The Lion King (Original Soundtrack)

Tracks:
Circle Of Life - Carmen Twillie
I Just Can't Wait To Be King - Jason Weaver
Be Prepared - Jeremy Irons
Hakuna Matata - Nathan Lane
Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Sally Dworsky
The Morning Report - James Earl Jones
This Land (Instrumental) - Hans Zimmer
...To Die For (Instrumental) - Hans Zimmer
Under The Stars (Instrumental) - Hans Zimmer
King Of Pride Rock (Instrumental) - Hans Zimmer
Circle Of Life - Elton John
I Just Can't Wait To Be King - Elton John
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (End Title) - Elton John
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (Remix) - Elton John
I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Be Prepared
Hakuna Matata
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
The Morning Report
This Land
...To Die For
Under the Stars
King of Pride Rock
Circle of Life
I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (End Title)
Can You Feel The Love Tonight (Remix)

Performer Notes:

• This is a Hyper CD, which contains which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser.
• Producers: Hans Zimmer, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Chris Thomas.
• Compilation producer: Steven Stern.
• Principally recorded at Media Ventures and Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles, California; Townhouse Studio, London, England; BPO Studios, Mmabatho, South Africa.
• All songs written by Tim Rice and Elton John. Instrumental score written by Hans Zimmer.
• "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; "Circle Of Life" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals; and THE LION KING won the Grammy for Best Musical Album For Children. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "Circle Of Life" were also both nominated for Song Of The Year and Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or Television; and the album's instrumental tracks were nominated for Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television.
• The heady influence of Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne--and all the other musicians who've introduced pop fans to the sounds and style of Africa--resonate subtly throughout the Hollywood flourishes of THE LION KING.
• Part of THE LION KING's appeal can be traced to Hans Zimmer's imagistic evocative instrumental score. Instrumental excerpts such as "This Land" and "Under The Stars" are a vibrant amalgam of lush orchestral passages with flashes of idiomatic African vocal colors and ceremonial percussive textures (while "King Of Pride Rock" echoes elements of Mozart's REQUIEM and traditional African six-beat rhythms).
• But it's THE LION KING's comic operetta songs and the Elton John/Tim Rice pop miniatures that ultimately distinguish this soundtrack and give it fresh legs for all holiday seasons. John's philosophical ruminations on "The Circle Of Life" are framed by power pop on a grand scale, with huge reverberant drum accents and massive sampled choruses and strings. But "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" is this collection's most engaging song, a sort of Afro-Rockabilly groove, tinted by the gospelish drive of John's Little Richard style piano.
• Principal Cast: Tsidii Le Loka (Rafiki); Samuel E. Wright (Mufasa); Gina Breedlove (Sarabi); Geoff Hoyle (Zazu); John Vickery (Scar); Scott Irby-Ranniar (Young Simba); Kajuana Shuford (Young Nala); Tracy Nicole Chapman (Shenzi); Stanley Wayne Mathis (Banzai); Kevin Cahoon (Ed); Max Casella (Timon); Tom Alan Robbins (Pumbaa); Jason Raize (Simba); Heather Headley (Nala).
• Producers: Mark Mancina, Lebo M, Jay Rifkin.
• Recorded at Sony Music Studios, New York, New York.
• THE LION KING won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
• Producers: Hans Zimmer, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Chris Thomas.
• Compilation producer: Steven Stern.
• Principally recorded at Media Ventures and Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles, California; Townhouse Studio, London, England; BPO Studios, Mmabatho, South Africa.
• All songs written by Tim Rice and Elton John. Instrumental score written by Hans Zimmer.
• "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; "Circle Of Life" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals; and THE LION KING won the Grammy for Best Musical Album For Children. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "Circle Of Life" were also both nominated for Song Of The Year and Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or Television; and the album's instrumental tracks were nominated for Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television.
• Principal Cast: Tsidii Le Loka (Rafiki); Samuel E. Wright (Mufasa); Gina Breedlove (Sarabi); Geoff Hoyle (Zazu); John Vickery (Scar); Scott Irby-Ranniar (Young Simba); Kajuana Shuford (Young Nala); Tracy Nicole Chapman (Shenzi); Stanley Wayne Mathis (Banzai); Kevin Cahoon (Ed); Max Casella (Timon); Tom Alan Robbins (Pumbaa); Jason Raize (Simba); Heather Headley (Nala).
• Producers: Mark Mancina, Lebo M, Jay Rifkin.
• Recorded at Sony Music Studios, New York, New York.
• The dramatic, thoughtful, and rhythmically inspiring musical score for THE LION KING film was composed by soundtrack veteran Hans Zimmer, and enhanced with expressive songs by Tim Rice and Sir Elton John. This SPECIAL EDITION features a previously unreleased song, "The Morning Report," sung by James Earl Jones, Jeff Bennett, and Evan Saucedo, along with a version of Sir Elton John's "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," remixed and supplemented with extra percussion.

Professional Reviews: Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, p.178) - "...The kids loved the music. Basically, with lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber's old mate, Tim Rice, Elton John seized the chance to pen the big-budget musical that has always threatened to emerge from his songs anyway..."

Entertainment Weekly (12/19/97, p.79) - "...an instant theater classic..."

- Rating: B

Q (12/94, p.134) - 3 Stars - Good - "...Hans Zimmer's instrumental passages are as broad and breathtaking as the African landscapes they evoke..."

Format: CD (1 Disc)

Country: USA

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 1 January, 2005

Label: Disney

Dimensions: 13 x 1 x 14.4 centimeters (0.06 kg)