Musically Speaking: How complete is your 1 1/2 soundtrack?

[2 Die FR]

Go back with me, if you will, four years ago.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TLK15Soundtrack.jpg

Remember this? With a track list of just eight songs, this album literally left out a lot to be desired.

First track is Grazing in the Grass by Raven. I can stomach this song okay, but it isn't from the film itself - it's in her music video that accompanies it. Next is Digga Tunnah Dance by Vinx (who?), and while it's a fun rendition of the song, once again it's not the version played in the movie, but rather in the credits. Since when is the credits rendition of a song given precedence over the rendition found in the film itself?

At last, That's All I Need, a song taken from the actual 77 minutes of the sequel, and unlike the movie it has an actual ending; remember, the hyenas cut Timon off. Maybe that's the problem here - TLK 1 1/2 has so many interruptions during the course of the film that it never has a chance to complete its own songs?

Apparently that is the case, because next is a cut-and-paste of the original TLK Hakuna Matata. At this point I was wondering why I even bothered with this CD, even at its pathetically inexpensive $5.99 sticker. Similar story with The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Lebo; even though this song is in the movie, we've heard this all before, on Rhythm of the Pride Lands (http://www.amazon.com/Rhythm-Pride-Lands-Inspired-Disneys/dp/B000001M2E) as well as Return to Pride Rock (http://www.amazon.com/Return-Pride-Rock-Inspired-Disneys/dp/B000009N9G/ref=pd_sim_m_img_1).

Drew K. & French add their version of Jungle Boogie, but again, not the version heard in the film.

Now here's the funny part. Tacked onto the end are just two of Don L Harper's original orchestral score - Timon's Traveling Theme and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It's an odd end to the album, if indeed it had much of a beginning, and it's so short to begin with.



So why on earth am I doing a review four years later? (Or perhaps the better question is, why on earth do I keep disappearing and reappearing on this forum?)

My answer is, despite the erratic, stop-and-go nature of TLK 1 1/2, there is still plenty to like about the score to this film. I especially enjoy the stirring, expressive theme given to Timon as he decides to leave his mom and the meerkat colony in search of something better - and this refrain can be heard many times over as the movie progresses.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TLK15-10.jpg

Don L Harper's work on this sequel must be commended, for while he was compelled to re-score pieces from TLK for the scenes that coincide with the original, the rest of the film is filled with great musical moments - like a fun salsa number when Timon and Pumbaa first discover paradise...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TLK15-22.jpg

...the forward-moving Timon Traveling Theme...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TLK15-11.jpg

...and the moving piece for Alone in the World (a moment completely destroyed when the scene is paused and Timon sobs).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TLK15-21.jpg

So the message I'm driving home is, isn't it a shame that the true redeeming quality of this sequel, its score, never gets to be enjoyed fully - not in the movie itself, and not on CD either.

[imported_kiara]

.. i see no problem with the CD :p It has the songs that is in the movie, so what

[2 Die FR]

Let's compare/contrast for a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/thelionking.jpg

The original TLK soundtrack includes four instrumental tracks: This Land, To Die For (my namesake), Under the Stars, and King of Pride Rock. A few tracks are mixes of scores, and while it is by no means complete, it certainly does better justice to TLK's score than the 1 1/2 CD does to its score.

And if we were worried our TLK music collection would be incomplete forever, we needn't have, thanks to this bootleg wonder:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/lionkingexp.jpg

Hardly a single gap remains.

[HasiraKali]

Actually... there is a bootleg version of the TLK1.5 score. It's just not all that common on the "market" as it were. ;)

[2 Die FR]

*leans in* Oh really?

[HasiraKali]

YA RLY. ;)

[2 Die FR]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TheLionKing15.jpg

So it does exist. Really.

But bootleg CDs such as this are never meant for distribution; indeed, they're illegal.

I'm a big fan of movie scores, sometimes even more than the songs. It's a shame that the scores from the TLK universe do not get the same treatment as many other Disney films have on CD, such as Peter Pan, Snow White, and Pinocchio, all of which include nearly complete film scores.

My vote is for a complete instrumental release of TLK coinciding with the Blu-Ray release. (Asking for 1 1/2 is far too much wishful thinking.)

[LunarCat]

Hypothetically speaking, where would one go to find this bootleg "Complete Score"? :p

and I see what you mean 2DieFr, the soundtrack is kinda jumbled

[HasiraKali]

Hypothetically... *cough*PM*cough*.

Oy got something in my throat there.

[nathalie]

OMG ! where is that 1 1/5 one to be found ??

I agree though, the original soundtrack is just wastefull, haha.
Now, if it would have the normal "Digga Tunnah" song on it which is actually in the movie, it would already be a lot better in my opinion.

