Some of the songs here are classics (‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ and ‘Bare Necessities’) but most aren’t (‘Colors Of The Wind’ from Pocahontas, ugh). Sadly, none is improved by replacing the voices of expressive actors with the voice of Brian Wilson, who, even in his heyday, was famed not for his singing, but for his production work and now sings weakly, bolstered by distracting hyperactive backing vocalists.
Here, that production work amounts to melody-following glockenspiels and organs riffing alongside funky session musician guitars and rockin’ solos, competent drum rolls, and far too much saxophone (I think this record has used up the decade’s whole quota of saxophone-playing, actually). His sound-effect-heavy cheese-tastic medley of ‘Whistle While You Work’ and ‘Heigh Ho’ from Snow White is worse than war. In his defence, Brian Wilson also made Pet Sounds. But is that enough to make up for this? The answer, I’m afraid, is no.