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: One Of The Best Albums of All Time !!!
Hit: 5 Stars
A woman who worked for Capitol Records gave a me a copy of the 2-album set 30 years ago. I had never heard of it and was only familiar with "The Wizard of Oz" and "Over The Rainbow". And to tell the truth, I wasn't really interested in Judy Garland. Well, when I heard it--it was the most phenomenal listening experience ever !!! When it was released in 1961, I believe it was the fastest selling 2-album record ever, Best Album of the Year ("the first time a woman won in this category") and the FIRST 2-album record ever to go PLATINUM! My first copy of "Carnegie" got worn out and I bought a second one. I remember making a cassette and bringing it to work. Everyone wanted to know who (they knew it was Judy Garland, but couldn't believe the power and excellence of her performance) and if they could have a copy. When the first CD version came out, it was abridged (missing the overture and 2 songs). When I bought the 40th Anniversary copy, I assumed just the deleted music was re-installed, but I was mistaken. There was Judy doing comedy. She was talking to the audience in between songs, telling them humorous stories, revealing another side to this great talent. If you read biographies about Judy, you learn that she was a great raconteur (story teller) and other stars would tell you that she was extremely funny, a true comedian. And for the part of her forgeting the lines of one of the songs, singing off key or the voice cracking-- as Hugh Martin (the songwriter) said, she was like a trapeze artist, pretending to fall, regain her balance, succeed and triumph in the end. She had a photographic memory. Even Gene Kelly said, "she could learn a dance routine faster than anyone". She could watch a stand-in go through a routine, then she would go over and do the routine in one take. A truly under-rated talent. A truly under-rated recording. It should be a part of everyone's collection.Free Music Review: Wonderful, Wonderful Showbiz
Hit: 5 Stars
Unlike her famous singing daughter, the indomitable Liza Minnelli, decent copies of Judy Garland's live recordings are something of a rarity, because of the age and general condition of the original media. How many times have we treated ourselves to a Judy compilation, only to discover to our chagrin that the quality is, at best, fuzzy and muffled, and at worst, ruins your enjoyment of the song?Happily, this is not the case with this - Judy At Carnegie Hall: Fortieth Anniversary Edition. If, for nothing else, this album is a testament to the power of Digital Remastering. It's clear, crisp and absolutely top-notch in its audio presentation. All the concert is included here, including some wonderful anecdotes about pants and British Journalists, and Judy's tremulous, powerful voice resonates through a two-hour programme with digitally-renewed vigour.
In itself, too, this album is wonderful. Surely these are the best renditions of 'The Man That Got Away', 'Come Rain or Shine' and the immortal 'Chicago' to be had anywhere. judy proves her iconic status as one of the world's best-loved entertainers by telling stories with such warmth and enthusiasm that we forget she's playing to an audience of thousands. She sounds intimate and joyful, and this is reflected in her performances. There are medleys too, the infamous You Made Me Love You / For Me And My Gal medley is finished with a cracking rendition of the Trolley Song, and in the first act, Judy performs Almost Like Being In Love / This Can't Be Love (Medley) with tenderness and gusto.
I can't recommend this title enough. For fans who were disappointed with Telarc's very poor recording of Liza Live at Carnegie Hall, this is a breath of fresh air. It's showbiz at it's ultimate best, and Ms. Garland does indeed give the performance of a lifetime.
Free Music Review: It doesn't get any better than this
Hit: 5 Stars
Everything written by all the other reviewers is so true. Garland "came back" in 1961 on a tour that drew adoring crowds and she re-claimed her place in the pantheon of show biz. She was red hot -- concerts, this recording, 3 new films and then the TV series. Judy was back and it was a mature, deeper voiced Judy than the public had grown up with at MGM in the 1940s.
She was wicked smart on the stage and knew how to handle everything that came her way. Much has been said about her voice -- her range was smaller than other singers, that, at times, she let her vibrato become too front and center, etc., but she was an artist and did more with that range than a host of singers ever could have with twice the capacity. She was born in a unique time, starting on stage in vaudeville and then returning to those roots after her movie career came to a premature end. But, the movie making, radio, recording and later, TV work, all combined to make her one of the most adept, agile and sublime entertainers we've ever seen. Frank Sinatra himself said something along the lines of "The rest of us, we'll all be forgetten. But, not Judy. She'll live on forever."
Liza said it in 1974 in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, "Thank God for film, because it captures a moment or a performance and if anyone ever asks, 'Well, what was so great about that?,' well you can just show them."
And, happily, with Carnegie Hall, you can just let them listen. The artistry is unreal, the talent is unimaginable and, as Lorna wrote in the preface to a recent book about Judy, "I always tell my kids, before Britney, before Whitney, before Janet, before Madonna, before Cher, before Barbra, there was Judy. And she set the standard for all of them." Yep. 'nuff said.
Free Music Review: A Moving, Unforgettable Experience
Hit: 5 Stars
Some of us weren't even around when Judy made her now legendary appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1961, but this remastered CD is the next best thing to being there. I must admit I wasn't a Judy fan before, it seemed the headlines of her private life always dominated her career. But I had heard about this famous recording, and boy, is it one for the books! This is truly an unforgettable listening experience. The range of emotions Judy takes you thru runs the gamut from high rollicking swinging showtunes to tender, melancholic ballads. At the center is Judy's inimitable voice---she wields it like a magician's baton. She's a master at controlling a song's mood and takes the listener with her on a ride of emotions that ranges from high to low and everything in between.All her great hits are here, some going back to her MGM days as a child, and yes, the "Rainbow" song is here of course. I can't pick any single tune that sticks out, but the lighter swinging tunes from her '40s heyday stand out. Listen as she has the audience in the palm of her hand as they sing along with her in "For Me and My Gal" and "Trolley Song". There are some isolated moments when Judy momentarily goes off pitch in the slow ballads, but this is all part of what makes her a spontaneous performer---she never "fakes" any moment onstage, it's all part of her charm. It would be unthinkable for a perfectionist like Streisand to commit this cardinal sin. Judy's vulnerability comes thru in the off-the-cuff (sometimes hilarious) bantering with the audience. By the time she charges into "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart" you are flying so high in the strotosphere that you never wanna come down.
Free Music Review: Jazz lovers will appreciate this album too -- it's not just show tunes!
Hit: 5 Stars
I had long ignored Judy Garland because I unjustly assumed she only did campy show tunes. Big mistake. Yes, she does do some obligatory Broadway hits (e.g. "That's Entertainment"); but her performance here is much more versatile than I expected. Most of my musical collection favors singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sara Vaughan, and Nina Simone, etc. but Garland is a comfortable fit.
Best example: on disk 2 she sings "Stormy Weather" - a song made big by the likes of Ethel Waters and Lena Horne - both phenomenal singers themselves - but their versions are easily dwarfed by Garland's performance of Mort Lindsey's* arrangement of this classic blues standard. Garland's voice is a torrent of emotion that transforms the song from one of common heartache to one of profound and inescapable despair. (*Lindsey and his orchestra are impeccable and deserve a lot of credit for letting Garland shine at her brightest and making this show so unforgettable.)
Going back to Disk 1, there is another song - one I had never heard before, which is surprising because it is a masterpiece that can not be ignored: "Do it Again". It is one of the sexiest songs ever written and Garland sings it with irresistible seduction - it's a sort of refined and romantic alternative to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."
I played "Stormy Weather" and "Do It Again" over and over for weeks - those two songs alone are worth the price of this CD set. So, if you like jazz and big bands - folks like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett - don't hesitate to add this to your collection. It really is a brilliant performance you will enjoy again and again.