When I was a kid and the movie was originally released (1988) I remember getting Oliver & Company storybook and cassette tape that told the story of the book/movie and had all the music from the movie as well. I recently tried to track it down as I've been on a nostalgia kick, but the only read along book for Oliver & Company that I can find was released in 1996! Does anyone have any info on the OTHER read-along book?
shareHey, me too! I got that cassette and storybook and kept it for years! It was available during the Dry Spell of Oliver & Company, in the early 90s when the film had disappeared and you could hardly find evidence that it ever existed.
I remember it well. I got mine at the Disney store. I'm sure if you scour eBay long enough, it'll turn up...
HOLY CRAP, you all remember those cassete and storybook things too? i was 7 when this movie came out in 88 and had that same thing and saw the movie 3 times in theaters with the last time being after christmas and had some of the merchandise.
I even had a Great Mouse Detective cassette and book thingie, you can find those on youtube.
I remember when I saw it at the Disney store. I was so excited! Just to find something from this movie that had pictures in it (real screen caps, too) and the music, which I hadn't heard in years.
I must have owned the '96 one! Haven't had it a long time, though. :( I also had "Lady & the Tramp," and possibly others...I was (and still am) big-time obsessed with Disney, and dogs, so these two movies were favorites of mine. I remember digging for merchandise at the Disney store. Lady & the Tramp I often got lucky with; Oliver, hardly ever, except for around the time of its re-release. =[ The clerks were nice but rarely had anything to offer me when I asked for Oliver stuff. So I don't remember how I found the read-along book/cassette, but I can still hear parts of it in my head as though I were 9 years old only yesterday (I'm 23 now...;;)
I don't think mine included the entire soundtrack, though...I've seen the one you had online. Mine was part of the series of read-along sets that were done for Disney movies, all of which, if I recall correctly, had a thick border of diagonal stripes in two shades of red around the book's perimeter...and then my cassette tapes had, I believe, green labels featuring a couple of the main characters on the side. The cassette came packaged above the book. *sigh*
The original version of the OST in 1988 is even better in that it has the songs in the order that they appeared in the movie as opposed to the 1996 version of the OST:
Huey Lewis – Once Upon A Time In New York City
Billy Joel – Why Should I Worry?
Sykes (Instrumental)
Bedtime Story (Instrumental)
Ruth Pointer – Streets Of Gold
Bette Midler – Perfect Isn't Easy
Myhanh Tran – Good Company
The Rescue (Instrumental)
Pursuit Through The Subway (Instrumental)
Ruben Blades – Buscando Guayaba
End Title (Instrumental)
There's only one problem, though with the listing: Doesn't Buscando Guayaba appear in the scene where we first see Tito earlier in the movie?
Oh, that's a nice idea! Yeah, mine has them arranged so that the songs with lyrics come first, followed by the instrumental tracks. But you're right, there seems to be one mistake there, because Buscando Guyaba is the song on the radio that Tito dances to when we first meet the gang in the beginning.
shareActually, believe it or not, Buscando Guayaba appears twice in the movie. If you watch the scene where Tito dances with Georgette near the end of the movie, you'll hear it.
For some reason "Fast Lane" (heard after the first song) and the reprise to "Why Should I Worry", don't appear on either version of the soundtrack.
That is true, but I still would have put it near the beginning of that soundtrack because it's introduced and sounds clearer then.
And that's also a shame, because "Fast Lane" is so cool and if there was ever any more to the song, I'd like to hear it. And the "Why Should I Worry?" reprise just rocks...definitely deserved to be included. :/