Jeff Kryka - The Imagineering Story (2020)

The soundtrack to the Disney+ docuseries The Imagineering Story is here with thirty-seven tracks from composer Jeff Kryka. Like the Disney Parks, the music is fun, lively, and an escape from reality. It’s over an hour of new, original music from the series that helped Leslie Iwerks tell a story that’s near and dear to our hearts.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the score is that it doesn’t rely on the vast library of unique music created for the parks. It never samples melodies and refrains from trying to emulate them. The album kicks off with the opening credits theme, “Overture to Imagineering,” which uses violins, chimes, harpsichord, and choral vocals to create a perfect aura of optimism and challenge, underscoring the series theme of just how difficult it is to create something grand out of nothing.

The entire album has a very percussive flow with a wide variety of instruments. Jeff Kryka clearly tried to emulate the vast amount of creativity of the Imagineers in the soundscape of the series. It’s fun to listen to the score separate from the series to try and pick all of it out. Perhaps most impressively, there’s not a lot of repeated themes throughout the soundtrack, keeping it fresh and original throughout.

The composer clearly had a lot of fun when naming the tracks. “Lay of the Disneyland,” “As a Matterhorn of Fact,” and “Swashbuckle Up” are just a few examples of the joy and delight that awaits fans in just perusing the tracklist. He also doesn’t fall into any perceived tropes. For example, “It’s a Jungle Cruise Out There” doesn’t sound like an exotic river journey.

It’s great to finally have music from The Imagineering Story to listen to anytime, anywhere. If you’re looking for just a handful of tracks for an optimistic playlist, my favorites are “Lay of the Disneyland,” “All Who Come to this Happy Place,” “Four Levels of Detail,” “Collecting Research,” “Mystic Point,” and “Where Do We Go From Here?” But you can’t go wrong with any piece of music from this incredible release.

Tracklist:
01. Jeff Kryka - Overture to Imagineering
02. Jeff Kryka - WED Enterprises
03. Jeff Kryka - The Persistence of Walt's Television
04. Jeff Kryka - Lay of the Disneyland
05. Jeff Kryka - Pros and Constructions
06. Jeff Kryka - It's a Jungle Cruise Out There
07. Jeff Kryka - All Who Come to This Happy Place
08. Jeff Kryka - As a Matterhorn of Fact
09. Jeff Kryka - Heart of the Matterhorn and the Monorail
10. Jeff Kryka - Time for Tiki Room
11. Jeff Kryka - Walt's Sandbox
12. Jeff Kryka - Why Build Theme Parks?
13. Jeff Kryka - The Quintessential Attraction
14. Jeff Kryka - Swashbuckle Up!
15. Jeff Kryka - The Show Goes On
16. Jeff Kryka - WWWD?
17. Jeff Kryka - WDW Opening Day and Roy's Passing
18. Jeff Kryka - Let's See How This Japans Out
19. Jeff Kryka - Four Levels of Detail
20. Jeff Kryka - The French Perception
21. Jeff Kryka - Becoming Disneyland Paris
22. Jeff Kryka - Ship Up or Shape Out
23. Jeff Kryka - Aesthetics of the Seas
24. Jeff Kryka - Collecting Research
25. Jeff Kryka - We Plan to Fail
26. Jeff Kryka - Tokyo Disney Seas
27. Jeff Kryka - Enter Bob Iger
28. Jeff Kryka - At Dish Stage
29. Jeff Kryka - Projection Mapping
30. Jeff Kryka - Mystic Point
31. Jeff Kryka - Blurring the Lines
32. Jeff Kryka - Sense of Scale
33. Jeff Kryka - Pirates in a New Era
34. Jeff Kryka - Where Do We Go From Here?
35. Jeff Kryka - Care of Our Imagineers
36. Jeff Kryka - How You Build Floating Mountains
37. Jeff Kryka - What If?