Now that’s entertainment.  Thanks to the efforts of some dedicated reissue specialists in the U.K., some legendary artists – one performer (the performer?), one performing songwriter, and one songwriter – are soon receiving deluxe sets truly capturing an era gone by.  On October 9, Sepia Records will release The Genius of Lionel Bart, a 3-CD set authorized by the Lionel Bart Foundation consisting of hits, misses and everything in between from the Oliver! creator (including unreleased material intended for the James Bond film Thunderball and much, much more!).  On November 5, Stage Door Records will issue the final studio album of Anthony Newley as The Last Song, and finally, on November 12, First Hand Records will unveil Judy Garland’s The Amsterdam Concert – December 1960.

First Hand’s The Amsterdam Concert – December 1960 follows the label’s comprehensive The London Studio Recordings 1957-1964, released to acclaim just last year.  Garland’s concert at Amsterdam’s Tuschinski Theatre, at midnight on the evening of December 10, 1960, was broadcast live by Dutch radio network AVRO and has made numerous appearances on vinyl and CD in collectors’ circles, earning praise from many fans as one of the best representations of the live Judy Garland at her most electrifying, perhaps second only to Judy at Carnegie Hall.  For this “first authorized complete release,” AVRO’s original tapes have been licensed to First Hand, and the result is a lavish, 2-CD set.  Garland was accompanied that evening by David Lee on piano and Jos. Cleber’s Cosmopolitan Orchestra under the direction of Norrie Paramor.

The Amsterdam Concert is particularly illuminating, as it was recorded just four months prior to the historic Carnegie Hall evening of April 23, 1961, and features a nearly-identical set list.  First Hand’s release of the full broadcast includes all 30 songs as performed by Garland in Amsterdam, plus a bonus section of interviews with Garland, Sid Luft and conductor Paramor, an orchestral introduction and radio dialogue.  Garland’s rapport with the audience is evident on her spoken tracks, which have been indexed separately from the musical performances.  The discs will be housed in a jewel case, also containing a booklet with photographs of Garland onstage at the Tuschinski Theatre.

Judy Garland’s Amsterdam Concert arrives on November 12 in the U.K.  After the jump, we have the full track listing and a pre-order link, plus the scoop on Messrs. Bart and Newley!

British entertainer Anthony Newley (1931-1999) conquered virtually every area of popular culture.  Music, theatre, television, film – Newley did it all.  He began his career as a child star, appearing as the Artful Dodger in David Lean’s 1948 film version of Oliver Twist.  He continued to perform on screen and on radio in the 1950s, and in 1959, latched onto the nascent rock and roll trend sweeping the U.K. with a series of successful pop singles, including one (“Do You Mind?”) penned by Lionel Bart.  By 1963, he had teamed with another young talent, Leslie Bricusse, to write the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, but more unusually, Newley also directed the show, and starred in it – in both London and New York!  Newley and Bricusse picked up a Grammy Award for the instant standard “What Kind of Fool Am I?” and reteamed for various projects including 1965’s The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (which introduced “Who Can I Turn To?”), the title song to Goldfinger, and the score to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Newley continued to act (appearing in the Bricusse-penned Doctor Dolittle), direct (an X-rated musical Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?), write and star in musicals, and appear onstage in cabaret and concert performances.  Along the way, he also provided a significant influence to the young David Bowie, who emulated Newley’s mannered style early in his own career.

Stage Door Records’ The Last Song: The Final Recordings premieres the previously-unissued songs recorded by Newley in London in 1996 and 1997.  A joint project of Stage Door and the Anthony Newley Society (endorsed by the performer’s children), The Last Song includes duets with Petula Clark, Marti Webb and Julia McKenzie, as well as live tracks and two Christmas songs written and sung by Newley in 1997 but unreleased (like all of the tracks here) until now.  Clark joins Newley on “The People Tree” from his musical The Good Old Bad Old Days (which had its original cast album reissued by Kritzerland on CD in 2012) and McKenzie joins him on “Are We Having Fun Yet?” from his 1983 Chaplin musical that closed on the road to Broadway.  Webb teams with Newley on “Music of the Universe” from another stage vehicle, Once Upon a Song.  The 15-track CD is due from Stage Door on November 5.

