Year One

E82
is dedicated to the
original philosophies of EPCOT-
the City, the Center, and its Legacy.
Here, the “Architects of the Future” are celebrated
through Art, Music, and History.

May E82 continue EPCOT Center’s original vision:
to entertain, inform and inspire.
And above all, may it present innovative
perspectives on still unrealized concepts
for the community of tomorrow.
Joshua L Harris
Founder
JLH Omnimedia
January 11, 2010

“This is Just the Beginning!”
-Walt Disney (the EPCOT Film, 1966)

And It’s Still Just the Beginning…

A year ago on this day, I started The E82 Project with the rather lofty goal doing nothing less than redirecting the destiny of park itself. A reach that probably exceeds my grasp, nevertheless small voices can usually become influential for the direction and tone of entire initiatives. E82 is largely and artistic project designed to capture the best elements of the park, the city and the “Center” and reinterpret its Classical concepts for the 21st Century.

In the past year, Epcot has gone back to the future in many new and extremely surprising ways. The most unusual of these is the return of Captain EO, a show that still manages to impress 25 years after its release. The amount of “Retrocenter” merchandise has continued to grow, and early in the year the affectionately termed “TRON-o-rail” heralded the release of the sequel to (for all intense and purposes) the EPCOT Center movie. Above all, the thing that most surprised me this year is the Company’s embracement of the EPCOT Center Legacy. D23 was giving members patches for all the original Future World Pavilions, and well as writing stories about the park for its “Twenty-Three” Magazine, The Disney Parks Blog recently posted a historical recollection of EPCOT’s original merchandise, and in the last week the company’s internal headlines series “This Week in Disney History” selected Horizons Last Operational Day (1-9-99) as a featured story. Following the now old cliché, “Acceptance is the first step to recovery” Epcot seems to be well on its way to a (slow but) full renewal!

To be quite honest, the evolution of E82 has been slow too and (thanks to unexpected “real world” distractions) filled with unexpected interruptions. I had hoped to be far ahead of where I am now, but it’s also important to note that for every project I complete there are at least ten others that I come up with. With that being said, I should also note that every new concept does get filed away for completion at a later date. All of this means the E82 is far from running on empty! In the next few months, the Imagination pavilion will reach completion and new pavilions with their music, history and art will soon rise into spotlight. (They may even start before Imagination has completed!) In addition, I am already hard at work on a project that will take Epcot into “The Digital Frontier” like never before! So as ISO Program-Castor would put it, 2011 is shaping-up to be “quite a ride”!

To follow up with the original poster for the E82 Project, I present this new design in which the Sun has now risen to become an optimistically bright morning.

The E82 OVERTURE
“Voices of Tomorrow”

To some of my closest friends this recording is nothing new. In fact, I had hoped to launch the blog with a full video “trailer” featuring my vision of all the E82 has to offer. Alas, as I am far too busy writing, designing, and “mixing” I have yet to find the time to learn video production.
SO HERE’S WHAT I’D LIKE TO DO INSTEAD…
If anyone out there is interested, and has a strong video graphics background please let me know if you’d like to working with me in making a video featuring this music.

AT E82...
We’ve Just Begun to Dream!

