Various Artists - Stay Awake: Interpretations of Vintage Disney Films [1989]

Whether you regard him as one of the greatest storytellers in American history or a cold-hearted marketing genius who forced a set of prepackaged consumerist myths on several generations of unsuspecting youth, there’s little argument that the films of Walt Disney have become an indelible part of our collective subconsciousness. Then again, for every child who delighted in the antics of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, there’s another who had the bejesus scared out of him by the Wicked Queen or went into hysterics after Bambi’s mother was shot; there’s a mingled joy and tragedy in Disney’s best work that’s helped to give his films a cultural resonance Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry have never achieved. Consequently, different people have wildly different perspectives on Disney’s work, and producer Hal Wilner, a man who joyously revels in diverse perspectives, made the most of that on Stay Awake, in which 21 songs from classic Disney films are reinterpreted — sometimes faithfully, sometimes radically — by a startling array of artists brought together by Wilner. Some of these tunes are barely recognizable from their sources (most notably. Review by Mark Deming @ allmusic.com