Search - Various Artists - Soundtracks, Paul Whiteman, Nathaniel Shilkret :: The Ultimate Show Boat, 1928 - 1947 (Original, Revival and Studio Cast Anthology)

For hardcore fans of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, the double-CD The Ultimate Showboat will be a ride down memory lane you won't soon forget. Musical reissues rarely get a comprehensive treatment like this collection taken from rare cast recordings, revivals, radio productions, and pop-vocal records (all dating between 1928 and 1947). Obviously, the sound quality on many of the earlier recordings isn't the best, but where else can we hear legendary vocalists such as Paul Robeson, Allan Jones, and Bing Crosby all singing timeless tunes from one of America's great musicals? Rarities abound: the soft voice of Helen Morgan is captured in a rare radio transcription from 1938 singing "Bill," "Show Boat: Scenario" is a composition commissioned from Kern by Artur Roszinksi for the Cleveland Orchestra, and numerous tracks from the 1946 Broadway revival are included. Probably not the first Show Boat you should pick up, but it's a must-have for completists. --Jason Verlinde