The paths of Anthony Newley and Lionel Bart (1930-1999) had crossed a few times over the years, and although he wasn’t a performer per se, Bart led quite the diverse life, himself.  Despite an inability to read or write music, the acclaimed composer/lyricist first made his mark writing rock and roll songs for the likes of Newley, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Adam Faith.  In 1957, Bart won three Ivor Novello Awards, and he picked up four more in 1958 and yet another two in 1960.  Bart’s profile was high when he was selected to write the Matt Monro-sung theme song to the second James Bond film, 1963’s From Russia with Love, but by that point he had already turned to musical theatre.  The prolific Bart penned Lock Up Your Daughters in 1959 and Fings Ain’t Wot They Used t’Be in 1960, but his next musical turned out to be his international breakthrough: Oliver!, also from 1960.  Oliver! was a smash hit on the West End and on Broadway, winning Bart a Tony Award and spawning a film adaptation and countless revivals.  He was never quite able to repeat its success, though.

Blitz! (1962) and Maggie May (1964) had decent enough runs, but Twang! (1965) was a major flop (despite some truly felicitous songs!) and none of the three msuicals made it to Broadway.  La Strada (1969) made it to Broadway with promising newcomer Bernadette Peters starring, but sans most of Bart’s songs.  It closed after just one performance.   Bart did enjoy the scene in Swinging London throughout the 1960s, palling around with the Rolling Stones and Andrew Loog Oldham, but he soon began a downward spiral into alcoholism and depression.  Bart died in 1999 following a bout with cancer, having lived long enough to see his work and career recognized and applauded once again.

The Genius of Lionel Bart: Stage and Pop Songs, Demos and Rarities, from Sepia Records, is a comprehensive, 3-CD salute to the composer and lyricist.  It covers all bases of his career, from his musical theatre hits and flops to his pop hits.   Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard, Anthony Newley, Tommy Steele, Adam Faith and Alma Cogan are all represented on this first-of-its-kind anthology, along with long-lost demos from the musical Blitz! and rarities from his unproduced musicals Gulliver's Travels, Quasimodo, and Golda.   Disc One is entitled Songs from the Shows, taking in original cast performances and demos by Bart himself.  Disc Two, Popular Songs, has more cuts by Bart plus songs from Richard, Steele, Newley and others.  The third disc is devoted to demos and rarities, including appearances from Chris Farlowe, Roger Cook, P.P. Arnold and Justin Hayward, and four tracks written for the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball.  (The title song of Thunderball eventually went to John Barry and Anthony Newley’s frequent writing partner, Leslie Bricusse.)

This deluxe 83-track collection was produced with the support of the Lionel Bart Foundation.  It arrives as part of the latest group of reissues from Sepia Recordings and it’s due on October 9.  It can be pre-ordered below, along with the Judy Garland and Anthony Newley releases.

Judy Garland, The Amsterdam Concert – December 1960 (First Hand Records, 2012)

CD1

1. Judy Garland interviewed by Nikko van Fleet
2. Male dialogue
3. Orchestral Number
4. Ageeth Scherphuis announcement
5. Orchestral Introduction
6. Norrie Paramor interviewed by Ageeth Scherpius
7. Garland Overture
8. When You’re Smiling
   (words and music by Larry Shay, Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin; special material and vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
9. Medley
   (vocal arrangement by Roger Eden):
   i. Almost Like Being in Love
   (words by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe)
   ii. This Can’t Be Love
   (words by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rogers)
10. Talk - 'It's lovely to be here in Amsterdam...'
11. Do it Again
    (words by B.G. [George Gard “Buddy”] DeSylva, music by George Gershwin; vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
12. Talk - Paris hairdresser story
13. You Go to My Head
    (words by Haven Gillespie, music by J. Fred Coots)
14. Talk - 'I wonder what all the people listening to the radio are thinking...'
15. Alone Together
    (words by Howard Dietz, music by Arthur Schwartz)
16. Talk - 'I'm known, if I'm known at all...'
17. Who Cares?
    (words by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin)
18. [18] Talk - 'The next starts with a moan...'
19. Puttin’ On the Ritz
    (words and music by Irving Berlin)
20. Talk - 'I think the next is a sort of strip-tease tempo...'
21. How Long Has This Been Going On?
    (words by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin)
22. Just You, Just Me
    (words by Raymond Klages, music by Jesse Greer)
23. The Man That Got Away
    (words by Ira Gershwin, music by Harold Arlen)
24. San Francisco
    (words by Gus Kahn, music by Bronislau Kaper and Walter Jurmann; special material introduction and vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
25. Talk - 'I could stay here for a week...'
26. Sid Luft interviewed by Ageeth Scherphuis