For MATT

As a general rule I don’t respond to comments with posts, but since I know that this would probably be of a great interest I thought it best to start the New Year with a request.
For those of you who downloaded my Christmas Album, you may notice that there were some editing decisions that were made that were both “crushing” for me to make (and apparently even harder to listen too). More specifically, I referring to the cuts made to the Lights of Winter Tribute.
Unfortunately, there are certain holes in my Audio Archive that even after 10 years of collecting I have been unable to attain. One of these is the Ding Dong Merrily/O Holy Night medley of the Lights of Winter. The truly annoying part is that it’s the segment is the ONLY thing missing from the main show! Everything else is there.
When putting together and album, (just as any creative work) all the pieces have to fit together as a whole, and in the case of the Epcot Holidays Album I needed to dramatically cut down on the coverage for the Lights of Winter. In any earlier version, the album had almost the entire show and was the focal point. In the years that followed, I decided that Lights had fit more proportionally into the program. (After all, I didn’t have the whole Candlelight Show, or a full Voices of Liberty performance, so why should Lights of Winter get the special treatment?) Thus, the “Tribute” was created as a sampling of the music in the show. The original version of this album was created 5 years ago and I hoped that the unreleased music would have surfaced by now. Two years ago, I decided to make my own recording of the Soundtrack and hopefully create a believable mix of live and master sources. To be completely honest, the mix is good but not great. Nevertheless, my quality standards have always bordered on the absurdly-high so everyone else might actually enjoy this full mix.

So here it is, and BY REQUEST…

The Full Lights of Winter Show Mix

Special Note: As it turns out, “Ding Dong Merrily/O Holy Night” isn’t the only cue unaccounted for, there’s also a “Show Reset” (or Intermission as I’ve titled it :) that I believe could be a version of “The Holly and the Ivy”. If anyone has any information about this track I’d love to hear it.

E82 - Holidays Around the World

During this Glorious Time of Year, Epcot puts its best foot forward with Epcot - Holidays Around the World. While the Magic Kingdom shall always be home to over-the-top secular celebrations of the season, Epcot has a much greater mission to fulfill. During these special 35 (or so) Days at the end of the year Epcot reaches its full potential by proudly celebrating the “reason for the season.” But more than that, Epcot’s “Circle of Nations” truly does the miraculous by bring together many people of many faiths in an air of acceptance, inclusiveness and cooperation. It is also during this time that Epcot’s Ultimate Vision of instilling “a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere in the world” comes to fruition. In spite of all the EPCOT City could have given us, it would still just be a city. EPCOT’s ultimate realization as park is able to do what no city could ever hope to accomplish – providing millions of people with an example of a unified world.
As both a Thank You for your support during this first year of E82 and in Celebration of the Season, I present one of my most beloved and popular compilations; the simply titled “Epcot - Holidays Around the World Album.”
Representing the best of live entertainment since the program’s creation in 1994, this holiday compilation features a sampling of works by Cast in Bronze, and The Voices of Liberty, with highlights from the Candlelight Processional, a special tribute to the Lights of Winter, and finally culminating with Peace on Earth from Holiday IllumiNations.

-The Program-
HOLIDAY ILLUMINATIONS
1. Messiah Majesty
CAST IN BRONZE
2. Carol of the Bells
3. God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen
4. We Three Kings
HOLIDAY ATMOSPHERE
5. O Little Town of Bethlehem
THE VOICES OF LIBERTY
6. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
7. C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.
8. Gesu Bambino
9. Winter Wonderland
HOLIDAY ATMOSPHERE
10. Mary’s Boy Child
THE CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL
11. Candlelight Overture
12. Shout for Joy!
13. Il est Né
14. Rejoice with Exceeding Great Joy
15. Stille Nacht
16. The Wonderful World of Christmas
HOLIDAY ATMOSPHERE
17. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
THE LIGHTS OF WINTER
18. Lights of Winter Medley – A JLH Tribute
HOLIDAY ILLUMINATIONS
19. (Let there be) Peace on Earth (featuring Walter Cronkite)

Download the Album

Wide Screen



Full Screen

Symphony for Programs

E82’s TRON: Legacy Soundtrack Review
Earlier this year, as the excitement and anticipation was building toward TRON: Legacy’s release, a question was posed: Will “TRON: Legacy” be the “2001” for this generation?
While not having seen the film, it’s quite easy to see the comparison in many moments of the score. Additionally, the Daft Punk Soundtrack references several Sci-fi Scores and Classical music pieces. It’s almost unbelievable that two electronic artists could have developed such an amazing amount of scope a depth in such a singular work.

