Disney calls this album "Return to Pride Rock: Songs inspired by The Lion King II, Simba's Pride." That's quite a long title for a music CD, but this is not just a regular soundtrack. It also contains some original songs composed by Lebo M, an African folk singer who also composed most of "Rhythm of the Pride Lands," which was an album inspired by the first Lion King movie.

The track listing for this album is as follows:
1) He Lives in You (Lebo M)
2) We Are One (Cam Clarke / Charity Sanoy / Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
3) Upendi (Robert Guillaume / Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
4) One of Us
5) My Lullaby (Suzanne Pleshette / Crysta Macalush / Andy Dick)
6) Love Will Find a Way (Liz Callaway / Gene Miller)
7) We Are One (Angelique Kidjo)
8) She Believes in You (Lebo M)
9) Song For the Children (Lebo M)
10) I Want to See the Moon (Lebo M / Sharon Dee)
11) The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Lebo M)
12) Love Will Find a Way (Kenny Lattimore / Heather Headley)

You will notice that We Are One and Love Will Find a Way are repeated on the album. The first version is the one sung by the original voice actors and the second version is the remix.

Two of the songs from this album are repeated from the "Rhythm of the Pride Lands" album, both He Lives In You and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Compared with "The Lion King 2" Official Soundtrack, this album has an extra 4 songs, tracks 8-11. If you just want the songs from the movie there's no need to buy this version, but the extra four by Lebo M really are worth listening to.

He Lives in You is a powerful opening to the album and is also the intro theme to the movie itself. Lebo M is the main singer with the chorus as background, and there is a rich mixture of African instruments that can be heard as well. The bass is deep and fulfilling if you have a capable sound system. 9/10

We Are One is sung by the voices of Simba and Kiara and has fairly uninteresting lyrics. Again there is good use of instrumental accompaniment. It's very difficult to tell that it's not Matthew Broderick singing. 6/10

Upendi is one of those songs that will stick in your head and you will find yourself humming it at the strangest of times. Robert Guillaume, the voice actor for Rafiki, sings the majority of this song with backup from the chorus. It's high energy and lots of fun. 8/10

One of Us is the song that plays during Kovu's exile in the movie and is supposed to be ominous. The beating drums and humming chorus form a solid background for the relatively simple refrain. "See you later, agitator" is pretty humorous but doesn't fit in this kind of song. In context, this is Disney we're talking about. 5/10

My Lullaby is the song I usually skip past on the album. Zira (Suzanne Pleshette) has got a pretty grating voice, but then again her character is supposed to be rough. The lyrics are amusing but musically this song fails. It's better when paired with the video. Also, they tried to get Andy Dick to sing a few lines and that is just asking for trouble. 2/10

Love Will Find a Way is the romantic song from the album, and while not up there with Aladdin's "Whole New World," it's a decent composition. Liz and Gene have decent singing voices and work well as a duet. The tempo is slow and relaxed as it should be for this kind of melody. 7/10

We Are One - 2 is quite a bit better than the soundtrack version, with some Swahili lyrics to keep things interesting. The vocal backup is more engaging and Angelique has a powerful voice as the lead. 8/10

She Believes in You is the first original song on this album, sang by Lebo M in the lead. It's fast-paced but doesn't flow very well. It comes across as more of a gospel song than a folk song. Lebo seems to be stretching his vocal range a little bit as well. 5/10

Song For the Children is a great African song with a collage of instruments and good use of the chorus. Lebo doesn't try to take over the whole song, and it is well-paced. 7/10

I Want to See the Moon switches gears and goes for a different sound from the previous two songs. The melody is a little strange and the song doesn't make much of an impression, either negative or positive. There's not much in terms of lyrics, most of the song is a repeated chorus and instrumental solos with some interspersed Swahili. 4/10

The Lion Sleeps Tonight didn't actually get used in a movie until "The Lion King 1 1/2," but it has been on both Rhythm of the Pride Lands and this album. It's got a rich sound and Lebo sings this one well. The chorus provides Swahili backup and a good portion of Lebo's lyrics are also Swahili. The sound builds in a crescendo to about 3 minutes then calms down to a fade. 10/10

Love Will Find a Way - 2 is the end title version from the soundtrack. It could suffice on its own as a pop song, and I think it has gotten radio airtime as some point. The recording is higher quality than the soundtrack version and the duet is even better. 8/10

The liner notes included with the CD do not have the lyrics for the individual songs, just the credits for contributors.

If you don't own any Lion King music albums yet, it's best to get Rhythm of the Pride Lands first along with the official soundtrack to the first movie. Return to Pride Rock was, admittedly, made for a sequel so it didn't get as much attention as the former, however it still has some worthy songs.

This is my first attempt at a full-length CD review, so I apologize for any details that may be missing.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening