Film Albums: The Happiest Millionaire ( 1967 )

Usually, for our Film Albums series, we feature a single album relating to movies in some way or another, but this time around we have a bunch of albums all featuring the music of The Happiest Millionaire (1967), a delightful - although rather long - musical from Walt Disney Studios. 

Below each album is a link to the Internet Archive where you can enjoy the music for yourself and see how your comparisons differ from ours. 

The Happiest Millionaire - Original Sound Track Album

Buena Vista Records - 60781-7

The Happiest Millionaire featured no less than 16 songs (!), all of which were written by the wonderful songwriting team of Richard and Robert Sherman. If the film itself isn't overly memorable, the music certainly is....especially Are We Dancing (a beautiful waltz performed by John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren), Let's Have a Drink on It, and Fortuosity. Also included, is the not-heard-on-screen It Won't Be Long Til' Christmas. Jo Stafford performs a beautiful version of this song here. 

This original album is definitely the best of the bunch. The orchestration (by Jack Elliott) is lush and lovely and the singing performances from the main cast are wonderful to hear. Plus, what a great cover with Tommy Steele smiling in spite of his big black eye!

Note: the above link contains only 30-second sound clips, but if you search for the album on the Archive, you will find another upload that contains Side A and Side B of the original album.

Camarata Conducts Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire

Beuna Vista Records STER-4030

This is another wonderful version of the music of The Happiest Millionaire, this time performed by the Mike Sammes Singers and featuring some imaginative orchestration by Tutti Camarata, a Disney legend. The Mike Sammes Singers were the UK's version of The Ray Charles Singers and they have scrumptious harmonies. Their version of Are We Dancing is lovely. 

Note: This same album was also released in the UK with a different cover: 

Living Voices: Music from The Happiest Millionaire

RCA Camden CAS-2164

This was a close second because the Living Voices (RCA's in-house recording chorus) produced some really top-notch albums in the 1960s. Their tempo is just slightly slower than The Mike Sammes Singers and it doesn't match the upbeat vibe of the movie, so that's why we ranked this album 3rd. However, their version of Fortuosity is much better than the Mike Sammes Singers. 

Count Basie Captures Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire

Coliseum Records D41003 

If you like jazz and you like Count Basie, then you'll love this album. The Count does a marvelous job of turning these Sherman Brothers' songs into New Orleans-sounding peppy jazz classics. 

Songs from Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire

Disneyland Records - STER-1303

This is by far our least favorite of the albums. The listing credits "various artists" but it sounds like one man singing all of the songs and his voice isn't the most pleasant to listen to. I wonder if this Disneyland Records album was cheaper than the soundtrack because why would someone buy this if they cost the same? Nevertheless, the album cover is cute.