A Musical Souvenir of "America on Parade"

Here’s something you don’t see and hear every day – A Musical Souvenir of “America on Parade” One of the famous Picture Disc’s of the ‘70’s. While these look really cool, the process to create the image and create a quality sounding LP seemed a tall order, this 1975 Picture Disc is a decent pressing. Looking closely at the artwork I can see how the big heads were supposed to appear - somehow they didn't quite come out as intended. Maybe George Romero altered the designs at the last minute?





Some fascinating details about the sound of Disneyland’s “America on Parade” extravaganza. The songs are “generally renowned” but are “noticeably new and different” as evidenced on Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah as you've never heard it - side 2.

“The Great American Band Organ is the base upon which this music was built”. Most of the recording was done with an 1890 automatic band organ “Sadie Mae” with some Moog and other electronic effects mixed in. Hey, this parade used the same broadcast system as Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade!




These picture discs sure look cool on the turn table.





Let’s watch it spin for a while; turn your head with the record to avoid dizziness.

The transfer from vinyl to digital was fair/good. It’s a bit scratchy even though the groves look clean and un-played. Beyond the scratches, there's just not a ton of fidelity, but I’m not sure there was a lot to begin with, this is primarily organ music to be played from moving floats!

You can listen to the entire album here:


America On Parade - Side 1

America On Parade - Side 2

If your having trouble playing the files or you just want to hear someone else's transfer, check out MouseVinyl.com's version here (link) - if you get lost in that site don't blame me.