Pinnocchio... Final Sale

Back in January, the Cloverdale Antique Mall closed for good. I used to stop by on a semi regular basis and always found lots of interesting stuff and came home with some of it.  We made a point of visiting the store before they closed. We were there on the second to last day and there were all kinds of great deals on all remaining items. I found this very cool Walt Disney Pinocchio RCA Victor 3 record set and wondered what the price would be since it did not have a price on it. After looking around and finding most of the shelves were pretty bare at this point (they would close the next day), this was the only item I was interested in and so we headed to the cash to make my purchase. We waiting in a line of about 15 people until it was our turn. The lady took a look and said how about $1? I said, sounds good to me! I pulled some change from my pocket to make my purchase.

Once I got home I had a look though my Disney record price guide and could only find one listing that seemed to match. It was at the beginning of the book in a section titled "Disney records valued at over $150".  The listing says: Victor P-18: "Pinocchio"; recorded January 19, 1940, released in February 1940; MST; three record set; 78 RPM; cover notes: "Recorded from the original sound track of the Walt Disney Production, Pinocchio; this was the first use of the term "original sound track"; individual records numbered 26477, 26478, and 26479
First issue: Light blue, die-cut front cover with eight color picture panels on ten inner jacket and sleeves; internal sleeve artwork is beautiful; initially sold for $2.00....... $150
My copy has slightly different record numbers, 45-5138, 45-5139, and 45-5140. There is also no artwork on the inside sleeves. And although the cover says "printed in the I.S.A.", the 3 records say "Made in Canada by RCA Victor Company Limited Montreal", so it would seem that my copy is pretty much the same thing, but a Canadian pressing from around the same time at the US one listed in the book.

My copy does have an interesting addition, as there is a gold and blue metalic sticker on the inside which says " Everything in Music, Fletcher's, Victoria, BC" which must have been the music store that this record was originally purchased in. I looked up Fletcher's on Google, but it doesn't seem they are still around.
I must say, that I am pretty happy with my $1 purchase.

Limited Edition The Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Album Set

Not sure how I missed this one. While surfing the net today, I came across this Limited Edition The Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary Vinyl Album & CD Set from the Disney Store Online. Unfortunelty it is already Sold Out on the official Disney Store site, so I'll have to see if I can get one from eBay or some other reseller.

What is it? In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of the album The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion comes this deluxe limited edition set featuring a faithful reproduction of the original gatefold album and two CDs. Created especially for Disneyland Resort, Limited Edition of 1000.
Originally released in 1969, this Disneyland Records Storyteller was a promotional album to commemorate the opening of the Haunted Mansions attraction. Long since out of print, this recording has become a cherished childhood memory for many Disneyland guests.
Set Includes:

• The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion vinyl album featuring a gatefold sleeve and including an 11-page book of color illustrations by Collin Campbell
• The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion CD
• The Haunted Mansion CD
• The album cover and Hat Box Ghost painting are included as separate prints suitable for framing
• Presentation box

Additional Information:
The CD version of The Story and Song From the Haunted Mansion includes a bonus track if the official Disneyland Park Grim Grinning Ghosts.
CD also contains a digital image gallery containing the high qualoty images of the original painiting which are viewable and printable from your computer
The Haunted Mansion CD includes:
An all new ride-through mix showcasing the various musical elements of the Haunted Mansion with never-before-released recordings.
A hauntingly elegant music box version of Grim Grinning Ghosts
The many variations of the organ score assembled from the original recording sessions
The unearthly scrore from the rollicking graveyard scene
The Graveyard Band version of Grim Grinning Ghosts
A special mix of Grim Grinning Ghosts spotlighting each of the graveyard's ghostly duets
The album concludes with the Phantom Manor Suite, a special mux of John Debney's orchestral interpretations of Buddy Baker and X. Atencio's classic score

New Disney Collectors CDs

Here is some pretty cool news from Intrada. Our new CD of Michael Giacchino's Oscar-winning score for Walt Disney/Pixar's animation hit UP headlines a new series of soundtracks on CD, co-branded by Walt Disney Records & Intrada. This title was selected as the debut release with the hopes of reaching a wider audience than we have with our core group of soundtrack collectors. As with the Grammy Award-winning download program, we hope this CD will appeal not only to our soundtrack audience but to listeners who may not share a passion for Alex North, Jerry Fielding, Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith... yet love good music just the same. And Mr. Giacchino's tuneful, soaring and exciting score is just the perfect score to offer such appeal.
For our smaller group of core collectors, we have more great news! Disney is already restoring elements and preparing fully-restored masters for titles we'll be releasing just for you! (Coming next: a digitally-restored, newly-expanded genuine fan favorite!)
And Intrada will continue licensing great scores from other Disney-owned properties such as John Scott's powerhouse score for the Touchstone Pictures outdoor action film SHOOT TO KILL, which also just now makes its debut release on CD.
I truly feel this Walt Disney/Intrada series is great news for all of us who love music from the movies!

Let's Fly with Mary Poppins

After seeing the Disney's Archive Collection ad that I posted a while back, I went on the hunt for the 3 CDs listed in the ad. The first one I have acquired is Let's Fly with Mary Poppins (1965) which I was able to get from Amazon Market Place for $12.48. And after a few listens, I can say it was well worth the effort. It is a great listen from beginning to end filled with a great upbeat retro jazz / lounge sound that I am becoming a big fan of. I will certainly be on the lookout for this one on vinyl.

From the liner notes of the CD:
A WORD FROM LOUIS PRIMA
May I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the Walt Disney Studio for giving us this great movie Mary Poppins, and may I pay tribute to Richard M. Sharman and Robert B. Sharman for giving us the most wonderful and delightful tunes ever to go into a movie. When I first heard these tunes, I flipped and immediately recorded "Stay Awake" and "Spoonful of Sugar."
We had the pleasure of introducing these two great tunes to our Las Vegas audiences. I then called in Gia Miaone (Mrs. Louis Prima) and together we went ahead and recorded the balance of these tunes to complete this album. We hope you will enjoy our treatments. In all my years of show business, I have never had so much fun. I do hope when you play this album over and over that you will enjoy the same kind of pleasure. Especially listen to Gia's interpretation of "Sister Suffragette"... WOW!