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| Menken |
The Little Mermaid: (Alan Menken) Disney had gone
twenty years since the studio's last classic and popular animation film,
The Jungle Book in 1967, and Universal, under the guidance of
Steven Spielberg, was threatening to take control of the genre in the
1980's. It was at that time that new Disney leadership tasked with
reversing that trend approached veteran Broadway composers Alan Menken
and Howard Ashman about a small project based on Hans Christian
Andersen's fairy tale of a mermaid coming of age. Menken, whose work
with Ashman was best known for 1982's
Little Shop of Horrors,
admits that he had never heard of the Andersen story when he agreed to
become involved. Expectations for
The Little Mermaid were
extremely low, especially on the Disney lot, where the 1989 production
of only 62 minutes in length was ignored by most in the studio. Because
Ashman was one of the producers of the film, he gave himself and Menken
a significant amount of creative control over the project, and with
studio executives knowledgeable about the music demos thrilled about the
possibility of a surprise success, the film's creation was mostly smooth
sailing. This despite Menken's own nervousness about being up to the
assignment, especially when Ashman suggested that he not only supply the
song melodies but write the score as well, a relatively foreign concept
for Menken at the time. The intent of the music, as well as the film as
a whole, was to return to the classic days of Disney's innocence, and,
as Menken said in 2006, "it's very heartfelt and it's pretty free of
manipulation; it's really telling the story in a way that incorporates
Howard's and my musical theater skills and a great love for the history
of the Disney animated musical." There was also a concerted attempt to
make
The Little Mermaid "hip" enough for young audiences to
accept it in the digital era, and while a longing ballad would still
anchor the heart of the film, Ashman and Menken decided upon
incorporating a Jamaican, calypso spirit for the character of Sebastian
the crab, allowing two of the production numbers to provide that
desired, exuberant spirit. Their efforts definitely paid off, with the
film grossing $222 million worldwide and earning Menken and Ashman their
first Academy Awards.
In retrospect,
The Little Mermaid has suffered from
some collective eye-rolling due to relentless campaigns regarding
women's equality issues (Ariel isn't exactly a fantastic role model for
young women) and hidden phallic imagery in the film's promotional art,
but its legacy and important place in Disney history has remained
intact. The film rejuvenated the animated musical genre, leading to a
renaissance of eight years that netted Menken a stunning eight Oscars in
only 15 nominations. Ashman, who confided in Menken that he was
HIV-positive shortly after the 1990 Oscars, would provide lyrics for
Beauty and the Beast and
Aladdin before his death from
AIDS in 1991. Menken and the film's other producers look back fondly on
The Little Mermaid, partly because of Ashman's significant role
in its success and partly because of its immense influence. All of these
results happened without many compromises in the production process and
with a minimal level of hype. Menken recalls that one of the few debates
involved in the making of
The Little Mermaid was whether to cut
out the song "Part of Your World" because of the possibility that
youngsters wouldn't have the patience to sit through it. Luckily, that
didn't happen, and this song, along with the two calypso numbers,
received rounds of applause at test screenings that foretold Menken and
Ashman of the their success. While
The Little Mermaid won the
Academy Awards and Golden Globes for the song "Under the Sea" and
Menken's score, setting a trend that shortly forced the Oscars to
temporarily expand the music awards into two categories (with a musical
one specifically to accommodate the triumphs of Menken), the songs of
the film are much more memorable than the rather sparsely orchestrated
score. Menken and Ashman wrestled over the songs at much greater
lengths, working endlessly to establish the right rhythms for "Under the
Sea" at Menken's Pennsylvania farm. Ashman's intelligent lyrics,
especially for "Under the Sea," are outstanding. The score, conversely,
was more troublesome for Menken, who did not have extensive experience
with orchestral underscores for outside of interludes in mainly his
stage credits. He recalls that he asked a more experienced composer for
advice on how to score the film and he was told not to sweat it. After
all, the other composer said, "nobody takes animated films
seriously."
While the score for
The Little Mermaid is nowhere
near as accomplished as those that would follow (Menken finally found
his instrumental voice with great success by
Aladdin) there is no
question that several the songs for the film are nothing less than
classics. Menken and Ashman co-wrote seven songs for
The Little
Mermaid in 1988 and, unlike subsequent productions, all would appear
in the film in some fashion. Two decades later, Menken teamed up with
established Broadway writers to add twelve additional songs. A crappy
straight-to-video sequel to
The Little Mermaid in 2000 brought
back the principal singing voices, and Menken arranger Danny Troob
adapted the composer's original material with new themes. Of the seven
songs in
The Little Mermaid, the first two are weaker ensemble
pieces that cannot compete with the lengthier production numbers that
follow. The working voices of "Fathoms Below" are strong both in their
representation of the sailors and in their recording quality. Had this
song been expanded for the film as it was for the Broadway show, it
could have been a hit. The only truly intolerable song in the film is
"Daughters of Triton," with a tone so trite and obnoxious in the treble
that you'll be thankful for its brevity. The longing beauty of "Part of
Your World" is the film's most consistent thematic idea. The theme for
this song opens and closes the film and serves as the only significantly
reprised vocal song. Jodi Benson's voice is tender enough to be
believable in the role while also accurately resonating at the necessary
high ranges. Setting the table for songs like "Belle" and several others
in the years to come, the gorgeous ballad would become a concept that
Menken attempted to infuse in each subsequent effort. This film, though,
never had the eventually inevitable rock song variant. The highlight of
the film is the wild reggae/calypso song "Under the Sea" which has,
through the years, proven itself as one of the most memorable and
infectious songs in the history of cinema. Vocalist Samuel E. Wright won
the role of Sebastian sight unseen, his taped demo of this song the only
evidence needed by the producers for his casting. The fact that "Under
the Sea" hit the charts with such ferocity was a relief to Menken and
Ashman, whose Jamaican style for the scene, as well as the bright colors
that accompany it on screen, were met with some initial studio
hesitation. The orchestration behind this recording is remarkably
conceived in its layers and humorous in its tone, alleviating some of
the issues with the otherwise shallow mix.
The villain's song, "Poor Unfortunate Souls," is perhaps
the most overrated of the lot in
The Little Mermaid, begging for
more consistency in flow or, at the very least, a trim in length. The
comedy piece "Les Poissons" mocks the French chef with an accordion and
hilarious performance by Rene Auberjonois. Rounding out the songs is
"Kiss the Girl," a charming and romantic variant on the calypso spirit
of "Under the Sea" and once again highlighted by Wright's performance.
You have to love the trumpet addition at the end to suggest the "buy in"
of the prince. Both "Under the Sea" and "Kiss the Girl" were nominated
for Oscars for "Best Song," setting some precedent for both
Beauty
and the Beast and
Aladdin receiving multiple song nominations
apiece. Aside from the choral performance of the "Part of Your World"
theme in "Main Titles" and the brief "Fanfare" cue, portions of the
orchestral underscore for
The Little Mermaid were traditionally
provided in the latter halves of the original album releases. While this
positioning irritated some fans who would rather hear all of the music
in chronological order, Disney followed this template (with perhaps a
few stronger score tracks thrown in amongst the songs) in subsequent
musicals. The transition from song to score on early albums was eased by
the combination of "Fireworks" and "Jig" (the visual highlight of the
film), the latter featuring accordion, viola, and flute performances of
a distinct Celtic flavor. The remaining score material is quite sparse
in many ways. It's rather insubstantial, lacking in thematic integration
with the songs, and featuring an extremely poor depth in the ensemble.
The fact that the recording group is undersized causes most of the
problems with the score for
The Little Mermaid; ambitiously
written cues like "Tour of the Kingdom" and "Eric to the Rescue" fail to
muster any real power. Nobody could have predicted that hiring a fuller
ensemble or beefing up the orchestrations would have been merited at the
time, and the lack of resonance in the orchestral mix plagues a few
songs as well (especially "Part of Your World") that really could have
used some powerful bass presence and prominent counterpoint. Thematic
connections to the songs are regularly explored in the score, though not
as heard on the shorter, original album presentation. While the full
score richly integrates the song melodies, the early albums really only
exposed the "Poor Unfortunate Souls" theme in "Flotsam and Jetsam" and
the "Part of Your World" title theme saved for a couple of magnificent
performances near the end of the film, including the obligatory choral
finale in "Happy Ending."