DAFT PUNK
In preparation for the film I, like many TRONophiles, began listening to a lot of Daft Punk. To be completely honest, there‘s only a few songs that I love listening too. (Mostly from the Discovery album) It should also come as no surprise that they are the ones that were most influenced by the original TRON film. The group’s Aerodynamic, Digital Love, Voyager, and Veridis Quo (Which translated literally means “Very Disco”) are very much from the TRON Universe. In the case of Digital Love, the song is bookended by an effect that sounds as if it was taken directly from Wendy Carlos’ original TRON score.
The thing that is the most impressive about Daft Punk is their ability to take noise (or industrial grind) and create new and interesting musical compositions. In listening to their music my reactions often remind me of the reactions of audiences to Stravinsky’s music a century ago. In both cases, the music is at first strange and seemingly “incorrect.” However, upon second and third exposure the startling nature of songs like Aerodynamic are revealed to be both edgy and beautiful.

Soundscape of “The Grid”

As difficult as it is to describe the power, heart, and emotion that this score possesses, I will nevertheless attempt to do my best to describe my impressions of TRON: Legacy as a strictly musical work. Every track of this seminal work is worth review, but in the interest of time I’ll be focusing on those of historical reference or classical interest…

TRON 2001: A DIGITAL ODYSSEY
--Overture – Adagio for Tron--
I must say, (having not seen the film) I sincerely hope that the Overture is also accurately represented in the film itself. This film is so epic both in reach and in tone that allowing one to be enveloped into the “World of TRON” sonically before the film would be an extremely effective and nostalgic device.
This particular piece is has a lot of reference 2001’s “Overture: Atmospheres” and has similar strains with the initial build-up to “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” The piece ends with an exclusively orchestral version of the TRON Main Theme. Another strong comparison can be made between the "Gayaneh Ballet Suite" and the beautifully melancholy strains of “Adagio for Tron.” The sadness of this track is so descriptive that even without seeing the film it basically gives the story away.

THE GAME GRID
--Arena - Rinzler - The Game has Changed - Round One - Disc Wars--
A deadly undercurrent of progressive beats and low tempos which inspires both excitement and fear, all of these tracks carry a similarly dark a foreboding tone. Ironically, (and impressively) these action pieces seem to have no “Mickey-Mousing.” Warning: Although fun, these tracks can cause a small amount of recklessness if listened to while driving!

BLADE LIGHT RUNNER
--Recognizer - Arrival – The Grid--
Once a bright environment for programs to interact, CLU has turned turn the TRON System into an almost post-apocalyptic dystopia with massive totalitarian overtones. This aspect of Legacy’s storyline practically screams for Vangelis-style interpretation. In the case of Recognizer the visuals for this scene are almost identical to those found in the Ridley Scott film. Arrival itself sounds as if it was lifted from the Vangelis score itself.

FLYNN’S TANGERINE DREAM
--The Son of Flynn– Armory - Nocturne - Solar Sailer - Sea of Simulation--
There is so much that is visual about this soundtrack, these tracks are appropriately electronic and somber. A particular fan favorite, Solar Sailer, is one the most beautiful and majestic tracks on the album. It’s really the emotional core of TRON Legacy. This should come as no surprise as this was one of the first two demo tracks Daft Punk composed for the film over two years ago. Director, Joe Kosinski said in an interview that the original version of Solar Sailer was changed during production but later reverted to an arrangement closer to the initial version.

THE 2012 OVERTURE
--Fall – Rectifier – C.L.U.- Encom Parts I & II – Reflections –-
All of these tracks feature CLU’s theme. Epic is such a small word for this. In particular, C.L.U. is truly the hidden gem of this score. It has trace elements found in the best of Wagner’s Sagas with influences that range from Kismet to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. (All of which, are a couple centuries removed!) It’s powerful and percussive beats in combination with scope-expanding strings and finally the crescendo inducing Industrial Grind that is Daft Punk! The electronic elements of this piece always manage to sneak-up and surprise me. The piece is actually my favorite from the score!

