Princess and the Frog

Comment: This rates as one of my favorite cd's!!!It has such a POSITIVE,UPLIFTING,and just plain FEEL GOOD, music content.It instantly puts me in a great mood.It arrived very quickly,and perfectly,from Amazon.

Comment: It's good to see that Disney didn't forgot their roots and wanted to do a full-length hand drawn feature with the same flair and feel as their classics. "The Princess and the Frog" felt like a sign of relief and it seemed as Disney were really up to making a real comeback, with all of their famous ingredients - however, with one important exception; the choice of the composer.

In some ways, it wasn't really a coincidence that Randy Newman got chosen as the composer, considering that John Lasseter is in charge of the Disney right now and he has declared Newman as his favorite composer. However, the decision to make Newman in charge of the score was a bold choice and certainly disappointed many Disney fans, including myself, considering that I've never found Newman's previous work compelling - at least compared to Alan Menken's work. But fortunately, Newman has outdone himself on the soundtrack on "The Princess and the Frog" and has made some quite catchy songs. While they may not be the most memorable songs in Disney history, they still come off as listenable and quite enjoyable and makes the absent of Menken acceptable for this time.

The songs are mostly a mixture of the Native music of New Orleans, with Jazz, Gospel and Zydeco and considering that Newman has a personal connection to the city, he probably wasn't a stupid choice after all.

1.Ne-Yo's "Never Knew I Needed" (3:37) is first up on the album. Although I've personally never been a fan of the r'n'b singer, I've found some of his previous work quite catchy. But his single to "The Princess and the Frog" is one of his least memorable work. A cute song on it's own merits, but nothing particularly outstanding.
2."Down in New Orleans Prologue" (0:27) is a cute, piano-driven tune, which opens the film and beautifully sung by Anika Noni Rose. A short, but atmospheric tune and pleasant to listen to.
3."Down in New Orleans" (2:25) is a longer version of the same song, this time sung by Dr. John. A Jazzy, mid-tempo version, which is just as pleasant as the Prologue version and Dr. John's voice gives the song spirit.
4."Almost There" (2:24) is the traditional "I want song" of the protagonist and nicely sung by Anika Noni Rose (Tiana). A catchy and likeable mid-tempo tune, which stands out of the most memorable songs of the film.
5."Friends on the Other Side" (3:35) is the big villain song, sung by Keith David (Dr. Facilier). Its probably the most complex and tempo-changing song on the album/movie. It starts out as spooky and threatening and then becomes more up-beat, until slows down a bit and becomes intense and threatening again at the end. Perhaps not the very darkest villain song ever made, but still a brilliant and deep tune.
6."When We're Human" (2:22) is a upbeat, jazzy tune, sung by Bruno Campos (Prince Naveen), Michael Leon-Wolley (Louis, the Alligator) and Anika Noni Rose. Accompanied by a frisky trumpet, this is certainly of the most energetic songs on the album, which brings a resemblance to the musical sound of "Jungle Book". Rose's vocal range really come to it's right on this song.
7."Gonna Take You There" (1:46) is my favorite song on the entire album and ironically also the shortest songs. A upbeat and delightful Zydeco song, nicely sung by Jim Cummings (Ray, the Cajun firefly).
8."Ma Belle Evangeline" (1:55) is the slowest song on the whole album. A cute and atmospheric little love ballad, also sung by Jim Cummings. Though it's not one my favorite on the album, it still makes a nice listen.
9."Dig a Little Deeper" (2:47) is the big Gospel number on the film. Nicely sung by Jennifer Lewis (Mama Odie) and the Pinnacle Gospel Choir, it's a lively and energetic tune and probably also one of the most climatic songs on the film.
10."Down in New Orleans (Finale)" is the ending song of the film and it's particularly a shorter, but more upbeat version of the song, but this time sung by Anika Noni Rose, which also really shows her big, vocal range.

When it comes to the score itself, it is mostly a sweet soundtrack and quite pleasant to listen to. The music is also jazz-inspired (and also a bit country inspired on "Frog Hunters/Gators Down") and gives a slight sense of fairytale wonder, although in Bayou-inspired way. The themes for the songs are used in the score. So this soundtrack is definitively to recommend for both Newman and Disney fans.

Comment: I bought this CD for my 2-year-old daughter because she loves the Disney Princess CD we already own. Was extremely disappointed to find the only two songs on the CD that are actually from a Disney move are the two from Princess and the Frog. Even my daughter realized it when she stated "that is not a princess" and "that is not from that movie" for every other track! Not a single one of the other songs is actually sung by the listed princess in the movie. In fact, the Snow White on this CD is most definitely not the same voice from the movie. What a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! We will be tossing this out after listening to it only two times.

Comment: Music has always been a part of Walt Disney cartoons, going way back to Steamboat Mickey in 1928! But Disney never seemed to acknowledge jazz until now. The studio's newest feature film, The Princess and the Frog, has New Orleans jazz all over it! From the jazz based score by Randy Newman, and a jazz-talking alligator named Louis (who has the unmistakable voice of that cat named Satchmo) who plays "Dippermouth Blues" and a tribute to Sidney Bechet, this is one truly delightful film. The story takes place in the 1920s French Quarter and features the high quality hand drawn animation Disney is famous for. For the zydeco and cajun music fan there's a bit of that too, courtesy of Terrance Simien. Dr. John also gets a song and he's on the soundtrack CD too! Okay, there's the pop vocal love song by Ne-Yo to attract the teens, but there's plenty of other great music and a fun story line for adults. This may be my favorite Disney movie soundtrack in years. They are also releasing more music "inspired by the film" with new songs featuring the Keith David (as Dr. Facilier), Jim Cummings ( as Ray) and Michael Leon Wooley as Louis!

Steve Ramm
Anything Phonographic

Comment: This is a fantastic album with songs that get stuck in your head and make you smile. The score pieces are lovely and compliment the songs.

Randy Newman has mostly done the Pixar/Disney films but he deffinitely pulled out some fo his best stuff here. I first heard soem fo the music over New Years at Disenyland that music prompted me to get off my butt and see teh film which then got to go home and imediately order this cd.

I could live without the silly pop song on track one but everything else is beautifully done and very memorable.