To our American readers, we hope you've had a very happy Fourth of July! There aren't as many new releases as usual today, so we'll be back next Friday with our regular Release Round-Up, but today, we're spotlight a new collection which is now available.
Fifty-five years ago, in June 1969, the world lost Judy Garland at the too-young age of 47. Yet her voice lives on even today as new generations discover The Wizard of Oz, A Star Is Born, or Judy at Carnegie Hall. Today, Acrobat Music releases a new 3CD collection - as well as 1LP "highlights" - in tribute to Garland's enormous legacy.
The full 3CD version of Judy Garland: A Celebration - Classic & Collectable Performances contains 73 tracks or more than 3 hours of music, including a dozen new-to-CD tracks, many from private collectors' archives. These previously unreleased recordings include seven Capitol overdubs from her 1956 album Judy arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, all freshly restored from acetates; rare television performances from The Judy Garland Show and On Broadway Tonight; a rehearsal from A Star Is Born; an alternate take of the "Palace Medley" from Garland's London sessions recorded for Capitol; and even a private performance of Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green's "Make Someone Happy" recorded by Judy for her fan club at a London hotel in 1964.
The single-LP highlights edition, the first volume in a series, culls thirteen key tracks from the set including performances of such Garland standards as "Over the Rainbow," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Trolley Song," "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe," and "The Man That Got Away."
A Celebration has been curated and annotated with customary care by Garland historian Lawrence Schulman, author of the 2023 two-volume book Garland: That's Beyond Entertainment. The set has been restored and remastered by such audio engineers as Nick Dellow, who has remastered as well as re-pitched several tracks, and Brian Lee, who has created new stereo remixes on a number of songs. Both the CD and LP contain liner notes from Schulman; the CD version includes a thick 40-page booklet with his essential track-by-track annotations as well as numerous rare photos, some in color.
Reflecting on an extraordinary career that still continues to inspire, Judy Garland: A Celebration looks to be another indispensable addition to one's Judy shelf. This release is made possible via current U.K. public domain laws. It's available now from Acrobat Music in both formats at the links below as well as directly from Acrobat/Trapeze Music. Note that Amazon U.S. is showing a July 26 release date. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Judy Garland, A Celebration (Acrobat Music, 2024)
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD 1
- BLUE BUTTERFLY (Johnny Tucker, Joe Schuster)
- BILL (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern)
- BROADWAY RHYTHM (Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown)
- ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART (James F. Hanley)
- STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY (Edgar Sampson)
- IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER (Lew Pollack, Sidney D. Mitchell)
- (DEAR MR. GABLE) YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU (Joseph McCarthy, James V. Monaco, Roger Edens)
- SUN SHOWERS (Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown)
- OVER THE RAINBOW (Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen)
- F.D.R. JONES (Harold Rome)
- I'M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY (Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake)
- COMES LOVE (Lew Brown, Charles Tobias, Sam H. Stept)
- I'M NOBODY'S BABY (Milton, Ager, Lester Santly, Benny Davis)
- FRIENDSHIP (Cole Porter)
- DO THE LA CONGA (Roger Edens)
- SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (Arthur Freed, Nacio Herb Brown)
- I'M ALWAYS CHASING RAINBOWS (Joseph McCarthy, Harry Carroll, based on Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu)
- MINNIE FROM TRINIDAD (Roger Edens)
- EASY TO LOVE (Cole Porter)
- HOW YA GONNA KEEP 'EM DOWN ON THE FARM (AFTER THEY'VE SEEN PAREE)? (Joe Young, Sam. M. Lewis, Walter Donaldson)
- EMBRACEABLE YOU (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)
- THE BOY NEXT DOOR (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane)
- HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane
- BOYS AND GIRLS LIKE YOU AND ME (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers)
CD 2