DAFT PUNKED
--End of Line – Derezzed - TRON Legacy(End Titles) – Castor--
These are classic Daft Punk! With most of these tracks occurring within the End of Line club, they are catchy and bound to have you hitting repeat after most of them. Personally I can’t wait for our French Robots to release TRON’s “Club” Album!

THE ULTIMATE “END OF LINE”
--Outlands Parts I & II, Father and Son, Finale--
The dynamic between Kelvin, CLU, and Sam reminds me of nothing less than the classic story of God, Lucifer and Jesus. Kelvin creates CLU in his own image and endows him with incredible power and abilities. CLU (like the MCP before him), believes himself to be better than his creator and becomes the ruler of the air. Sam, the actual son of God (no wait, I mean Flynn) comes to the digital world to restore sovereignty and overtake the distorted and arrogant CLU. This is probably a little more than you’d expect soundtrack review to be but I always go deeper. And, to be quite honest this kind of allegory is expected considering the writers, Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz have spent the last several years “re-interpreting the Bible” and setting it on a tropical “Island.”
These themes are what sets TRON Legacy apart from its predecessor. Steven Lisberger’s original film introduced the world (although unknowingly) to the concepts that would eventually change the life of almost every person on this planet. These themes and the film that they’re created for give those concepts meaning and perspective in our ever changing world.

BACK TO THE BALL
Geospheric Perspectives
It’s only fitting (and appropriate) that TRON and EPCOT should be linked together. TRON Legacy is no exception. If you read the credits you’ll find that Bruce Broughton provided consultation and none other than “Reflections of Earth” composer Gavin Greenaway conducted the orchestra!
On a personal note, the entire musical journey of TRON Legacy was a very emotional one for me. Not since the Millennium Celebration Album have I been so completely obsessed with a musical work. And, not since EPCOT Center’s original 1982 Entrance Plaza have I heard such a perfect marriage of the electronic and classical. As a person who always has one foot firmly planted in the past and the other stretching far into the future, this music seems almost tailor-made for my DNA, and specifically timed to provoke the maximum emotional effect.
“THIS SOUNDTRACK HAS THE UNUSUAL ABILITY OF MAKING ME WEEP WITH JOY AND DANCE IN DELIGHT AND WHEN IT REACHES THE END CREDITS I’M USUALLY DOING BOTH! “-JLH

Re-Imagining the Journey

NEWS FLASH: Everything You’re Listening to Is Wrong!
Ok, well maybe not wrong but certainly incorrect. This was my thought process while dreaming up the Future World Soundtrack Series (FWSS). Whenever I would listen to the soundtrack of a certain attraction or a pavilion’s background music (BGM) I thought it was like I was listening to the actual soundtrack to a film; lots of “dead air”, starting and stopping abruptly, forensic editing, etc. (1.)
I thought that the best way to present the FWSS was to completely ignore the historical context of the subject matter, and speaking as a historian this was in and of itself a radical concept. (2.) I wanted to create a “Listening Experience”. SO WHAT if things were not exactly labeled the way things are in the WDI archives (3.), and who really cares if you play around with the order of things. It’s about the music!

Re-Writing History
Most of the things we acquire from the digital frontier have never been reviewed by a sound engineer. In many cases, they are taken directly from sound boards or WDI demos. These recordings are mixed and scored for very specific systems with highly specialized equalizing for a particular type of industrial speaker. Most of the music you’ll hear from the FWSS was never intended for personal use. In saying that, I’ve endeavored to create the best possible mixes of these beautiful recordings.

