Great compilation of songs from Hollywood musicals
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"As I always make clear when reviewing soundtrack music, I'm only interested in the music, not the movies or musicals for which they were recorded. Even before buying this collection, I was familiar with many of these songs, though not always the versions here, because many songs written for musicals were also recorded by other singers and bands. Sometimes, those other recordings actually sold better as singles than the versions from the musicals, but the versions included here are those used in the actual musicals.
Each of the 42 tracks is taken from a different musical, so the compilers resisted the temptation to include extra tracks from the musicals with the best soundtracks. Of course, anybody who knows even a little about these things knows that there were hundreds of musicals so there was no shortage of material to choose from. All but two of the selected tracks date from the thirties, forties and fifties, the exceptions being Lara's theme (an instrumental from Dr Zhivago) and Embraceable you (a Connie Francis recording from When the boys meet the girls). Both of those tracks date from 1965.
Among the singers represented, you will not be surprised to find that Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly are all well represented. It is more surprising that Bing Crosby is only represented by two tracks, but I was pleased to see that one of them is True love, his duet with Grace Kelly (from High society). I have several versions of the song, but hadn't got round to buying the original prior to acquiring it here. Another surprise is that Doris Day is here only on Put `em in a box (from Romance on the high seas), but plenty of her recordings are available elsewhere so this relatively obscure recording serves to remind people that Doris recorded a lot of great music apart from the songs that she became famous for.
Of the songs here, some are still famous, while others have faded into obscurity, with yet others somewhere in between. Apart from True love, the famous songs include Singin' in the rain, There's no business like show business, Easter parade, Baby it's cold outside, As time goes by and Over the rainbow, just to name a few. I'm sure that you'll recognize a few others even if you aren`t particularly familiar with Hollywood musicals.. Jazz fans will recognize the oft-recorded Taking a chance on love, here performed by Ethel Waters and Eddie Anderson. There are many other great songs, too numerous to discuss individually.
With any multi-artist compilation, it is easy to argue about what's been included and what's been omitted, but as a representative collection of songs from Hollywood musicals, this one serves its purpose well, regardless of what else you have in your CD collection."
Track Listings (42) - Disc #1