- THE TROLLEY SONG (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane)
- MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane)
- I MAY BE WRONG (BUT I THINK YOU'RE WONDERFUL) (Harry Ruskin, Henry Sullivan)
- IN THE VALLEY (WHERE THE EVENING SUN GOES DOWN) (Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren)
- ON THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND THE SANTA FE (Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren)
- MY ROMANCE (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
- WHY WAS I BORN? (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern)
- CHANGING MY TUNE (Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin)
- YOU CAN DO NO WRONG (Cole Porter)
- I WISH I WERE IN LOVE AGAIN (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
- MR. MONOTONY (Irving Berlin)
- A COUPLE OF SWELLS (Irving Berlin)
- LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG (Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen)
- IF YOU FEEL LIKE SINGING, SING (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren)
- (HOWDY NEIGHBOR) HAPPY HARVEST (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren)
- FRIENDLY STAR (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren)
- GET HAPPY (Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen)
- YOU'RE JUST IN LOVE (Irving Berlin)
- I'M IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL GUY (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers)
- HOW COULD YOU BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAID I LOVED YOU WHEN YOU KNOW I'VE BEEN A LIAR ALL MY LIFE? (Alan Jay Lerner, Burton Lane)
- MY SHIP (HAS SAILS THAT ARE MADE OF SILK) (Ira Gershwin, Kurt Weill)
- SEND MY BABY BACK TO ME (Bob Hilliard, Milton DeLugg)
- HEARTBROKEN (Phil Springer, Fred Ebb)
- THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY (Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen)
- IT'S A NEW WORLD (Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen)
- MY MELANCHOLY BABY (George A. Norton, Ernie Burnett) (*)
- ME AND MY SHADOW (Billy Rose, Al Jolson, Dave Dreyer)
CD 3
- ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART (James F. Hanley)
- MORE THAN YOU KNOW (Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu)
- WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT (Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen)
- THE FARAWAY PART OF TOWN (Dory Langdon, Andre Previn)
- IF I LOVE AGAIN (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland)
- YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers)
- JUDY AT THE PALACE MEDLEY (Roger Edens, Jack Norworth, Nora Bayes, Shelton Brooks, Albert Willemetz, Jacques Charles, Channing Pollack, Maurice Yvain, Jean Lenox, Harry O. Sutton) (*)
- COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen)
- COMES ONCE IN A LIFETIME (Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden)
- SMILE (John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons, Charlie Chaplin)
- WHEN YOUR LOVER HAS GONE (Einar Aaron Swan) (*)
- MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY (Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden) (*)
- THE MUSIC THAT MAKES ME DANCE (Bob Merrill, Jule Styne) (*)
- WHAT NOW, MY LOVE? (Pierre Delanoë, Carl Sigman, Gilbert Bécaud)
- HOW INSENSITIVE (Vinicius de Moraes, Norman Gimbel, Antônio Carlos Jobim)
- DIRTY HANDS, DIRTY FACE (Grant Clarke, Edgar Leslie, James V. Monaco) (*)
- APRIL SHOWERS (Buddy DeSylva, Louis Silvers) (*)
- MAYBE I'LL COME BACK (Charles L. Cooke, Howard C. Jeffrey) (*)
- I'M OLD FASHIONED (Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern) (*)
- MEMORIES OF YOU (Andy Razaf, Eubie Blake) (*)
- LUCKY DAY (Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson) (*)
- LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG (Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen) (*)
(*) CD debut
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Side 1
- IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER
- (DEAR MR. GABLE) YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU
- OVER THE RAINBOW
- COMES LOVE
- HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
- THE TROLLEY SONG
- ON THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND THE SANTA FE
Side 2
- FRIENDLY STAR
- GET HAPPY
- THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY
- ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART
- THE FARAWAY PART OF TOWN
- COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
Jerry Stille says
The review on Judy Garland News is not at all favorable. They say it is nothing to celebrate.
