Judy Garland - Judy At Carnegie Hall: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
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Free Music Notes for Judy At Carnegie Hall: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
Free Music Review: "JUDY" AS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE... A MASTERPIECE!
Hit: 5 Stars
Listening to Judy Garland's "Judy At Carnegie Hall" album, listners have the chance to experience the sensation of a genius at the apex of her career. This 1961 five-time Grammy winner (including the prestigious Album of the Year) boasts the dramatic Garland in powerful voice, unflinching emotion, soaring to sensational highs during the twenty-six song concert.Beginning with an overture combining Garland's "The Trolley Song", "Over the Rainbow", and "The Man That Got Away", Garland arrives onstage to great applause as she launches into "When You're Smiling." The next two hours is a thrilling ride with Garland as she belts out trademark numbers like "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "The Man That Got Away", "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", and "Over the Rainbow", while combining in showstopping numbers like "That's Entertainment", "San Francisco", "Swanee", "The Trolley Song", and "Chicago".
Through these songs, Garland's artistry and emotional intensity sear through her performances, proving that she doesn't even need an orchestra to be great: several numbers are performed only with piano accompaniment, like the bittersweet ballads "A Foggy Day" and "If Love Were All". Yet the orchestra, led by Mort Lindsey, features predominantly in creating the magic of this concert. The exciting overture is one of the greatest you'll ever hear, while shrill trombones, oboes and clarinets set the mood for "The Man That Got Away". Violins and violas introduce the dramatic "Alone Together", and the whole orchestra seems to have fun with reckless numbers like "You Go To My Head", and "Just You, Just Me".
The whole concert is clear as crystal to the ear, and even offers listeners the chance to experience Garland as a witty and delightful raconteur as she remembers past escpades in Europe: "And he took one look at me and was, uh, quite discouraged and he said, 'Now, the first thing we must do is you must look NOTHING!, nothing like Judy Garland, nothing like yourself!' So the night of the performance, he came backstage with about nine assistants, and my hair... it just got taller, and taller..." And: "And the zipper in the back wouldn't stay zipped, so i stuck a great big safety pin over it... and the pin came undone and right in my derriere; I've never sung so high and so fast!..."
Garland commands the applause of the 3,165 attendee audience from start to finish; in fact the audience is begging for more at the end of what was intended to be a ninety minute show. Garland quips, "You really want more; aren't you tired?" "NO!" they scream clearly, begging for more.
Called "one of the greatest nights in show business history", by those in attendance that memorable night, this is the closest anyone can get now to a live Garland performance. And luckily, the album is so clear, and the sound quality so good, a front row center seat at Carnegie Hall wouldn't have had any more impact.
A masterpiece of showmanship and entertainment, and one of the last really great performances given by one of THE greatest entertainers of all time, "Judy At Carnegie Hall" is a genuine, still sparkling gem in the crown of popular entertainment.
As an avid Garland fan, I could not believe this CD. I was overwhelmed... for years, I'd listened to the original recording on the double-CD set, and I bought this for posterity. But the second I plugged it in, I was blown away... this is a recording REMASTERED, and you can actually tell it, and you KNOW from the first seconds that this is infinitely superior to the original recording. Mort Lindsey's incredible overture was more exciting than I'd ever heard it... and Judy... oh... she REALLY DOES SOUND LIKE SHE'S STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU. She sounds beautiful, crystal clear, and her dramatic abilities play through her numbers like never before. Every song becomes a whole new experience on this remastered edition. I am so grateful that this restoration has been done... this is "Carnegie Hall" as it was meant to be heard. The orchestra doesn't sound tinny anymore, but polished and ebbulient all the way through. This is the definitive Judy Garland performance. This is what we've been waiting for. And for those of us who were never lucky enough to see Judy perform live, well, this magical concert is truly the closest we'll ever get. Funny... Judy's never been gone... in fact, Judy's just been reborn all over again.
Free Music Review: Garland ROCKS the house~Bravo Judy!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Judy Garland gave the performance of a lifetime at Carnegie Hall and thankfully state of the art production this wondrous legendary event sounds as fresh today in this stellar 40th anniversary release as first issued! Sat down by my music loving older sister as a teen being introduced to "the greatest singer in the world" knew Judy was something extra special which was what "JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL" turned out to be...Garland at her best in the greatest concert recording ever easily making Judy Garland top female vocalist over the past fifty plus years as this legendary lady out sings them all!
