Search - Judy Garland :: Judy Garland In Hollywood: Her Greatest Movie Hits - Original Soundtrack Performances 1936-1963

A masterful retrospective of Judy's movie musical career

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 10/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot imagine a better compilation of Judy Garland's movie musical numbers on one CD; aside from a hideous cover image I find inexplicable, this is a thoroughly professional job all the way around. The album mixes the best-known of Judy's musical numbers with an impressive number of overlooked, little-known tracks (some of them all but unavailable for years) that reinforce the majesty of Garland's onscreen performances. Reaching all the way back to 1936 and extending through 1963, you can hardly tell a difference in the sound quality of these tracks. Drawing on the original master tracks, the sound engineers at M-G-M did an incredible job of remastering these songs, particularly with the Warner Brothers source material of The Man That Got Away and Gotta Have Me Go With You (which had extraneous movie-related elements to be removed). The first track is a song I had never heard before: The Texas Tornado from Pigskin Parade (1936); you really can't go back much further than this in Judy's movie musical career. Broadway Melody of 1938 gives us the well-known Dear Mr. Gable/You Made Me Love You, which is followed by Judy's signature song Over the Rainbow. I was thrilled with the inclusion of I'm Nobody's Baby from Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, for this version includes the first minute of the song (which is omitted often enough on other collections to almost be forgotten). F.D.R. Jones is an infectious treat from Babes On Broadway (and should be appreciated for its own sake rather than the context in which it is featured in the film). For Me and My Gal, Judy's duet with Gene Kelly, marks the beginning of Judy's most prolific and successful years in Hollywood. Meet Me in St. Louis, my favorite Judy Garland film, is represented here by the title track, the unforgettable The Trolley Song, and Judy's wistful classic The Boy Next Door. The Harvey Girls supplies us with On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (although the version featured here is an outtake that falls far short of the original movie version). Look For the Silver Lining, one of two memorable Judy cameos in Till the Clouds Roll By, makes a nice addition to this collection (although I am still trying to find an album featuring Judy's other song, Who, from that film). Judy's collaboration with Gene Kelly in The Pirate in 1948 is little remembered today, but the track Mack the Black more than earns its spot in this collection. Easter Parade, by contrast, is a perennial favorite, capped off by Judy's wonderful duet with Fred Astaire.The late 1940s represent a somewhat forgotten era in Garland's musical career, and the next series of tracks have never received much attention. Johnny One Note is rather forgettable, but it is nice to see this rarely heard track included here. It is even more delightful to hear the song Last Night When We Were Young, an outtake from the memorable film Summer Stock, the very movie which supplied the next three tracks in this collection: Happy Harvest, Friendly Star, and Get Happy. I can't say enough about the version of Get Happy you will find on this CD; a quality audio version of this vintage Judy classic has been surprisingly hard to find over the years. You would expect to find The Man That Got Away from Judy's legendary performance in A Star Is Born on this collection, but the inclusion of a cleaned-up copy of the overlooked Gotta Have Me Go With You is a special treat indeed. After Little Drops of Rain from the animated film Gay Purr-ee, the album closes with three strong performances from Judy's last musical: Hello Bluebird, the incredibly passionate By Myself, and the unforgettable title track from I Could Go on Singing.This impressive, remastered collection of 23 vintage musical numbers stretching the entire length of Judy's movie musical career is accompanied by a wonderfully informed, picture-laden booklet on Garland's career and a beautifully packaged CD case (aside, of course, from the hideous image on the cover). For those who have indulged more in Judy's later concert career, this album makes for an eye-opening reintroduction to Judy's incredible movie musical discography, while those who grew up with or know Judy best by the songs she sang in her movies will marvel at this remarkable trip down movie musical memory lane. Thanks to modern technology and some truly dedicated technicians, Judy's vintage musical numbers sound better today than they ever have before."

Great CD, even for those who don't worship Judy

pm444 | Okemos, MI USA | 03/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The recent ABC bio of Judy Garland was so powerful, it made me re-examine her as an artist. Like many casual listeners, I associated her with "Oz", the Andy Hardy movies, and her last years, when she appeared to be pretty much washed up. The ABC film showed how valiantly she dealt with a series of problems, many of which were not of her own making. It also highlighted her incredible talent as a singer and performer. This CD contains an outstanding collection of songs from the original soundtracks of her films. Many of them were recorded by MGM with multiple audio tracks, so they have been remastered in stereo (and not the fake kind). The sound quality overall is excellent, given the age of the originals. I still prefer her voice as it was when she was younger, but "The Man That Got Away" is a classic from her later years. This CD will provide hours of listening pleasure, even to those who don't consider themselves to be Judy Garland "fans". Buy this, listen to it, and you may find you've become one after all."

JUDY SHINES WITH MAGIC AND MEMORIES

Sean Orlosky | Yorktown, IN United States | 06/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every die-hard Judy Garland fan has some fondly treasured memory of her in film. Many will say the sepia-toned picture of Judy against a haystack singing "Over the Rainbow". Some may say the vibrant, glowing Judy on that clanging trolley signing "The Trolley Song." And still others may say the dramatically darkened nightclub sequence from 'A Star Is Born' with Judy belting out "The Man That Got Away". Here is every Garland fan's chance to recapture their own special memories with this perfectly compiled compilation of songs included in many of Judy's most beloved movies of all time. From upbeat tunes like "The Texas Tornado" ('Pigskin Parade') "F.D.R. Jones" ('Babes On Broadway'), "For Me and My Gal" ('For Me and My Gal'), "On The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe",('The Harvey Girls')"Mack the Black", ('The Pirate') "Easter Parade"('Easter Parade') "Johnny One Note" ('Words and Music') and "Gotta Have Me Go With You" ('A Star Is Born'), to the more dramatic standards like "I Could Go On Singing" ('I Could Go On Singing'), "By Myself" ('I Could Go On Singing'), "Hello, Bluebird" ('I Could Go On Singing'), and "Little Drops of Rain" ('Gay Purr-ee'), to heart-wrenchingly poignant "Over the Rainbow" ('The Wizard of Oz'), "Dear Mr. Gable" ('Broadway Melody of 1938'), and "The Boy Next Door" ('Meet Me In St. Louis'). Any and every Judy fan should be stisfied. Judy hits all the right emotions in every song heard on the CD, and the memories are forever wonderful. A must-have for any Judy fan!"