Amanda, you got a little cough there :p

[HasiraKali]

I do have a bit of a cough. ;)

[nathalie]

Could you maybe... ? *blush*

[Kopa]

OMG I didn't even know that these bootlegs existed :gasp: I gotta find out where to get them :lol: I love all the music from the movies ^_^ I always wondered why they cut the TLK 1.5 soundtrack short lol.


P.S. You might wanna get that cough checked HasiraKali ;)

[HasiraKali]

Originally posted by ?nathalie?
Could you maybe... ? *blush*

Cough on you? That could be arranged. ;)

[Guntur]

Upload the bootleg and give it to me, please :evilgrin:


Seriously is there a bootleg for TLK 3: Hakuna Matata? Any possible link or site?

[LunarCat]

ah, you should get that checked out HK ;)

[Azerane]

Ahh yes, I too was also very dissapointed in the 1 1/2 soundtrack. Yes it has the songs, but I like to hear the movie versions of the songs, not the credit versions.

I have always wanted TLK complete score.. though I've heard something about the timing being a little off for it or something?

[HasiraKali]

Originally posted by Azerane
I have always wanted TLK complete score.. though I've heard something about the timing being a little off for it or something?

It depends which version it is. The original one had a timing issues as well as some miss labeled tracks. There's a newer version that someone kindly fixed all around. :)

[2 Die FR]

Before we get to business, let me hand out cough drops to everyone. Lots of nasty colds going around in the winter, and I just got over mine, and besides there's no need getting sick over this matter. ;)

Like most bootlegs, the 18 tracks that make up the unofficial, so illegal score of TLK 1 1/2 are not the highest bitrate; the ones I found are only 128 kbps, which isn't the best, but the sound quality is quite good regardless. (If someone out there has a higher bitrate, PM me!) Also, the tracks are fairly short; most of them are around 1-2 minutes. Furthermore, the names given for the tracks are uninspiring to say the least - like "Timone and Pumba Meet" and "Timone and Pumba Split." That's right, both feature characters' names are misspelled. Even worse, the tracks are all out of order. :woeisme:

That's why I am now working on the full-length, start-to-finish, everything you wanted and more soundtrack of The Lion King 1 And A Half (with emphasis on the ONE, not the HALF!) I am giving the score tracks more creative, representative names, and I'm editing the tracks themselves so that the order you hear the music is the same as you do in the film - without sacrificing sound quality or messing with the actual data.

This is as close as you're gonna get to being able to hear TLK 1 1/2 in its entirety.

One problem. I haven't got the DVD with me here at college so I can't get the actual "Digguh Tunnuh" song off of it...

[Darkslash]

Wow, coolness 2DieFR!

[2 Die FR]

I still feel bad about ditching the fandub. It's the least I can do.

Darkslash, I miss ya man! :noogie: What is up??

It's like...it's like I'm back from the dead. :alone:

[2 Die FR]

Funny story.

So I'm sitting here, working on this soundtrack, and I'm thinking, I gotta get my hands on the DVD if this thing is gonna be complete. And then I remembered that I had seen 1 1/2 by coincidence at some girl's apartment by invitation almost six months ago when I first moved in.

I knock on their door. "Hey, how's it goin? Say, I have an odd favor to ask of you..."

;) I got it.

I pulled the beginning and finale of Digga Tunnah off of it, as well as the jazzy Hakuna Matata and Sunrise, Sunset. Those tracks will have some sound effects and a little dialogue in them, but it's not a huge deal when you listen to them. Worse soundtrack crimes have been committed.

I am almost done with the editing and organizing, and if the uploading process doesn't throw me a curveball, this shindig will be live tomorrow. :)

[Darkslash]

Darkslash, I miss ya man! What is up??
Ah, y'know, same'ole, same'ole.

;)

[2 Die FR]

"A little backstage tour. Take 'em behind the scenes for a revealing and intimate look at the story within the story!"


In order to have an album that doesn't fluctuate and is comfortable to listen to without fiddling with the volume control, all the tracks have to be at about the same sound level. What I found is that the TLK 1 1/2 CD is extremely loud in comparison to most soundtrack CDs that are comprised of musical scores.

Take, for instance, the original TLK CD. This is how the Hakuna Matata track looks from that CD in wave form.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/Wavepad4.png

Now compare that with the exact same song, Hakuna Matata, from TLK 1 1/2.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/Wavepad5.png

HUGE difference. In fact, ballooning the sound levels like that takes away the integrity of the sound - especially the quieter parts. And I could add a biting remark here about kids and premature hearing loss, but I think it goes without saying.

So in order to match up these louder songs, such as That's All I Need and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, with the scores from the bootleg, I had to decrease the sound levels to about 50 or 60% of their original volumes.

Also, the few tracks that I pulled straight from the DVD were actually too quiet, so those were increased by about 130%.

