UPDATE 2/10/16: Whether imploring those around her to "Get Happy" or dreaming of a place "Over the Rainbow," Judy Garland gave some of the most immortal performances of her career (and indeed, of the whole of popular music as well as film) with the songs of Harold Arlen. In Arlen's sophisticated yet blues-based melodies, Garland found the perfect expressions in which to bare her soul, alternately with vulnerability, tenderness, desperation and joy. Now, JSP Records, the label which has
Lose That Long Face: "Judy Garland Sings Harold Arlen" Premieres New-to-CD Tracks, Unearths Lost Recording
Whether imploring those around her to "Get Happy" or dreaming of a place "Over the Rainbow," Judy Garland gave some of the most immortal performances of her career (and indeed, of the whole of popular music as well as film) with the songs of Harold Arlen. In Arlen's sophisticated yet blues-based melodies, Garland found the perfect expressions in which to bare her soul, alternately with vulnerability, tenderness, desperation and joy. Now, JSP Records, the label which has recently released such
I'll Plant My Own Tree: JSP Records Collects Judy Garland's "Best of Lost Tracks 2"
Last year, JSP Records premiered its latest archival release celebrating the life and remarkable artistry of Judy Garland. Lost Tracks 2: 1936-1967 collected 50 rarities on two discs spanning the entirety of the late superstar's career, 40 of which were new to CD. Now, on June 26, JSP will release a single-disc "highlights" edition of that seminal set with 25 tracks, adding one previously unreleased bonus cut. The Best of Lost Tracks 2: 1936-1967 premieres on CD young Judy's rendition of
Everybody Sing! JSP Records Collects Four Discs of Judy Garland's "Classic Duets" on New Box Set
Throughout her illustrious, if tragically curtailed, career, Judy Garland raised her voice in song with some of the greatest artists of all time, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Al Jolson, Gene Kelly, Kay Thompson, and many more. Last Friday, August 4, a new 4-CD set arrived from the U.K.'s JSP Records celebrating Garland's greatest vocal collaborations with these performers and many others. Judy Garland: Classic Duets features 109 tracks over 4 CDs, including 15 tracks
Get Happy! Judy Garland's "Soundtracks" Offers 48 Classic Songs On Two CDs
Clang, clang, clang went the trolley once again, as Mint Audio Records has today announced its newest release - a 2-CD collection celebrating the soundtrack performances of the legendary Judy Garland. Soundtracks features 48 original Garland recordings recorded between 1929 and 1961, including four outtakes. These include many of her most beloved cinematic songs, as well as some surprises, including: "(Dear Mr. Gable) You Made Me Love You" (The Broadway Melody of 1938) "Zing! Went The
Review: Judy Garland, "Swan Songs, First Flights: Her First and Last Recordings"
"Forget your troubles, come on, get happy!" exhorts the song by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ruth Etting, "America's Sweetheart of Song," introduced the anthem in 1930 as the finale of Broadway's short-lived The Nine Fifteen Revue. But as soon as a svelte Judy Garland performed the song against a painted backdrop of white clouds on a pink sky for 1950's MGM musical Summer Stock, "Get Happy" belonged to no one else. After all, Koehler's lyrics could have been written for Garland, epitomizing her
Review: Judy Garland, "Creations 1929-1962: Songs She Introduced"
In the first two lines of the introductory essay that accompanies JSP Records’ new box set Judy Garland – Creations 1929-1962: Songs She Introduced, the box’s compiler Lawrence Schulman sets forth its raison d'être: “That Judy Garland (1922-1969) was one of the most talented singers and actresses of her generation is known. That she introduced close to a hundred songs to the Great American Songbook is not.” Thanks to this 4-CD, 94-song collection, that secret shouldn’t be a secret any longer.
Release Round-Up: Week of March 11
This week's Release Round-Up is filled with reissues and anthologies from favorite artists on both CD and vinyl! Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz, An Evening with Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz (7a Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Today sees the U.S. release of one of the coolest titles so far of 2016! An Evening with Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz captures the candid, intimate conversations between the rock legends recorded earlier this year. The first CD in this
Review: Bob Dylan, "Shadows in the Night"
How does it feel, to be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone? Chances are it feels much like the milieu of Bob Dylan’s newest studio album, Shadows in the Night. The characters that emerge from these Shadows have all pulled up stools at the last chance saloon, a room filled with strangers and lost souls, where idylls of romance vanish into the air as quickly as the omnipresent wisps of cigarette smoke. Regrets, they’ve had a few. The songs on
There's No Place Like Oz: Sepia Celebrates 75th Anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" With New Rarities Anthology
When L. Frank Baum published his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at the turn of the century in 1900, could the author have ever possibly imagined that his characters would still be known by virtually every man, woman and child some 114 years later? Much of that success, however, is attributable to MGM's lavish, Oscar-winning 1939 musical film adaptation which immortalized Judy Garland as Dorothy along with Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr as, respectively, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and
Come Rain or Come Shine: Tracie Bennett's "End of the Rainbow" Arrives From Masterworks Broadway
“After watching Tracie Bennett’s electrifying interpretation of [Judy] Garland in the intense production that opened Monday night at the Belasco Theater, you feel exhilarated and exhausted, equally ready to dance down the street and crawl under a rock. In other words, you feel utterly alive with all the contradictions that implies,” The New York Times’ Ben Brantley about the performance at the center of Peter Quilter’s play End of the Rainbow. This fictionalized look at Judy Garland’s final
Reissue Theory: Sammy Davis, Jr., Compiled: "Sammy in the Seventies"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today, we look at a beloved American icon and one of the least anthologized periods of his lengthy career. There may be no figure in American popular culture more maligned in death than Sammy Davis, Jr. The image of the diminutive entertainer, clad in open shirts and bell-bottoms, wearing beads and gold chains, and with an ever-present cigarette dangling