Search - Judy Garland :: Very B.O. Garland, Judy

Great compilation of movie songs

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 02/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Born Frances Gumm, this brilliant singer-actress eventually adopted the name Judy Garland (after an interim period as Frances Garland). Her personal problems, compounded by the pressures of work, are well documented elsewhere, but Judy became extremely popular and successful despite (or maybe helped by) these problems.



Judy Garland's music has retained its popularity far in excess of most of her contemporaries, partly because of her outstanding singing but partly due to the popularity of the movies in which many of the songs were featured. The songs that most people remember Judy for are all here, especially Over the rainbow, Easter parade, The boy next door, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe and Have yourself a merry little Christmas.



Judy can also be heard singing exquisite versions of Get happy, There's no business like show business, The trolley song, Anything you can do, They say it's wonderful, Embraceable you and many other great songs.



While I would like to have seen I'm nobody's baby and When you wore a tulip, I have no complaints about any of the selections here. There are plenty of other compilations of Judy's music to choose from, but this is a great choice as an introduction to her music."

The Great Garland's classic MGM years

Byron Kolln | the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood | 04/29/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For my money, this is one of the best Judy Garland discs currently on the market. Featuring a very strong selection of her classic movie numbers, collectors and lovers of good music alike are sure to find many wonderful Garland treasures here.



For me personally, the main drawcards for buying this disc were the two songs from GAY PURR-EE ("Little Drops of Rain" and "Paris is a Lonely Town"); and "Friendly Star" from SUMMER STOCK (to my knowledge this is, apart from the soundtrack album, the only other disc where the song is currently available).



Sound quality greatly varies throughout the disc (as does volume level, so keep that in mind if you want to put the CD in a rotation changer). Another minor quibble is having the tracks out of chronological order. One of the nicest surprises was the amount of material from Garland's recordings from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, a project she'd later have to withdraw from because of illness; despite all her problems she was in fine voice for the recording sessions. Her Annie Oakley would have been something really special.



There are some glaring omissions from this disc...for example where is Garland's tour-de-force "The Interview" from ZIEGFELD FOLLIES? And the booklet contains great photos from PRESENTING LILY MARS and ZIEGFELD GIRL, yet there is absolutely nothing from either film! Perhaps a second volume is in the works?



Recommended nevertheless."