Who Could Ask for Anything More? Stage Door Concludes “Show Time” Series With Third Volume Featuring “Girl Crazy,” “Anything Goes,” “Porgy and Bess,” and More

By 1953, RCA Victor already boasted a considerable number of Broadway classics in its catalogue – from original cast recordings of Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon to studio cast renditions of South Pacific and Finian’s Rainbow.  But the label was eager to build up its musical theatre repertoire and compete with the likes of Columbia and Decca.  To that end, the Show Time series was launched – a collection of 16 EPs, each dedicated to four songs from a beloved musical or operetta.  The EPs were also released as eight 10-inch LPs, with two shows per record (one on each side). …

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Changing My Tune: Kritzerland Reissues, Remasters Classic Gershwin, Coward Tributes

Kritzerland is continuing its long-running series of reissues drawn from Ben Bagley’s Painted Smiles archives.  The label has just announced new editions of the long out-of-print George Gershwin Revisited and Noel Coward Revisited. George Gershwin Revisited remains one of the starriest releases in the Revisited series, featuring Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Bobby Short, and Anthony Perkins.  Keeping with the focus of the series, producer Bagley and musical director-arranger Norman Paris concentrated solely on lesser-known songs from the legendary composer including songs from largely forgotten shows such as La La Lucille, Sweet Little…

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Release Round-Up: Week of September 7

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Led Zeppelin, The Song Remains the Same [Various Formats] (Atlantic/Swan Song) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Blu-ray Audio: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/4LP/2DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham took the famous stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden on July 27-29, 1973 for the concerts that were captured in the film The Song Remains the Same. …

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Ella, Satchmo, Aretha, Miles and The Merm Featured On Starbucks’ “Fascinating Gershwin”

When The Library of Congress established a Prize for Popular Song in 2007, one name was affixed to it: Gershwin. With no disrespect to Messrs. Berlin, Porter, Rodgers and company, George and Ira’s surname is synonymous with the gold standard in American popular song. The recipients of the award to date – Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carole King and Billy Joel – have all followed in the Gershwins’ footsteps of marrying smart, sophisticated and incisive lyrics to unabashedly melodic, sweeping musical statements. Starbucks’ recent compilation…

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