude sequence likewise receives a dedicated, longing performance in the short but definite highlight, "One Jump Ahead (Reprise)." The second most famous song from Aladdin remains "Friend Like Me," the jazzy tour de force led by an enthusiastic five-note brass phrase and Williams' manic performance. Also nominated for a Golden Globe was "Prince Ali," among Menken's most ambitious career achievements that once again utilizes Williams' services. Its Broadway-style constructs, most obviously defined by the sequence that accelerates the tempo in grand posture, make it an over the top extravaganza. The reprise of the song allows Jonathan Freeman to gloat menacingly in a performance as Jafar that rivals Tony Jay's contribution to The Hunchback of Notre Dame as one of Disney's more memorable villains.

The end title song in Aladdin, "A Whole New World," is tainted nowadays by the famous reinterpretation called "A Whole Nude World" that features filthy lyrics, but the integrity of the original song remains intact for those who haven't been exposed to the adult-oriented parody. As usual, the version of the song actually heard in the context of the film, as performed by the characters, is vastly superior to the pop adaptation for the credits. Altogether, the songs in Aladdin are a solid lot, and, once again, Menken's reprises provide arguably more compelling moments on both the album and in the film than their extended versions. This includes the single bar from "A Whole New World" heard in the score's finale as the music builds to the standard choral conclusion. Unlike many of the Disney musicals from the 1990's, which often featured comparably popular songs and score, Aladdin is a curious case in which the songs heavily overshadowed the score, despite some quality moments in the latter. Menken's pseudo-Arabian structures shine through in many creative ways in the songs, whereas the score seems to return to cliched, non-ethnic cartoon methodology more often than not. That said, the composer does quite a masterful job of interpreting the melodies from the songs into the score and even writing a few themes specifically for that background material. A descending low brass theme for Jafar's villainy is heard in full force throughout "Jafar's Hour" (and in true victory formation directly before the "Prince Ali" reprise), in faint references in "The Ends of the Earth," and again in massive form in "The Battle." A mysterious theme representing the magic of the story grows out of the "Arabian Nights" melody, both in "Legend of the Lamp" and "The Cave of Wonders." The location in general is provided an Arabic theme in "Legend of the Lamp" and "Marketplace." As for the melodies originating in the songs, Menken makes frequent use of the descending pairs of notes from the interlude in "One Jump Ahead," most notably in duets with the "A Whole New World" melody in "The Kiss," "Marketplace," and "Aladdin's World." Those descending pairs are elevated to noble tones in at the outset of "Happy End in Agrabah," appropriately replacing the "Prince Ali" melody (which is only really referenced in the score at the end of "Marketplace") in that role. As usual, some of the stronger score cues are sprinkled amongst the songs in the album presentation, including the extensions of "One Jump Ahead" in "Street Urchins" and "To Be Free," the latter introducing an idea that is a wholesome representation of the film's overall message and matures in the finale cue.

On the whole, the score material in Aladdin foreshadows The Hunchback of Notre Dame in that it resides further over on the "scary" scale than its predecessors, emphasizing wonderment over the slapstick comedy inherent in these works. The players' performances are adequate but the soundscape, as usual for these Menken musicals, is somewhat shallow. That is one of a few nagging issues regarding Aladdin that should be addressed. While the vocals are afforded a decently wet ambient sound, mimicking a live performance quite well, the instrumental support could have badly utilized some reverb. Outside of this issue, there is also lingering dissatisfaction over Disney's bothersome alterations to "Arabian Nights" in response to the accusations by Arab interest groups' claims of racism. The original film and album featured the lyrics "...where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" just before "it's barbaric, but hey, it's home" in this song. Those lyrics were changed in 1993 (for the VHS release of the film) to a comment about the weather in the desert, and the resulting flow of the song's introduction of the location doesn't make sense. What does the heat have to do with barbarism? Additionally, the voice of the replacement singer on the altered recording (as heard on all subsequent DVD and CD releases as well) simply does not match that of the original performer, causing an awkward transition for just that one stanza. The insert is so blatantly obnoxious that it makes one think that Arabs must have cut off the ears of the executives at Disney regardless of their faces. There comes a time when a piece of art should stand separate from nonsensical, politically-correct protests, and while the Arab interest groups have all the right in the world to complain, Disney should not have caved in to their demands (nor should they have altered the line in the movie that some people mistakenly heard as a call to teenagers in the audience to take off their clothes, but that's simply a matter for the sound mixers). The original lyrics and performance of "Arabian Nights" remain superior and this is reason alone to hold on to the original 1992 CD album. Another overarching problem with Aladdin is congruency problems between the speaking and singing voices of Aladdin and Jasmine. The best performances in Disney musical history have come when the speaking and singing voices are performed by the same actors, and it is no wonder, therefore, that Williams' and Freeman's songs are highlights here. On the soundtrack albums, this discrepancy in tone makes no difference because of the lack of spoken dialogue, but in the movie it's quite an obvious flaw.

	2004 Album: Only $11.99

The various album releases present the final nagging issue with the Aladdin soundtrack. A 2001 re-issue removed Williams' character from the cover as originally demanded by his contract, but the musical contents were the same. The 2004 "Special Edition" album is a tremendous missed opportunity. Two demos of rejected songs (performed by Menken & Ashman) appear at the end of the album, and while these are interesting to a degree, there exists unreleased orchestral score material that needed to be included on this album instead. Those two demos were previously available on a Menken compilation album, so they can't even be considered a significant addition. That said, "Proud of Your Boy" is a strong enough ballad that it should have made the final picture, reflecting Menken at his best (it's too bad it wasn't applied to one of his later musicals instead). As for the missing score material, the most obvious omission is the enjoyable orchestral outburst of the melody of "Friend Like Me" heard at the start of the end credits (in theatres, on VHS, and then on DVD), and its absence is shameful due to the fact that the song's melody couldn't really be interpolated for any extent of time in the rest of the score. Fortunately, the recording could be transferred by fans directly off of the DVD onto custom presentations. The same can be said of the snippets of score material heard in menus on the DVD (always suspected to exist before the DVD was released) that remain missing from the albums. Additional pop versions originally made of the songs are also missing; despite popular demand, two notable, more recent performances of two of Aladdin's songs are not included on the expanded 2004 album. The Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson pop version of "A Whole New World" is not provided; nor is Clay Aiken's performance of "Proud of Your Boy." All of this material is included as bonus content on the DVD, making its absence from the 57-minute CD a bit puzzling. Some of the 2004 album's advertising indicated a karaoke version of "Proud of Your Boy" instead of "High Adventure" as the 23rd track. A separate karaoke-only album of Aladdin songs is a cheap rip-off for people hoping to hear the orchestral backing of the songs without the dialogue (also heard on the DVD menus), but Disney obviously decided not to pay the original musicians any further royalties and replaced the orchestra with corny synthetic variants. Due to all of these factors, the 2004 album suffered an understandable backlash from fans. The product is not what it was hyped up to be, failing to rectify any of the issues plaguing the previous ones. No truly comprehensive album for Aladdin exists, and Disney's inability to produce a proper album treatment of this material forces listeners to return to the film itself as the only satisfying alternative.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Songs and Score as Written for the Film: ****
Music as Heard on the 1992 Album: ***
Music as Heard on the 2001 and 2004 Albums: **
Overall: ***

Bias Check:

For Alan Menken reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.45 (in 11 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54 (in 56,205 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.