Production Notes (highlights only)

DISC ONE
2. Pavilion Atmosphere
The BGM of any location is intentionally designed for the guest to come in or out of at any moment. Musically speaking there is no starting or stopping point. That being said, my favorite part of this loop is found at the very end. The last version of the Magic Journeys theme is, for me, the most visual piece of the score. It triggers my most early memories of EPCOT Center when I first visited in 1986. (Keep in mind I was 5-years-old at the time.)
In order to add more “atmosphere,” I enhanced the BGM with the slightest amount of reverb to give the small orchestra arrangements a little more scale.
10. Electronic Philharmonic
This selection of music contained serious volume leveling issues rendering certain sections frustrating to listen to. Fortunately, I was able to master a few audio smoothing techniques and return (most) of the track to its former glory.
11. Makin’ Memories
Most of the tracks on Disc One require highly specialized noise reduction, this process is delicate and open to interpretation. Too much reduction and you lose vital information, as well as, scope. Too little reduction and you might as well just leave it as is. In order to be truly effective my audio program needs some time that should be dead air luckily I was able to find some on this track.
12. Magic Eye Theater
This track has the most dramatic “before & after” of any other piece on the collection. To date, I consider this track my greatest and most professional re-mastering job. My personal love for this song (and this version of it) was the driving force behind many hours of work for 3 minutes of dreamlike bliss. It was so dramatic that it served as a preview for FWSS launch earlier this year…

13. Magic Journeys
In a perfect world, I would have probably had the music only track for the whole show and done a traditional soundtrack here. Magic Journeys is my favorite Sherman Brothers song, and certainly one of my top ten in Disney History. The version presented on the official albums is wonderful, but as compared to the original it lacks the psychedelic qualities of the post 1970s film. (4.) This track is basically a single mix containing both the beginning and ending title song.

DISC TWO
1. FWSS – Main Theme
This was an immensely fun (and sometimes frustrating) piece to create. As is stated in the liner notes, it begins with the music of TRON (a film that one could consider THE trailer for EPCOT Center). Then it intermixes with the EXXON Logo Music, followed by New Horizons, the Epcot Entrance Fanfare, We’ve Just begun to Dream (Epcot’s Theme Song), and finally Omnisphere from Horizons with the Wormhole sound effects from TRON again. (I like bookends :)
My original plan was include a piece from every pavilion, but sometimes symbolism must be submissive to artistry. In this case, I wanted to convey the darker more serious nature of Epcot’s dynamic and innovative musical tone and you can’t express seriousness with Veggie Veggie, Fruit Fruits.
In the future, I hope to have this (and few other pieces of music like it;) set to video. So, if anyone wants to take a stab at creating the visions in my head let me know!
6. CAPTAIN EO –The JLH Mix (Or Captain EO and the Seven Sources)
This was the hardest mix I’ve ever done. Remember that the purpose of the FWSS is to create listening experiences. Captain EO soundtrack, as is, is extremely visual. The first half of the movie contains no songs. For this project, I knew that I wanted jump right into the music, but I definitely wanted the James Horner prologue (5.). This track took six sources to create. There are 3 in the first two minutes alone! It starts with the highly coveted preshow music, and contains the recently released Michael Jackson version of “We Are Here to Change the World” as well as the instrumental exit version of “Another Part of Me”.
I completed over 10 versions of this remix over a year period, and all to find the right version. What was the hardest part? Correcting Hooter’s mistake! That took months to work out. But wait, where’s the seventh source? Just recently (a few days ago) new recordings of the Preshow music have been made with substantially higher quality.
Oh well, back to the mixing board. Expect a new mix soon. Maybe around July 2nd? …

Formatting for the Future

One of the most challenging aspects of the FWSS was to define a style that would be both consistent and adaptable for subsequent volumes in the series. Many of the concepts initially conceived for one pavilion would not translate well to others. The FWSS is directly inspired by the Walt Disney Treasures and Platinum Edition DVDs. The final design draws from the original photography, architecture and color schemes for each pavilion, all of which will change for each future release.

