Issued in the U.K. only in late 1966, Freddie & the Dreamers In Disneyland is not a live album, but something rather less enticing: an entire LP of covers of songs associated with Walt Disney films. That's right: a whole platter of tunes the likes of "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Whistle While You Work," "Chim Chim Cheree," "Hi Ho," and "The Siamese Cat Song." With orchestral arrangements by Johnny Scott that are pretty typical of those applied to scores in children's films, the participation of the Dreamers seems light at most, if they were even involved in the recording at all. True, Freddie Garrity was probably more suited to moving into children's music than any other British Invasion performer due both to his clownish on-stage persona and vaudeville-ish vocals, and he does a decent job with the singing here. But it's very unlikely that the average rock fan -- even the overwhelming majority of Freddie & the Dreamers fans -- would be interested in this expectedly cutesy album in the least, boasting as it does nary a shred of rock & roll. Justifiably, none of its tracks are ever selected for Freddie & the Dreamers compilations, and it can be dismissed as a novelty item that might possibly not even be of any interest to completists.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo