Press · Don Dorsey

The charts

What Billboard printed.

Cropped from the issues themselves. Every excerpt links to the complete scanned issue at World Radio History.

Billboard classical chart for the week ending July 5, 1986, listing Bachbusters by Don Dorsey at number one — Billboard, July 5, 1986. *Bachbusters* takes No. 1 on the Classical compact disk chart, with *Time Warp* at No. 6 in its 58th week on the same page. Full issue at World Radio History.

Billboard crossover albums chart for the week ending April 16, 1988, listing Beethoven or Bust by Don Dorsey at number one — Billboard, April 16, 1988. *Beethoven or Bust* takes No. 1 on the Crossover albums chart and *The Best of John Williams* makes way at No. 2. Full issue.

Billboard 1986 year end list of top classical compact disks with Time Warp third and Bachbusters fourth — Billboard's year end Number One Awards, December 27, 1986. *Time Warp* and *Bachbusters* finish the year as the No. 3 and No. 4 classical compact disks. Full issue.

Billboard 1988 year end list of top classical crossover albums with Beethoven or Bust second — Billboard's year end awards, December 24, 1988. *Beethoven or Bust* is the No. 2 classical crossover album of the year. Full issue.

Billboard 1988 year end list of top classical crossover artists with Don Dorsey fourth — The same year end issue ranks Don the No. 4 classical crossover artist of 1988, behind Erich Kunzel, John Williams and Kiri Te Kanawa.

Stereo Review paragraph calling Bachbusters the fastest selling record in the history of Telarc — Stereo Review, July 1986: “the fastest-selling record in the history of Telarc.” Full issue.

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In print

The nineteen eighties, on paper.

1986

Stereo Review

Bachbusters, reviewed by Stoddard Lincoln

The July issue reviews the album on page 99 and does not care for it: “Performance: A travesty. Recording: Fine.” The readers had other ideas; see the letters below.

1986

Stereo Review

Record Makers: the fastest seller in Telarc's history

The same issue's news pages tell the other side: Telarc's fastest-selling record ever, closing on the Amadeus soundtrack for No. 1, by “the synthesizer keyboardist who creates the electronic music for the dazzling spectacles staged at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.”

1986

Stereo Review

The letters column takes sides

Two issues later the readers answer the review, at length and in numbers, beside a full page Telarc ad for the album.

1988

Billboard

Busting the Bar

A retailing page photo feature on the album's promotion, naming “synthesizer specialist Don Dorsey,” in the same issue whose chart page put the record at No. 1.

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Features

Features & interviews.

2018

Forbes, Christian Sylt

The Secrets Behind the Sparkle of Disney's Parades

May 28, 2018, on the parade control systems Don designed, from Mickey Track through DECS.

2018

Forbes, Christian Sylt

How Disney Used a MIDI Keyboard to Ignite the New Millennium

June 17, 2018, on the MIDI-programmed flame barge behind Reflections of Earth's opening.

2019

WDWinfo, Chuck Mirarchi

Ron Logan on creating Reflections of Earth

A two part interview with the Disney Legend who ran Walt Disney Entertainment. Part one: “From the very beginning, Don Dorsey has been the entertainment show ‘father’ of that lagoon.” Part two: the story of the twelve bars Don insisted on re-recording.

2022

WDW News Today

A complete history of the Main Street Electrical Parade

An interview and history published on the parade's fiftieth anniversary, June 17, 2022.

2024

Electronic Sound, Mat Smith

Buried Treasure: Bachbusters

The UK electronic music magazine revisits the album decades on, opening with the author's own children transfixed by the Electrical Water Pageant. The full text sits behind the magazine's subscription.

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