Vision for Tomorrow

Each pavilion in the series is very different and as such will be treated differently. Containing roughly the same amount of material (90 minutes to 2 hours) for each release has been one of the goals from beginning. In order to accomplish this, the original material will either be edited or elongated depending on the attraction. Supplemental Features will be created to support shorter experiences while certain pavilions will be shortened to accommodate running length. I would say expect the unexpected.

What’s Next?

Even though its many months away
Here’s a clue…

Any guesses?
The first person to guess correctly and describes why get's a preview!

Footnotes:

1. If you’ve ever listened to a “music only track” on a DVD you know the feeling. It’s a nice bonus feature, but not exactly entertaining to the ear.
2. “Logic is the beginning of understanding not the end.” –Spock, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
3. I for one have always hated the term BGM; you wouldn’t refer to the score of Star Wars as “background” for anything. I prefer to call it “Atmosphere” because that’s what it helps to create. For those of you who work in theme park or have had the experience of walk through one with the BGM turned off, you know how awkward that can be. (It’s kind of like being INSIDE a silent film.)
4. I’m sure this was intentional, for as much as Magic Journeys is a beautiful song, the movie itself is probably best left in the vault forever. More on this later on in E82.
5. The space music also acts a perfect transitional device with the rest of the disc. One of the things I obsess over is transitions from track to track. It’s sometimes the most important step in creating an album. During every step of the process, I’m constantly listening to the ends and beginnings of tracks to make sure it’s just right.

"Surprise Me"

A PASSION FOR THE UNTANIABLE

Late Imagineer Bruce Gordon once said of Theme Park music; “It’s like half of the experience.” A true and profound statement, one could also say that it’s the most portable element of any attraction.
At the very end of the last century, people began, not only sharing their thoughts and ideas, but also music across the digital frontier. This is where I came in. Even though I will always claim to be a child of the Awesome Eighties, I really grew up in the cultural wasteland of the 1990’s. With Grunge, Alternative Rock, and Hip-Hop Rap dominating the airwaves there wasn’t much to get excited over for such a heavily eccentric teenager like myself. During this time I was also being exposed to the rich and wonderful history of Hollywood and especially the Walt Disney Company. (To this day, I still believe the WDC is one of the most extraordinary and unusual anomalies the world has ever known.) (1.) For a brief time during in the early 1990’s I lived in Jacksonville, FL and my family would often (read that every other month) take my brother and I out of school early on Fridays to spend a long weekends at WDW. (2.) It was during this time, I went beyond the superficial and began to absorb the finer details of every attraction and developed public space of the parks. One of these was of course the beautiful and genre-less scores of EPCOT Center’s Future World. For years, I would long for that day that I could listen to these masterpieces as easily as others could listen to the soundtrack albums of the latest movies.

FAST FORWARD TEN YEARS
(or 17 or 18 or whatever)

My personal archive of Theme Parks music is now measured in the hundreds of hours, and thousands of personally catalogued and researched files. (3.) Not a week goes by that I don’t play something that very few people actually “own”. And yet in the listening, I can’t help but want more or at least think about possibilities for an official wide release. (4.) Walt Disney once said, “The Way to Get Started is to Quit Talking and Began Doing.” And with that I began think about how I believe we should be listening to these attractions.

THE ORIGINS OF E82

2005 was a watershed year for theme park music. This was the year “A Musical History of Disneyland” was released to widespread acclaim. Almost immediately after its release the theme park music community began to discuss the possibilities for something similar for the East coast parks. (5.) This also got me thinking about the perfect seven to nine hour journey through the musical history of EPCOT Center. The thing I love more than anything about the Disneyland set was its non-linear presentation of the material. (6.) I felt that if we ever were to have an Epcot box set it would assume this form. The uplifting themes of Mission: Space must immediately follow the optimistic orchestrations of Horizons and with some effort a natural transition from the Living Seas to Nemo and Friends could be accomplished. Unfortunately, a full scale book and artistic design of a project this size was far too complex and impractical for any one person to tackle. But great concepts like this have a way of popping-up to become even greater things…

