Search - Various Artists :: Guys & Dolls

Inexpensive, and fills a gap - for now.

Mark Andrew Lawrence | Toronto | 02/16/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Decca had recorded the original Broadway cast album of GUYS AND DOLLS. They wanted to also issue the film soundtrack album.



Samuel Goldwyn made the film in 1955, which was released by M-g-M who wanted the soundtrack on their label.



The film starred Frank Sinatra who had just signed on with Capitol Records and they too wanted to release a soundtrack album.



In the end - NO ONE released an album of the complete score.



Decca did put out a 45-rpm EP with 4 songs from the film by Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. These tracks are included on Decca's CD reissue of GUYS AND DOLLS: Guys & Dolls: A Decca Broadway Original Cast Recording (1950 Original Broadway Cast)



In the 1970s Box Office record issued a 2 LP set FRANK LOESSER IN HOLLYWOOD which devoted one full side to the soundtrack of GUYS AND DOLLS> Not great sound and some sloppy edits but at least most of it was there. Then in the early 80's a label called Motion Picture Tracks put out GUYS AND DOLLS on Lp, but these did not get wide distribution.



While we hope (in vain it seems) for Rhino to give us a proper GUYS AND DOLLS soundtrack Cd remastered from the original session tapes, we can enjoy this cheap CD taken from the film (or perhaps the DVD.)



The sound is good enough, though there are unnatural fades at the ends of some tracks, dialogue and applause intrudes now and then and some tracks ("Adelaide" for example) have not been edited to remove a dialogue scene in the middle. (This should in fact be the easiest edit, as the same musical transition that leads into the dialogue also leads out of it.) This disc does not include the opening Runyonland ballet, the Crapshooter's dance or the Wedding procession music but the songs are all here. There are some bonus tracks from pop records by Doris Day (2 cuts), Frankie Laine (2 cuts) and 4 songs from the Broadway cast album.) The sound on these bonus tracks is not all that great.



Liner notes? There are none.



Recording dates? None given.



But it is a cheap CD and fills a gap in our ST/OCR collections.

"

A Cheap Alternative To The Other Movie Soundtrack

Mervin Jensen | San Diego | 01/03/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've always wanted a copy of the original soundtrack to the motion picture but unfortunately the only ones that exist are taken directly from the film as opposed to remastering studio recordings (which have been lost or destroyed). The other cd soundtrack Blue Moon Imports' Guys and Dolls is essentially the same as this but is currently selling for about $20 so I decided on this cheaper alternative. For a soundtrack that was ripped from the film the sound quality is not that bad. As expected there are some extraneous bits of dialogue and sound effects in some of the songs but considering the circumstances, the music still comes through.



Included in this CD are songs from the original play that were never used in the film and here they're taken from the albums of artists like Doris Day and Frankie Lane and some tracks by the cast from the 1950 original play) (although the sound quality on this CD for the original broadway cast recordings are poor, they might not even be from that soundtrack).



As far as the differences between this CD and the other (provided in the first link) there seem to be less tracks on this CD (some background instrumentals seemed to be omitted) but it would seem that the two are essentially the same, only this one is a lot cheaper; as a note I haven't listened to the other CD so I can't make a sound quality comparison. All in all this was a good purchase."

Excellent and Long Overdue

Peter Prainito | Lombard, IL USA | 11/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While the movie version of "Guys and Dolls" may not as yet received it's official studio release on CD, this import version is quite a find. The mono sound is very clean and the CD is a great value for the price. It's so good to once again hear all the songs sung by Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, Stubby Kaye and the others. The bonus tracks are a nice touch. Snap up this one, but you'll have to purchase it through one of the other sellers."