I'm in the process of uploading the soundtrack in a .zip folder, so the entire sountrack will download together. It's a little over 80 megabytes - not bad for 59:09 worth of music! That's right, almost an hour in length. This totally pwns all 22:47 of the original TLK 1.5 release.

[I'll add the link for it as soon as it finishes. If anyone does have problems with downloading it, please let me know.]

I ended up editing all of the score files because they had about 4 seconds of unnecessary silence at the end. I think that disrupts the flow of a soundtrack, so I went through each one and determined the real end of the music and trimmed the silence off. All of the music files are 192 kbps, even though the score tracks were originally 128. I did this because whenever you edit music in a music editor like Wavepad, you lose some sound quality. The fact that I saved them at a higher bitrate ensures that none of the sound quality I started out with is lost.

(I'm a stickler for quality, you know. ;) )

[2 Die FR]

So now let's take a look at the album artwork and the playlist.

Here's the key:

The tracks with a * next to them are from the widely available TLK 1.5 CD - quieted down versions, of course.

The tracks with two **'s next to them are straight off the DVD.

And tracks with nothing at all next to them are scores from the bootleg.

Peter Gunn is a special case, since it came from my personal collection of music. We'll give it three ***'s just for fun.

--------------------


The Lion King 1 1/2 Complete Soundtrack

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Makatu/TheLionKing15-1.jpg

(The album artwork is included in the download, for your convenience.)

Total running time: 59:09

1) It's A Rock (:22)
2) Digga Tunnuh (1:26) **
3) Sentry Duty (:56)
4) That's All I Need (2:27) *
5) Meerkat Scramble (1:23)
6) Heart To Heart With Mom (2:36)
7) Timon's Traveling Theme (1:17) *
8) Just Eat Me Now (:39)
9) Acquaintances (2:56)
10) I've Gotta Really Bad Feeling (:50)
11) Bedtime For Two (2:01)
12) Shall We Run For Our Lives? (1:20)
13) Alone In The World (2:04)
14) Beyond What I Salsa (:51)
15) Hahuna Ma-What-A?! (1:16) **
16) Jungle Boogie (3:18) *
17) The Lion Sleeps Tonight (3:34) *
18) The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1:41) *
19) Sunrise, Sunset (:51) **
20) Peter Gunn (3:46) ***
21) Nala's Story (:41)
22) Elbow Room (1:46)
23) Monkey Sense (:55)
24) Friends Stick Together To The End (1:39)
25) Let Us Entertain You (3:18)
26) Our New Home (1:22)
27) Back To The Beginning (2:03) **
28) Digga Tunnah Dance (3:53) *
29) Grazing In The Grass (2:58) *


--------------------

*sigh* Everything sounds so much better in order. :diva:

[HasiraKali]

Awesome. :D Just make sure that a link isn't posted in here, if you know what I mean. ;) All in PMs please ;)

That being said... *cough* :lol:

[nathalie]

I haven't listened to it yet *shame on me* haha

But if tracks are just too loud, I have my good 'ol Goldwave to fix that, lolz.

[2 Die FR]

Originally posted by HasiraKali
[B]Awesome. :D Just make sure that a link isn't posted in here, if you know what I mean. ;) All in PMs please ;)

*cough* ;) *cough*

I'm having trouble with the wireless connection in this apartment, so the upload keeps quitting midway. Unfortunately I probably won't have this up until Wednesday or so. I'll keep you *cough* posted.

[Azerane]

Send me a PM when you've got it sorted *Cough* :p

[Darkslash]

I'll take a cough drop, too.

*COUGH* ahem.

[HasiraKali]

I think we all need a few cough drops in here. :lol: ;)

[Guntur]

Well whatever it is just PM me the link ;).

[2 Die FR]

Sorry for the delay. The wireless Internet at my apartment complex can't hold a connection for longer than 30 seconds if its life depended on it - and it was flat dead all yesterday.

But I'm working at an on-campus computer and I'm ready. *cough* ;)

[Azerane]

The file has been removed from the site... might need to find another way of working it out.

[Guntur]

*cough cough* they remove the file from the site.

[Darkslash]

*ahem*cough*

try www.megaupload.com or www.rapidshare.de

[nathalie]

We can stop coughing now, haha, we know what it's about ;)

Maybe it was in the file's name?
Sometimes if I put up a file on 4shared, it'll also say they think it's not a legal file by looking at the title of the file, while sometimes it's just a Word document :s

[Anyango]

Well hey there new best friends! Can anyone give me a handy dandy couple of links to the certain subject we're all commenting on?? ^.~

I'd appreciate it muchly!

[Azerane]

There was one link, but it died. So right now, I think we're all just waiting on another one.

[HasiraKali]

Who all needs it? I think that's why it stalled. PM me.