This was meant to be released at 8am PST today. Is it floating around yet?

Just dropped on YouTube, the Disney Music Vevo channel.

Yep, it's also on Amazon and iTunes now too.

The samples actually sound really good, though I must say that either Zimmer thought it needed no remake or Favreau insisted it be untouched, but Circle of Life's instrumental, at least from the bits I've heard via the sample and the clip of the scene on YT, is identical to the 1994 version.

Yep, it's also on Amazon and iTunes now too.

The samples actually sound really good, though I must say that either Zimmer thought it needed no remake or Favreau insisted it be untouched, but Circle of Life's instrumental, at least from the bits I've heard via the sample and the clip of the scene on YT, is identical to the 1994 version.

Just bought the album on itunes. The instrumental is slightly different, so it's definitely a new recording of the instrumental, but Zimmer, Elton John and Favreau must have felt it needed no reworking unlike the rest of the songs and the score.

I'm slightly unsure how to feel about the new version of Be Prepared however. It's good, don't get me wrong, but cutting the song down to just over 2 minutes and cutting pretty much the whole song bar the final verse/chorus is a very strange decision (for those who haven't listened, the song starts with new lyrics then immediately jumps to 'Be prepared for the coup of the century!" from the final chorus of the original song). I'm guessing they felt it would make Scar scarier if the song is shorter and more menacing but it's a shame, I was really looking forward to hearing Chiwetel Ejiofor cover the whole song.

Just bought the album on itunes. The instrumental is slightly different, so it's definitely a new recording of the instrumental, but Zimmer, Elton John and Favreau must have felt it needed no reworking unlike the rest of the songs and the score.

I'm slightly unsure how to feel about the new version of Be Prepared however. It's good, don't get me wrong, but cutting the song down to just over 2 minutes and cutting pretty much the whole song bar the final verse/chorus is a very strange decision (for those who haven't listened, the song starts with new lyrics then immediately jumps to 'Be prepared for the coup of the century!" from the final chorus of the original song). I'm guessing they felt it would make Scar scarier if the song is shorter and more menacing but it's a shame, I was really looking forward to hearing Chiwetel Ejiofor cover the whole song.

Yeah, listening to it, it sounds like a blend of the 1994 recording and a new recording. The Lebo M chant, pan pipe and African chorus are clearly the 1994 version but everything else sounds different enough to be new. Same for "Remember" - clearly a new orchestral recording using the choral elements from 1994.

This whole score is newly recorded.

This whole score is newly recorded.

Listen to Circle of Life, compared it to the 1994 version and say that again. Yes, the instrumental has parts that are newly recorded but I already aid what's not new with it.

The score and music are pretty good (like Menken, Zimmer doesn't really change much from before,) but the new renditions of the old musicals are not good.

"I Just Can't Wait to Be King" is immediately forgettable. (When I got to the end of the soundtrack, I was like, "...wait... how come I didn't hear it?")
"Be Prepared" is too short, which sucks, because it's the best of the bunch.
"Hakuna Matata" is awful.
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has no energy.
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" starts off with no energy, then Beyonce and Glover harmonize nicely, but... it's still... the staccato thing everyone does throughout the song is really weird. They had Naomi Scott and That Guy Who Thought He Was Aladdin do the same thing on the #NotMyAladdin soundtrack and is it some 2010s pop trend or something?
"Spirit" doesn't really fit, in my opinion. Maybe it does in the movie, or maybe it's its placement in the soundtrack. I think I might have liked it more at the end of the album, rather than in the middle.

You know what they say - they don't make 'em like they used to. Disney is really diluting its "magic" with these remakes.

---------- Post added at 05:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:03 PM ----------


Listen to Circle of Life, compared it to the 1994 version and say that again. Yes, the instrumental has parts that are newly recorded but I already aid what's not new with it.

Even though it's clearly labeled as the new one on Disney Music Vevo, when I started listening to the soundtrack, I thought that I was listening to the original one at first because "Circle of Life" is closely identical to the original.

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" starts off with no energy, then Beyonce and Glover harmonize nicely, but... it's still... the staccato thing everyone does throughout the song is really weird.

I only hear Timon and Pumbaa doing it, but yeah, it's annoying. Neither of them are singing well here, but as soon as I heard Seth Rogen's "yeah I get it" I thought "this could actually be a pretty good Pumbaa."

Ultimately, I'm probably too in love with the original to enjoy much of this one, especially the music. Everything feels "wrong".

I can agree with you on Seth Rogen, but that's maybe because I think Ernie Sabella was robbed. He and James Earl Jones are literally the only ones I thought were a dead-cert from the 1994 film (Irons wasn't asked and he's resisted playing Scar in anything since the 1994 film though he did say he would have liked to reprised the role). Sabella's been Pumbaa in everything since 1994, so it's difficult to swallow somebody else as him and I'm still not sold on Seth Rogen.

I think this score makes a beautiful compliment to the 1994 score. Not a replacement, but I could totally listen to the score alongside the 1994 one.

Songs, not so much. I could see people binning the songs in favour of the originals. Especially Be Prepared. Look how they massacred it! Yet kept all the other songs fairly close. The original is miles above. And don't give me 'but the goose-stepping hyenas' - that's just a visual. Though Hakuna Matata's self-awareness did make me chuckle (Timon not interrupting Pumbaa this time).

I assume you meant you "can't agree with me" instead of "can". Yeah, I'd have rathered everyone from the original return. Hell, don't re-record the songs! Just the score (you need to because it's a different movie).

But yeah, for me Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane are going to be the ones most missed. I mean Nathan Lane can actually sing! Not like whatever Eichner was doing over here.

I assume you meant you "can't agree with me" instead of "can". Yeah, I'd have rathered everyone from the original return. Hell, don't re-record the songs! Just the score (you need to because it's a different movie).

But yeah, for me Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane are going to be the ones most missed. I mean Nathan Lane can actually sing! Not like whatever Eichner was doing over here.

I'm agreeing with you on Seth Rogen, so I used the right word. The songs would have to be re-recorded anyway, but these just don't quite hold up to the originals in spirit, especially Be Prepared.

Nathan Lane, like Broderick, apparently had a big bust-up with Disney and has refused to reappear as Timon on anything. It's a shame, really.