Lion King Songs

[Squeely]

We've gotten a whole lot more songs from TLG since I last posted. I adore the full version of "Call of the Guard" especially. "Duties of the King", "Sisi Ni Sawa", "Jackal Style", and "Baboons" are some more of my favorites of the bunch. Fuli really has a great singing voice, hope she gets more songs.

[Elton John]

Full version of 'call of the guard' has this john williams esque superman feel in tlk style mixed with a bit of hans zimmer.

It's the best piece of music the show has produced. It feels like a legitimate film score themesong.

[Panpardus]

I really like The Lion Guard's score; for me, it's the only thing that's consistently been really good about the show, and good in a way that actually fits with the rest of the franchise. I'm sure I've gushed about this elsewhere, but I'll do it again here now that we're further along in the series and this thread is dedicated to music analysis and such.

"Call of the Guard" is obviously the huge winner, and the many variations of its themes in the show are great to listen to. There are a couple variations that I really like, but none of which aren't actually played all that often:

• There's this variation that uses the chord progression of the main part of the theme, and to date it's only appeared briefly in two scenes, this being one of them (https://youtu.be/AR0kUlTTUD4?t=1m23s) though my favorite iteration is during the thunderstorm scene in early in "Paintings and Predictions". Can't find a video of it, but the moodiness and peaceful atmosphere is just gorgeous, plus nobody talks for a good 5-7 seconds so all you hear is the thunder, rain, and the music. There's a similar version with different lyrics that leads into the epic ending of "The Trail to Udugu", but I prefer the more minimalistic scoring and lyrical rhythm of the previous version.
• This version of the same part of the theme (https://youtu.be/OGXnbcBZIHQ?t=3m38s) I find really pretty for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the quality of the recording leans towards placing more emphasis on the more percussive sounds, so the drum beats are nicely present. Then there are the low voices in the chorus that are really beautiful and criminally underused throughout the show's music; they'd really add a lot to the actual music numbers, but you can only sort of hear them in "Ni Siku Nzuri". Finally, the French horns' lines and harmonies are really pretty. It's the only time the theme has so far been performed this way.
• This is probably my favorite version of the 'bridge' section (https://youtu.be/pZX0kUzU1zQ?t=19m16s) and I really wish it was longer. It's got such a nice groove - especially in the correct version where it's a little slower and more laid back - and the chorus actually interacts like a real African chorus with call-and-response elements and contrasting low and high voices, as well as the rhythmic counterpoint that goes on. I can't help but bob my head whenever I listen to it; sounds like something you could actually rap over.
• There's a version of the same part as above that gets played during the first scene of "Lions of the Outlands" that I like (https://youtu.be/sCO2odRrgoM?t=1m16s), again because it's got a groove that this time the bass guitar really helps establish, and the marimba and chorus add a nice color to it.
• Pretty much the entirety of this, which is sort of a mini version of all of the main themes, particularly the heavy percussion at the beginning: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDsSnB3qjQ). I always imagine the percussionists were having a blast playing this.

Other distinct pieces that I really like:

• The underscoring for "Kupatana", which is unfortunately so broken up throughout the episode and covered by dialogue that there's no clear version to link to. But it the chorus sounds really nice here, and I think it's the only time so far that the musical number is actually scored into the orchestra itself, or at least they work together well enough that they don't sound like distinct entities.
• Occasionally you'll hear this theme when Simba approaches, but I've only noticed it maybe two or three times so far in the show. It's very pretty though: https://youtu.be/dV-3NO9r6sM?t=1m55s. There's a nicer, somewhat fuller version towards the end of "The Imaginary Okapi" but I can't find a good recording of it.
• Finally, the theme I noticed played throughout "Ono's Idol" is really nice, but unfortunately the characters talk throughout it. I'd really love to hear a full version of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON3aIgdIOZo

That's really it for score excerpts. I'd really love for Disney to let Willis release a CD of this music, but it doesn't seem like that'll ever happen.

[DGFone]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to create its own dedicated topic or not, since I don't remember ever seeing a mention of this before on MLK, which is rather suprising, or more likely, I just missed it. Anyways, since it's music related, might as well place it here in this topic:

Yesterday when trying to wake up, discovered the Circle of Life by Alex Boye. Apparently, based on the description beneath the video, Boye wasn't all too eager to cover Lion King songs - he does a lot of "Africanizing" popular songs, and since Circle of Life is already Africanized, what's the point? But a lot of fans kept asking for it, and he was given the opportunity to go to Kenya to help with humanitarian work, to which he couldn't say "no" to. Boye got permission from Disney to cover the song, and he collaborated with Alisha Popat and Loyaban Lemarti (popular African artists, from my understanding) to sing with him.

What resulted is easily what I feel is the best non-Disney adaptation of the song. Better, even, than some of Disney's own versions of the song. Plus, as Circle of Life ends, the song itself doesn't end - it transitions to He Lives in You, which I feel was done even better than Circle of Life. My biggest disappointment with the song ended up being that I would have loved to see a full version of He Lives in You, as a full separate song, rather than just the first quarter of it as in this song. That would be just awesome!

Here is the video for the song, also extremely well done. The YouTube page also has links to where you can buy the song - I totally recommend you doing so!



Link for the embedded video doesn't appear to want to work.

[Azdgari]

That whole thing was fantastic, DG. Thanks for sharing it--incredible vocal performance, very cool African instrumentation... got a real spiritual quality to it, just like the original songs. I would definitely love to hear more of He Lives In You, probably my favorite MLK song and that was really extraordinary version towards the end there.

[Panpardus]

I guess this fits in here; Christopher Willis (composer for the underscore of The Lion Guard, for anyone who doesn't know) just released the track from the ending scene in The Rise of Scar. Maybe there's hope yet for a full score release someday...

https://soundcloud.com/christopher-t-wi ... ku-za-mvua