https://judygarlandnews.com/2024/06/23/review-judy-garland-a-celebration-is-nothing-to-celebrate/
John Haley says
Unfortunately, the producer of this Judy Garland set, Larry Schulman, misappropriated and used seven corrupted versions of the twelve alternate acetate-derived tracks for the Capital "Judy" album (tracks 16-22 on his third CD) without the permission of the owner of those acetates and against that owner's express wishes. Schulman knew very well that a new release built around these acetates was in preparation for release on the HDTT label. That release appeared for sale on the HDTT website yesterday, July 4, 2024. It is entitled "The Alternate 'Judy' Album--Unreleased Session Takes and More!" and it includes all twelve of of the alternate acetates, in their first release. it is available here:
https://www.highdeftapetransfers.ca/products/judygarland-the-alternate-judy
Lawrence Schulman says
For those at The Second Disc who are part of the real world and not the mad, mad world of Judy Garland fandom, the names of amateur audio tinkerer Johnny Haley and amateur journalist Scotty Brogen are probably unknown, as they deserve to be. But the above egregious remarks by the former deserve a reply. I have been the object of lies, anger, and hatred in the fan community for many decades now, so nothing these people say or write surprises me anymore. Any explanation of the source of these outrageous attitudes would require the help of a clinical psychiatrist, which I am not. I have moved on. Needless to say, Johnny’s remarks are his truth, not mine. What takes a professional engineer 15 minutes to do takes Johnny 3 years to do. He had been tinkering with his JUDY project for 6 or 7 years, and in that we are no longer on speaking terms, I presumed the project was dead. When the Acrobat/Trapeze project materialized, I of course emailed the owner of the infamous acetates to ask his permission to use them. Emails which I have of course kept. The owner never replied to not one but two emails. So, what to do? After consulting with people I respect, I concluded that collectors die, and so do their collections. It was my duty to musical history to release these acetates, which were gifted to me many, many years ago by the said collector. Johnny’s pal, Scotty, published online that I had gotten them “accidentally,” a suable untruth. In that the Acrobat/Trapeze set was to be released today, Messrs. Haley and Brogen chose to release their version of the acetates yesterday, thus enabling them to say “nya, nya, we were first.” Such childish behavior is typical of the Garland fan community, and I am now “FREE,” the title of my latest book, of it. As the song goes, “Good riddance, goodbye.”
John Haley says
Schulman's wacky ad hominem rant does not merit a response, except to clarify that Scott Brogan is not involved in the new HDTT release, and that the acetate tracks were certainly never "gifted" to Schulman, nor was permission granted to him to use them, by anyone. The facts are as stated in my initial comment. Schulman's "duty to history" is his lame excuse to just do whatever he wants, any time he feels like it.
Lawrence Schulman says
If Mr. Haley, once a friend who wrote the Foreword to my recent book on Garland, wishes to stew in his hatred of me, that's his doing. I guess one needs to enjoy to hate to hate so venomously. I certainly was gifted these tracks, and have proof. Last, the head of Trapeze Music, John Cooper, has sent a reasoned response to Mr. Haley concerning his claim of theft and copyright infringement. Mr. Haley's childishness and scheming has incited him to block my access to the website of High Defintion Tape Transfers, the second label to issue these tracks, but this obstacle has been easily surmounted.
John Haley says
The objection has nothing to with hatred of anybody by anybody. It is about the dishonest conduct of Larry Schulman in misappropriating unique acetate material for which he plainly acknowledges in his first response above that he needed the permission of the acetates' owner to release. He knew he needed that permission and asked for it, as he says. Then he admits that he did not receive that permission. Then, as he admits, he decided to use the material anyway, and he did so with full knowledge of the fact that a legitimate release of it was already in the works Anyway you cut it, that conduct was unscrupulous and reprehensible.
Ish says
Who knew of the cutthroat world of Judy garland fandom. Gentlemen, pistols at dawn.
Randy says
Brilliant comment - literally made me laugh out loud! Who knew the Judy Garland fandom was so spicy?!?
I just might have to pick up both of these releases 😉
Robert Lett says
I am pulling up a chair and getting a bag of popcorn while the tea is hot.