Throughout opening overture filled with Garland classics, audience excitement swells then out comes Judy to a tremendous ovation that is repeated over and over again from a mesmerized star-studded audience...magically flows that rich & soulful voice unlike any other and by the end of "WHEN YOUR SMILING (THE WHOLE WORLD SMILES WITH YOU)" becomes clear this is going to be an extraordinary experience and throughout course of the evening would define what great singing and performing are all about. Ground-breaking event is a rich musical tapestry of "The Great American Songbook" sung as it had never been sung before or since & every great performance becomes more involving and engrossing with each repeated play...instant classic, "JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL" ascended to top of the charts and went on to sweep the Grammy Awards winning five including "BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR"! Judy embarked on a whirlwind wildly successful sold-out world tour and once again Judy Garland heralded as a Superstar winning over a new generation of fans in the great musical sixties...quite an achievement for a child star with a stunning voice who started in movies back in the thirties!
"JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL" find the Superstar at the zenith of her remarkable performing skill and warmth & passion plus quality of her tremendous voice is still perfection by the end of a magnificent twenty-six song set. Be blown away by vocal brilliance & genuine pathos in "STORMY WEATHER" then amazed by the powerful & passionate vocal in the beautifully sung "ALONE TOGETHER" and become a fan for life! Check out the wildly rhythmic almost off the track yet perfectly sung "COME RAIN OR COME SHINE" and witness a never topped vocal then marvel how versatile Judy is singing with a small Jazz Combo with definitive versions of "WHO CARES?", "PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ", "HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?" & "JUST YOU, JUST ME" showing Judy as a superb Jazz Singer!
Judy turns every great song into a complete experience creating definitive versions of each...ultimate Garland film classic "A STAR IS BORN" comes a bluesy torch classic "THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY" featuring a totally hypnotic unforgettable vocal and the ovations go on and on as excitements builds to a frenzy Garland exclaims "I know, I'll sing them all and we'll stay all night!" and easy to tell with the sold-out audience going completely nuts they would have! Judy singing deep for heart & soul as only she could at her peak in front of what she loved most...her audience! Lighting up the stage and filling Carnegie Hall with her legendary talent, this is the concert event of a lifetime...Bravo Judy!
Free Music Review: she was the best that ever was!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is, without a doubt, the best recording that Judy made in her lifetime. Thank God that it was recorded and that we're blessed to have such a terrific CD. I don't think that there is anything more that can be said, but that lady was pure magic. She was so talented, and had accomplished so much in her lifetime, she can be compared to a shooting star. She was a super-nova that burned bright and quick, and as scarecrow(Ray Bolger) said, she just wore out.
Judy achieved super stardom in films,records,radio,television, and, of course, live performances. She was indeed a multi-media superstar. Judy Garland had mass appeal, from her show biz cronies, to presidents, to middle class folks, and even to the poor who had to scrimp up and save there money a long time for a ticket. She had a love affair with the public: They loved her, and she loved them right back. It really does show in this CD. It's not quite just the songs that she sings, or the way she sings them, but the way the rapturous audience responds to her, and how she interacts with them.
Throughout her career, the press had dubbed her the queen of comebacks, but it was more than that. Like her character Esther Blodgett in A Star Is Born, she indeed had the knack for being in the right place at the right time. She was not only born with an incredible ability to sing and entertain, but, seemingly,she could catch lightning in a bottle, too. She did that many times in her lifetime, especially with Oz, and here too at Carnegie Hall.
In this 2 set CD, she sings most of the songs that made her famous(including the #1 movie song of all time:Over The Rainbow) and some not attributed to her like "Stormy Weather", and "Puttin' on the Ritz". She not only sings every note letter perfect, but she sings it all with her trademark great style, and full gamut of emotions. She makes every song her own. Many have said (including George Cukor) that Judy was a fabulous raconteur. And I'm delighted to say, that I never new Judy was such a gifted comedian. Her wonderfully self-depracating stories are quite hilarious. (The only draw back is sometimes you have to turn up the volume in between sets to get the complete gist of them)
One of the best moments in the concert is when Judy is almost done singing but of course is called back for her encore.(one of many songs) She is singing "Chicago", and when she gets to the part "I saw a man dance with his own wife, and you would never guess where?", somebody ,as if on cue (but you could tell it was spontaneous) shouts out "where!". That interaction totally uplifts a near exhausted Garland and she shreds that song and tears down the house!
A friend once told me that he saw Garland performing at the Hollywood Bowl. During her performance, it started to pour rain. The concert went on, and as Garland sang "Over The Rainbow" the rain let up a bit, the sun started to peek out, and above a rainbow appeared! Like I said , the lady was pure magic.