CD 2

1. That’s Entertainment
   (words by Howard Dietz, music by Arthur Schwartz)
2. I Can’t Give You Anything but Love
   (words by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh)
3. Talk - 'Now you know you can't get any attractive pictures from there...’
4. Come Rain or Come Shine
   (words by Johnny Mercer, music by Harold Arlen; vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
5. Talk - 'I ran out of breath on the last note...'
6. You’re Nearer
   (words by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rogers)
7. Talk - 'There's another nice song...'
8. If Love Were All
   (words and music by Noël Coward)
9. Talk - 'Shall we go on with this nonsense...'
10. A Foggy Day (in London Town)
    (words by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin)
11. Talk - 'We had about twenty stagehands in Paris...'
12. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart
    (words and music by James F. “Jimmy” Hanley)
13. Talk - 'I can hear a marvellous woman off there...'
14. Stormy Weather
    (words by Ted Koehler, music by Harold Arlen)
15. Medley
    (vocal arrangement by Roger Edens):
    i. You Made Me Love You
    (words by Joseph McCarthy, music by Jimmy Monaco)
    ii. For Me and My Gal
    (words by Edgar Leslie and E. Ray Goetz, music by George W. Meyer)
    iii. The Trolley Song
    (words and music by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane)
16. Rock-a-Bye Your Baby (with a Dixie Melody)
    (words by Sam W. Lewis and Joe Young, music by Jean Schwartz)
17. Bows
18. Talk - 'Thank you very, very much...'
19. Over the Rainbow
    (words by Edgar “Yip” Harburg, music by Harold Arlen)
20. Talk - 'You know we don't have too many orchestrations...'
21. Swanee
    (words by Irving Caesar, music by George Gershwin; vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
22. Announcers
23. Talk - 'I think it's rather beastly to keep coming on and going off...'
24. It’s a Great Day for the Irish (false start)
25. It’s a Great Day for the Irish
    (words and music by Roger Edens)
26. Announcers
27. Talk - 'I don't know what we can do...'
28. After You’ve Gone
    (words and music by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton; vocal arrangement by Roger Edens)
29. Talk - 'I think we're going to have to just do one of them over again...'
30. San Francisco
31. Talk - 'God bless you and goodnight...'

Anthony Newley, The Last Song: The Final Recordings (Stage Door 5055122190318, 2012)

1. My First Love Song (from The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd)
2. Me Without You
3. The People Tree (with Petula Clark) (from The Good Old Bad Old Days)
4. No Such Thing as Love
5. Are We Having Fun Yet? (with Julia McKenzie) (from Chaplin)
6. Love Songs Don’t Come Easy Anymore
7. Music of the Universe (with Marti Webb) (from Once Upon a Song)
8. Love Has the Longest Memory (from Quilp)
9. My Last Song
10. What Shall We Bring?
11. Santa Claus is Elvis
12. Beware the Night (Live) (from Richard III – Rules OK!)
13. What Kind of Fool Am I?  (Live) (from Stop the World – I Want to Get Off!)
14. Who Can I Turn To? (Disco) (Live) (from The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd)
15. The Man Who Makes You Laugh (Live)

Various Artists, The Genius of Lionel Bart: Stage and Pop Songs, Demos and Rarities (Sepia 1201, 2012)