One day while at work, I was discussing my archive and design abilities with one of my new leaders and I ask him if there was anything he would be interested in. He replied with just two words, “Surprise Me.” Little did I know that those two words would serve as the starting point for a project that would eventually lead to the creation of such a massive project. Originally I conceived the “Future World Classics Series” as individual 70 minute tributes to the original attractions, but that wasn’t enough. I also thought that this series was deserving or greater attention. It’s one thing to have music but what was going to make this project different would be its presentation. New arrangements, high-quality restorations of substandard source recordings, ruthlessly editing the material in service to the listening experience were in store for all tracks considered for release. And at this point I’m only talking about the music.

THE ORIGINAL VISION

In the beginning, I envisioned these soundtracks to be CD + DVD sets the CD would contain all original material, and the DVD “Legacy Disc” would cover the time since the original attractions. In addition, would be 5 exclusive desktops, a graphic intensive full history of the attraction (7.), Liner Notes, and video of retired attractions. Unfortunately, these discs would be largely impractical to produce for a number of reasons: expense, manufacturing, limited circulation and legal implications all conspired to kill any chance of realization for the original concept for the FWSS.

BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER!

Really early in 2009, the Company asked a mysterious question: Are you 23? This was later revealed as D23: The Official Community for Disney fans. It was at this time my mind exploded with a similar question: Are you 82?
This is what I was looking for! A place where Epcot fans (Classic and Current) could connect and celebrate bold visions of the past, the excitement of the present and hopefully inspire the future of Epcot. (8.) This also presented me with a new format where anyone who was really interested could download, for free, completely digital versions of the FWSS releases.

NOW WHAT

In subsequent posts, we’ll be going into the details of Imagination’s production and release. In addition, we’ll be discussing the many unexpected angles and developments I’ll be taking in the future of the series.

Foot Notes
1. Anyone with eye for demographics, socio-economic trends, or cultural decline will tell you that the counter-cultural values and accomplishments of Walt Disney Company would argue against them ever turning a profit or even existing in the first place. Why isn’t this the case? Keep reading E82…
2. During the Early 1990’s, there were only 3 parks. It was a time when the Disney Village Marketplace was for a RELAXING evening of shopping. The Disney-MGM Studios was actually a working studio. The Magic Kingdom still used ever sq-inch of its attractions and shops. And EPCOT was still very much “Centered” around its original purposes.
3. 20 years ago, I would have done anything to have the IllumiNations soundtrack. I now have five incarnations and (in some cases) multiple versions of the same show.
4. We now have the technology to allow for profitable micro-niche recordings. That being said, I now believe the question is not “IF” but “WHEN” the company will officially release Classic EPCOT material. I’m also extremely optimistic in the long term effects of the upcoming court case of the WDC vs. David O’Neal. (Anyone interested in my explanation?)
5. The debate went on for a long while with several concepts of how such a release should be covered, and what focus the collection should take. Should it contain all parks or should be individual releases. My way of thinking was: I would much rather have seven hours of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot than have roughly 2 hours each for a WDW set.
6. In the Disneyland History box set the “history” was secondary to the overall musical experience Randy Thornton created. Tarzan’s Treehouse is right after the Swisskapolka and Adventure Thru Inner Space naturally segways into Star Tours.
7. In upcoming posts well be exploring the History of Imagination which, at the point of this posting, is only half finished and over 3,000 words in length!
8. Yes, that’s right I have several ideas for new concepts and new solutions to problems facing Epcot that I’ll be going through in very visual ways. Just Keep Visiting E82.

The FUTURE WORLD Soundtrack Series

What if…?

