Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

cover art for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

1972

Lyric by Don Black


LP: Warner Brothers BS 2671
CD: Film Score Monthly FSM0820

 

    Track Listing (both LP and CD)

  1. Overture (4:31)
  2. Curiouser and Curiouser (2:17)
  3. You've Gotta Know When to Stop (2:09)
  4. The Royal Procession (1:44)
  5. The Last Word is Mine (2:02)
  6. Dum and Dee Dance (3:03)
  7. The Pun Song (3:03)
  8. I've Never Been This Far Before (2:19)
  9. Curiouser and Curiouser (2:15)
  10. I've Never Been This Far Before (2:19)
  11. Medley: Off with Their Heads, The Croquet Game, Off with Their Heads, The Moral Song, Off with Their Heads (4:16)
  12. The Me I Never Knew (2:41)
  13. The Lobster Quadrille (1:46)
  14. Will You Walk a Little Faster (1:58)
  15. They Told Me (0:55)
  16. The Me I Never Knew (4:12)

 

The Movie

This is one of those star-studded remakes of Alice in Wonderland that gets made every decade or so. This one features a British all-star cast: from Robert Helpmann, Ralph Richardson, and Flora Robson to Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, and Spike Milligan. This almost never plays in the US—I saw it once on a Sunday afternoon on broadcast. It is available on DVD but the quality I am told is marginal at best.

The Music

I love this soundtrack. I'm not a fan of musicals as a general rule—even Barry's musicals, but I enjoy this soundtrack throughly. Fiona Fullerton sings "Curioser and Curioser" and "The Me I Never Knew" which are great song with that weird Barry melody that make the songs so unusual. And the Royal Procession is as great a fanfare as I've heard anywhere.

Release Notes

The album jacket is folded to make it look like a double-LP, but as far as I know this is only a single album. It's available on LP and I used to see it periodically when I rooted through used records. Film Score Monthly released it in 2005 paired with the OST for Petulia, which was also an LP-only sountrack for decades. No new music for either release, but it's still great having it on CD rather than only on LP, regardless of what the vinyl audiophiles say.

Barry saw fit to include a suite on his The Concert John Barry LP, and a single version of the song "Curiouser and Curiouser" shows up on the LP The Very Best of John Barry and CD The Best of John Barry. Nic Raine recorded the songs "Curiouser and Curiouser," "You've Gotta Know When to Stop" and "The Me I Never Knew" on his compilation CD Walkabout.

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