CD 1: Songs from the Shows

1. “Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be” Overture - Tony Osborne And His Orchestra / G’night Dearie - Sidney James, Marion Ryan, Rita Williams
2. Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be - Joan Heal, Alfred Marks
3. Layin’ Abaht - Harry Fowler, Marion Ryan, Alfred Marks, Joan Heal, Alfie Bass
4. Where It’s Hot - Alfie Bass
5. The Ceiling’s Comin’ Dahn - Joan Heal, Barney Gilbraith
6. Contempery - Tony Tanner
7. Cochran Will Return - Alfred Marks
8. Polka Dots - Joan Heal, Tony Tanner
9. Meatface (1) - Lionel Bart
10. Where Do Little Birds Go? - Marion Ryan
11. Big Time - Adam Faith
12. Meatface (2) - Lionel Bart
13. Carve Up! - Adam Faith
14. Cop A Bit Of Pride - Sidney James, Marion Ryan
15. The Student Ponce - Harry Fowler
16. Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be - The Company
17. Where Does The Ravishing Begin? - Hy Hazell
18. Lock Up Your Daughters - Frederick Jaeger, Terence Cooper, Keith Marsh
19. On A Sunny Sunday Morning - Stephanie Voss, Richard Wordsworth
20.  I’ll Be There - Hy Hazell
21. Where Is Love? - Keith Hamshere
22. You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two - Ron Moody, Keith Hamshere
23. Oom-Pah-Pah - Georgia Brown
24. As Long As He Needs Me - Georgia Brown
25. I’d Do Anything - Martin Horsey, Georgia Brown, Keith Hamshere, Diane Gray, Ron Moody
26. The Ding Dong Song - Tsai Chin
27. Send Me - Toni Eden
28. Why The Chicken? - Dave Sampson
29. Consider Yourself - Lionel Bart

CD 2: Popular Songs

1. A Handful Of Songs - Tommy Steele
2. Rock With The Cavemen - Tommy Steele
3. Butterfingers - Tommy Steele
4. Water, Water - Tommy Steele
5. Mad About You - Cliff Richard
6. Living Doll - Cliff Richard
7. Little White Bull - Tommy Steele
8. Sometime, Somewhere - Frankie Vaughan
9. Walkin’ Tall - Frankie Vaughan
10. Can’t Wait – Julian
11. Little Cutie - Sally Kelly
12. Kickin’ Up The Leaves - Mark Wynter
13. Do You Mind? - Anthony Newley
14. Consider Yourself - Max Bygraves
15. The I Love You Bit - Alma Cogan and Ocher Nebbish
16.  I’d Do Anything - Mike Preston
17. Wave Your Little Handkerchief - Bruce Forsyth
18. Spoilsport - The Three Barry Sisters
19. Bonnie Prince Charlie - The Three Barry Sisters
20. As Long As He Needs Me - Shirley Bassey
21. Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be - Max Bygraves
22. Don’t Forget - Anne Shelton
23. Hide And Seek - Marty Wilde
24. Easy Going Me - Adam Faith
25. We Will Never Be As Young As This Again - Danny Williams
26. Let’s Start All Over Again - Shirley Bassey
27. Over And Over - Bobby Shafto
28. I Haven’t Got You - Anita Harris
29. Duty Calls - Bryan Johnson
30. How Now Brown Cow - Lionel Bart
31. Give Us A Kiss For Christmas - Lionel Bart

CD 3: Demos and Rarities

1. I Want To Whisper Something - Lionel Bart
2. Gas Mask Tango - Lionel Bart
3. Magic Doorway - unknown singer
4. The Day After Tomorrow - Lionel Bart & Joan Maitland
5. Who’s This Geezer Hitler? - Lionel Bart
6. Opposites - unknown singers
7. Be What You Wanna Be - Lionel Bart
8. Now Is Forever - Justin Hayward
9. Abracadabra - Justin Hayward
10. So Let It Be - unknown singer
11. Live And Let Live - unknown singer
12. Go Where You Must Go / Time To Begin - unknown singers
13. How Small Can You Get - Justin Hayward
14. Just Found A Man - Madeline Bell
15. Just Given Time - Justin Hayward
16. Take A Giant Stride - Chris Farlowe
17. Gulliver’s Travels - P.P. Arnold
18. Milwaukee - Lionel Bart & Roger Cook
19. Thunderball Love Theme - unknown musicians
20. Thunderball Bossa Nova - unknown musicians
21. Thunderball Jazz - unknown musicians
22. Thunderball - unknown singer
23. Don’t Look At Me Just Listen - Lionel Bart