Free Music Review: Garland's Greatest Moment
Hit: 5 Stars
Back in my rock'n'roll days, I probably didn't give too much thought to Judy Garland-despite having earlier been as much of WIZARD fan as any other little kid, but I remember being a party one night back in college and somebody put on JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL, and it proved to be one of those "aha" experiences. So THAT'S what everybody was talking about. Dorothy had grown up and gotten older, wiser, a bit sadder and a whole lot sassier.
This legendary concert has been labeled one of the most electrifying live albums ever made. It is certainly one of the most complete. This is not an edited down "best of" live disc-nor is it a compilation "best takes" from several different performances. In fact, the liner notes suggest that Judy did not even know she was scheduled to be taped that night and argued with the record company suits who wanted the drummer downplayed. She knew what she wanted, and she got her way-and the rest, as they say, is history.
And well, what else can be said? What makes the record so great? Some might find the long intros, the spoken bits, departures to get a "sip of water" to beat a frog in her throat, the conversations from the pit a bit irritating and might actually wish for a more edited down version. But JUDY AT CARNEGIE...is, as I said, a complete document of a live performance-the fact that it may well have been the performance of her lifetime is an added bonus. And that very concept--of presenting the complete concert--is one of the what makes it a fascinating historical document as well as a remarkable listening experience. It's soup to nuts and warts and all-and it's hard to imagine it any other way.
The very fact that Judy's voice occasionally falters (especially in the second half) gives the record a certain additional appeal. Live music isn't supposed to be flawless, and with Judy Garland performances a certain high-wire derring-do quality was to be expected, but she alwayssomehow manages to deliver. It is fascinating to hear how she turns nearly blown notes into sudden, miraculous "saves."
Fans will all have their favorites, of course, but I have to say I'm particularly enamored of the brief "jazz" section from the first half. Mort Lindsey's full orchestra is wonderful, but the the numbers with the "jazz nonet" present Judy in a somewhat different, unaccustomed setting. Purists may find Garland's interpretations of jazz standards like "How Long Has This Been Going On" a bit brassy, but most will find it another fascinating take on a song that is usually given a more subdued delivery.
And I am the only one who finds Judy's spoke asides endearingly tentative-in direct contrast to the radiant confidence she projects while singing. She was a bundle of contradictions. But then, aren't we all.
Free Music Review: The Quintessence
Hit: 5 Stars
I once sat in on a graduate seminar on gender studies when the whole discussion turned to the question of why many gay individuals are attracted to Judy Garland. The reasons given were all plausible, so convincing, moreover, that they seemed to explain why Judy would appeal to most of us. With the improved audio of the 40th Anniversary Edition, it's clearer than ever that when we're with Judy at Carnegie Hall, we're experiencing not merely an extraordinary talent but a subtext of meanings that speak to our deepest selves:
1. "Rock-a-bye Your Baby." First, there are the memories of childhood that we bring to the event. Our inner child was not that different from Dorothy's, and there's something downright unfair about the way life has treated it--from business failures and broken relationships to physical ailments and the aging process itself. Every note that Judy sings represents a triumph of that idealistic child-like spirit against the the authoritative voices of acculturation, conformity, and stifling propriety.
2. "The Man That Got Away." Much of her pain was self-inflicted, but who among us can't say the same? Regardless of the finger-pointing and lawsuits, most of us feel that somehow we're at fault. In Judy we sense someone who shares our guilt, someone who screwed up badly but not so badly that it can't still be made right. She's the ultimate argument against giving up and proof positive that you can make it all the way back.
3. "Alone Together." She lives a double life, one public and one private, and her secret is one we share--rooted in desires, excesses, and habits that we fear would be disapproved of by the vast public majority who represent the status quo. When she takes the stage, she takes on a role that resembles our own daily masquerade. And yet with Judy we sense a merging of public and private personae, holding forth the possibility of self-integration and acceptance.
4. "Over the Rainbow." She's a lone diminutive person practically dwarfed by her surroundings into insignificance, yet by risking it all she appears to rise to the eternal realm of the stars, lifted by our applause and unconditional love. Her realization of the dream brings it within our own field of the possible.
5. "That's Entertainment." That voice--it transcends time, place, and its own limitations. Her detractors will point out that she doesn't swing, that her phrases are disconnected, that her upper range is contained. It doesn't matter. Hers is the most soulful voice of the past century, falling short only in proportion to the failure of ears to comprehend.