Mary Poppins: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack 1964 Film

Amazon.com If not for all the other highlights of Walt Disney's incomparable pop cultural legacy, it would be tempting to call Mary Poppins his crowning achievement. Released just two years before his death, the innovative live-action/animation/musical hybrid became an instant classic. It was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and a winner of 5 (including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Musical Score and Best Song Oscars for the brother team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman). It's no stretch to call the Mary Poppins score the Shermans' most memorable of their 40-plus-year association with Disney. Boasting at least three bona fide classics ("A Spoonful of Sugar"; the Gilbert and Sullivan-esque romp, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"; and Oscar winner, "Chim Chim Cher-ee") and at least as many other contenders, the Shermans' score held the technical tour de force together while giving it a sense of ageless wonder to match the powers of its titular magical nanny. This edition restores the previously abridged "Step in Time" sequence to its original length and offers a terrific 16-minute bonus track for collectors: the Sherman brothers' reminiscences about their work on the landmark film interspersed with four of their original song demos. --Jerry McCulley