It's a question Imagineers often use during every step when creating new experiences. It’s a question I often ask myself. At the heart of E82 is a vital and important question that serves as the drive for all the endeavors for this project and in fact The Project itself…
What if EPCOT Center was opening today?
I believe it’s one of the most thought provoking questions one can ask about a theme park that’s dedicated to the future and yet is fast approaching 30-years-old. What if John Hench, Marty Skylar, and Ray Bradbury were equipped with the technologies of today to realize their visions of the future? How would EPCOT be different? How would it remain the same? And how would it be presented to the world?
Today, Disney’s Marketing and Merchandise divisions are vast and expansive. We have over 10 completely different t-shirts for the Tower of Terror, there are art exhibits and events centered on just The Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Haunted Mansion appears to be getting a new album every ten years. This final example leads us to this question. What if "Disney Parks" released a new series of albums dedicated to the rich musical legacy of each of Future World’s pavilions? How would that look? And what would be included? Well, here is my attempt at an answer…

Welcome
to the
Future World Soundtrack Series.

This series is dedicated to the many composers that have penned life into EPCOT by writing the music of tomorrow. The Future World Soundtrack Series is an artistic expression of the soundscape of the Future. It’s not meant to be a literal archive of chronological sound cues, but rather a listening experience designed to take the listener on a symphonic journey into attractions past and present. In this series, very few things have been left untouched. In many cases, songs and score have been re-titled, re-arranged, re-mastered, or restored.
Our first Pavilion brings us to what was once called “the Fantasyland of Future World;” Journey Into Imagination has long rich and dramatic history, one that in the coming months will be exploring in depth here at E82. But for now, let us enjoy the wonder and whimsy of one of the most beloved Disney attractions in history.

The collection is broken down into two “Discs” (1.) DISC ONE is the original attractions of the Pavilion from 1982 to its completion in 1983. DISC TWO is a retrospective of the history and legacy of Imagination from 1982 until the present. The following is a track list of the two respective discs…

DISC ONE
The Original Journey

EPCOT Entrance Plaza
1. One Little Spark (3:30)
JOURNEY INTO IMAGINATION
2. Pavilion Atmosphere (15:21) 3. Flight into Imagination (4:06)
4. The Dreamport (1:04) 5. The Arts (1:17) 6. Literature (1:02)
7. Performing Arts (1:17) 8. Science and Technology (2:11)
9. Image Technology (2:21)
THE IMAGE WORKS
10. Electronic Philharmonic (4:42)
MAGIC JOURNEYS
11. Makin’ Memories (7:54) 12. Magic Eye Theater (3:12)
13. Magic Journeys (8:17) 14. Glass Atrium (16:29)

Download Disk One

DISC TWO
The Legacy of Imagination

1. FUTURE WORLD SOUNDTRACK SERIES – Main Theme (1:30)
2. ONE LITTLE SPARK – Ragtime (3:34)
3. ONE LITTLE SPARK – Instrumental (3:37)
4. MAGIC JOURNEYS – Official Album (3:30)
5. MAGIC JOURNEYS – Entrance Plaza (5:28)
6. CAPTAIN EO – The JLH Mix (9:00)
7. TRUE COLORS – Salute to Kodak (6:28)
8. HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE – The JLH Mix (5:01)
9. IMAGINATION INSTITUTE – The JLH Mix (10:03)
10. ONE LITTLE SPARK – 2003 Edition (2:09)
11. CHANGE THE WORLD – Tomorrowland 2055 (3:13)
12. ONE LITTLE SPARK – Entrance Plaza 2001 (3:01)

Download Disc Two

Reviews are more than welcome

Join us next week as E82 chronicles the evolution of the Future World Soundtrack Series and gives a glimpse into its future.

Things to Come

In the near future, E82 will explore the soundtracks of tomorrow one pavilion at a time.
The following video offers a behind-the-scenes demonstration of the process of audio restoration.
Disclaimer: I feel I should warn you, I’m nothing more than a novice when it comes to video production. (I’m good with Images and Audio, but not really experienced with putting them together. So please excuse the poor quality of this my first foray into moving pictures)
NOTE: Watch the full video for a Special Announcement at the end.

Get ready to HEAR THE FUTURE like never before!