Friend like me vs Prince Ali
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NobodymournstheWicked — 9 years ago(November 09, 2016 06:20 PM)
Well that is true that Prince Ali is sing by multiple characters, but they would be different forms off the Genie and not in the from off how he appeared in the movie, but if you look at the on the soundtrack perfumed by Robin Williams and nobody else this name all by its self, and I doubt that they would even credit any backup singers on the song, and he didn't do it as a duet like how Lea Salonga and Brad Kane performed A Whole New World for the movie, and during the end credits its Regina Belle and Peabo Bryson that preforms the song.
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Cristianos — 9 years ago(November 10, 2016 11:59 AM)
Not of the characters were alternate forms of the Genies. There were three harem women on the balcony, three guards (from Razoul's gang) who sang "He's got the monkeys, let's see the monkeys", and the townspeople who sang "He's generous. So generous" that were definitely not different forms of the Genies.
What we do in life, echoes in eternity. -
nileqt87 — 9 years ago(November 11, 2016 12:55 AM)
While Friend Like Me is Robin's definitive song performance (I'm quite fond of the Popeye soundtrack and his Mork & Mindy songs, tooit wasn't at all the first time he had sang in a role), an argument can be made that Prince Ali actually has his best vocals and proves he was actually a decent singer, despite not being a professional (when the door opens and his voice is quite high and powerful), not just an actor and dynamic impressionist of many voices. He didn't have a large range, but he does stretch his voice there beyond his speaking range. Both songs, of course, contain him singing in multiple character voices besides his natural one.
His Julliard training definitely seemed to include a lot of dance training, as discussed humorously in his Inside the Actor's Studio appearance (he breaks out into dance constantly in half of his roles), but I've never heard anything about singing.
Friend Like Me just has far more meaning in terms of Robin Williams' entire career (this is HIS song) in a way that transcends the film's context entirely. Of all the celebrities who have ever recorded cartoon characters, this one might be the most intrinsically linked of all. Children knew very well who that voice belonged to in the '90s. And it's probably one of the FASTEST songs in the Disney catalog. The lyrics (and Genie probably has one of the more advanced Disney character vocabularies along with Frollo, just as children and many adults are unlikely to recognize half of Robin's dated, sometimes obscure pop-culture references) are quite a mouthful at that speed.
Robin also did songs (including There's a Party Here in Agrabah) in the sequel. They're not classics and the animation, mostly the colors being grossly off, is el cheapo, but they're still catchy and his voices are on point.
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As great as the song is, it's almost a shame they hired a professional singer for Arabian Nights despite Robin also voicing the merchant, who was originally conceived to be the Genie in disguise (hence the 4 fingers, not 5). I get why they did it for the opening song to be by a professional singer, but it would have been cool to hear what Robin could have done there.
Alan Menken wrote the songs with a Fats Waller or Cab Calloway type performance in mind, but after trying that out, just let Robin improvise and do his own thing (no doubt when all of the silly voices appeared). Bluesy Genie was the direction they went in for the Broadway show, which helps make the performance less of a copy of what Robin did.
One of these days, Disney really should release all 16 hours (LOL) of Robin's studio recordings, plus however many hours he recorded for Forty Thieves, including the singing outtakes which seem to exist of the original intent of how Menken wrote the songs. Robin didn't want Disney using his voice to piece together another sequel as per his will, but I wonder if his family would be okay with a release such as that in its original form (preferably with any stray expletives intact, knowing Robin) and thus not particularly aimed at the kiddies for merchandise. Or perhaps if it were released with the rest of the cast recordings. Apparently, Disney animation employees have been known to view all 16 hours of that footage (and laugh a lot). No footage of Robin for his songs has ever turned up, which seems odd given that the Menken/Ashman/Rice recording session footage exists of most of the films he worked on, though mostly the hero/princess songs.
Some Aladdin recording session clips containing the full cast:
For comparison's sake, here are some of his other singing bits he did prior to and after Aladdin: -
wielderofspoons — 9 years ago(November 30, 2016 08:07 AM)
As great as the song is, it's almost a shame they hired a professional singer for Arabian Nights despite Robin also voicing the merchant, who was originally conceived to be the Genie in disguise (hence the 4 fingers, not 5). I get why they did it for the opening song to be by a professional singer, but it would have been cool to hear what Robin could have done there.
I read somewhere he actually was meant to sing it but couldn't pull off the high notes, so Bruce Adler did it instead.