On album, the sound quality of
The Little Mermaid
has always been flat and dull (sort of like Ariel herself, but then
again, she's a dimwit). The solo trumpet that Menken uses to represent
the above-water, sea-faring folk is a good example of a great choice of
style that is betrayed by an ultra-dry recording and flimsy support from
background elements. For enthusiasts with advanced editing software on
their computers, the addition of some reverb is an absolute must when
making your compilations of music from
The Little Mermaid. Only
the vocals in "Fathoms Below" and some of the percussion in "Jig" seem
to exhibit a fully immersive sound. With so many overdubs to the two
calypso songs, a bragging point for the producers of the film, the
incredibly flat sound quality is inexcusable. Menken claims that his
role in the recording ends with the performance, so he can't be blamed
for the problems on album. Aside from the original 1989 CD release of 20
tracks, Disney re-pressed the same contents in the mid-1990's with a
revised cover. In 1994, the label assembled a 4-CD set of material from
The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast, and
Aladdin to illuminate the creation process behind the three
soundtracks. Accompanied by an oversized book in a thick, LP-sized box
with the CDs and pushed at the Disney theme parks, "The Music Behind the
Magic" contains one CD dedicated to
The Little Mermaid. The
presentation is a recreation of the narrative of the film but with a
mixture of work tape, demo, and final versions of songs and score cues
in mostly the story's chronological order. Fans were treated to a few
unreleased final recordings sprinkled amongst these CDs, and in the case
of
The Little Mermaid, this material consisted of the decent but
rather short "Sebastian and Triton" cue, one of Menken's earliest
recordings for the score. Some of the less desirable score cues are
thankfully dropped. The work tape tracks are especially intriguing,
especially in the illumination of Ashman's talents. Two of the demo
tracks in particular are also appealing, and neither was selected for
inclusion on the 2014 "Legacy Collection," making this product their
only point of availability. The original, fuller version of "Fathoms
Below" is quite fantastic at establishing the characters with clever
lyrics and a mysterious interlude sequence that would have greatly
enhanced the film. Menken's rough "Silence is Golden" demo is a
waltz-driven song (complete with the obligatory maniacal laugh at end)
that was eventually replaced by "Poor Unfortunate Souls" but contains
some intriguing elements that did survive.
Some listeners may take issue with the selection of
tracks included on the 1994 "The Music Behind the Magic" CD for
The
Little Mermaid, especially as only 62 minutes is included and
several other demo renditions of interest were only revealed by the 2014
product. Some appear on both, including Ashman's spirited demo
performance of "Poor Unfortunate Souls," a passionate highlight. A few
of the tracks on the 1994 album are cross-faded into each other, the
"Kiss the Girl" demo and final versions transitioning over two tracks.
The same applies to the finale reprise of the ballad. On the whole, the
1994 set is more of an intellectual experience, a time capsule souvenir
for true enthusiasts of the classic trilogy of Menken soundtracks. In
2006, to coincide with the DVD release of the film, Disney provided a
"Special Edition" 2-CD set that contains no additional Menken or Ashman
material. Instead, only obnoxious,
totally hideous cover versions
of the four most popular songs are provided. (These were part of the
selling point of the second "bonus" half of the DVD as well.) The first
CD in the set contains the same old contents without the courtesy of a
remastering. The lack of a remix of the masters on that album was
surprising given the similar work done for the music in the film itself.
Missing from the 2-CD product were Ashman's early and accomplished demo
versions of several songs, as well as the instrumental version of "Under
the Sea" that accompanied the theatrical release of the film's end
titles. (The DVD replaces it with the vocal version; the same switch
happened with
Aladdin.) Most of these ills were rectified in 2014
when Disney included
The Little Mermaid among its "Legacy
Collection" of expanded 2-CD sets that finally allowed proper treatment
of the production. As expected, the second album is filled with Menken
and Ashman's impressive demo recordings for the concept, including
several that were not featured on the 1994 "The Music Behind the Magic"
set. A work tape version of "Fathoms Below" is a good companion to the
longer demo rendition on the prior product. The synth and piano
performances of several major score cues are also new. Still, the first
CD is the goldmine on the 2014 set. It features a fuller, chronological
presentation of the score and the supplemental vocalizations that never
made it onto the previous albums. Also to be heard on this product is a
remastering of all contents, though no amount of clarifying of the
original recordings can really solve all the issues with the sparse
orchestration, and the wedding organ portions at the end still sound
particularly distant and unsatisfying.
The 2014 "Legacy Collection" for
The Little
Mermaid certainly accomplishes one thing: it allows for greater
respect to be given to Menken for writing a more intelligent underscore
than the prior albums exposed outside of the film. A substantial amount
of revealed music is available here for the first time, and the quantity
of newly interesting sequences is notable. Some of these cues are as
indispensible as they are lengthy for this kind of project; highlights
include the foreshadowing of
Beauty and the Beast in "Intro
Ursula" (the first 40 seconds) and a passage at 1:46 into "Ursula's
Lair" that would inform an unused Gaston song in the later picture. Also
fantastic is a wordless vocal reprise of "Part of Your World" in "Ariel
Left Behind." The kingdom's unique theme also receives some extended
treatment, as does the Ursula material. It's still interesting to note
how the reggae spirit never really flows into the score itself, though a
few of the songs here final have their proper introductions or
conclusions on the 2014 product. Still missing, unfortunately, is the
original end credit instrumental performance of "Under the Sea."
Overall,
The Little Mermaid is despised by many film score fans
for overshadowing several outstanding scores in a strong 1989, and if
you compare the merits of scores like
Batman and
Glory to
The Little Mermaid, they have a strong case for their complaints.
It may never compete with a classic like
Beauty and the Beast,
either, but
The Little Mermaid is a historically important
soundtrack with a lovable heart and two undeniably entertaining calypso
songs and one classic ballad. There still remains no perfect album
presentation of this musical, the 2014 product missing the original end
credits and still languishing in an overly dry ambient mix, but you
likely won't receive any better. For intriguing re-recordings of seven
song and score cues from
The Little Mermaid, investigate the
Erich Kunzel and Cincinnati Pops 1995 album "The Magical Music of
Disney." The instrumental arrangements aren't quite the same in those
renditions, but Annie Livingstone's voice is a strong substitute for
Benson, and the replacement of Wright's Sebastian with a dueling male
and female chorus is creative and fun. The sound quality of those
Kunzel-led performances is, of course, as phenomenal as Menken's is
poor. Otherwise, disregard the original 1989 album arrangements, respect
the 1994 set as a coffee table curiosity, and avoid the stinky
commercialistic exploitation on the 2006 set and its terrible pop
renditions. With the 2014 set, you have a strong representation of
Menken and Ashman's classic effort, especially in the full presentation
of the score. Make it a part of your world.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Songs as Written for the Film: *****
- Score as Written for the Film: ***
- Music as Heard on the 1989/1997 Albums: ***
- Music as Heard on the 1994 "The Music Behind the Magic" Set: ****
- Music as Heard on the 2006 Set: **
- Music as Heard on the 2014 "Legacy Collection" Set: ****
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For Alan Menken reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.71
(in 17 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.47
(in 59,664 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The inserts on all versions of the original 1989 and 1997 albums
include no extra information about the music or the film. The 1994 "The
Music Behind the Magic" set came in two variations; the regular edition
came with a 52-page book in large box while the red, linen-bound special
edition features a 60-page hardcover book (with similar contents as the
52-page version, including lyrics) signed by Alan Menken and Tim Rice
and four beautifully illustrated picture CD's in a custom collector's case.
The 2006 album packaging includes complete lyrics. The insert for the "Legacy
Collection" is impressively extensive, with long notes from Menken and
numerous others. Lyrics are also included in that booklet, though there's
oddly nothing written about the release itself.
