Judy Garland Albums (13)
'Back to Back Hits'
Release Date 2/24/2004
Tracks 10
Label Collectables
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What The Critics Say
Judy Garland's Alone was first released in 1957 and was recently re-released on CD . This LP was her third for Capitol Records. The CD includes a bonus track not included on the Alone LP, "Then You've Never Been Blue." Garland teams up with arranger-conductor Gordon Jenkins who adds three different backgrounds to the album: strings, orchestra alone, and orchestra with voices. Alone is a collection of tender and heartbreaking ballads centering around solitude and the blues. It is a moody album not recommended for fans of Judy Garland's more upbeat material. Alone was also re-released on vinyl by Capitol in an "abridged" form without the track "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues." ~ JT Griffith, All Music Guide
'Live at the London Palladium'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 35
Label Mobile Fidelity
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What The Critics Say
Technically, this is the original motion picture soundtrack album for the 1963 film I Could Go on Singing. Since the primary musical performer is the movie's star, Judy Garland, however, and only a few tracks are given over to instrumental orchestral performances, it is usually classified as a Garland album. But it should not be confused with a regular Garland album. Here, she really only introduces two new songs to her repertoire, the title tune, specially written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and the 1926 Tin Pan Alley evergreen "Hello, Bluebird." "I Could Go on Singin' (Till the Cows Come Home)" appears twice, once with an introductory orchestral fanfare, and a second, longer rendition beginning with an introductory verse, but both turn into show stoppers for Garland. "Hello, Bluebird" is one of those old chestnuts she was always so good at making her own. Elsewhere, she reprises "By Myself" from her 1957 album Alone and repeats the solo piano arrangement of "It Never Was You" from her 1960 album That's Entertainment! There is also an impromptu soundtrack performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "I Am the Monarch of the Sea" from H.M.S. Pinafore, performed with a group of English boys. The whole thing adds up to less than 27 minutes of music, but the album makes a nice souvenir of what turned out to be Garland's final film appearance, one in which she played a character thought to be much like herself. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Judy at Carnegie Hall'
Release Date 1/1/1961
Tracks 26
Label Capitol
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What The Critics Say
This 40th anniversary edition of Garland's seminal Judy at Carnegie Hall recording is a completely fresh experience even for those intimately familiar with previous versions. By accessing tapes which have not been used on any other release -- including the pricey DCC gold disc -- many sonic foibles which plagued the original have now been repaired. The overwhelming success of this album, which initially spent 95 weeks on the charts and garnered five Grammy Awards, makes it a prime candidate for a sonic overhaul. By reclaiming tapes that were once considered MIA, the sound is now notably more balanced. In addition, much of the fake applause has been thoughtfully removed, unveiling previously masked dramatic pacing and audience interplay between songs. But the highlight of the entire package is the return of "Alone Together" from the actual Carnegie Hall performance. The song had been replaced by a studio version on the 1989 CD reissue due to missing master tapes. Since then, those tapes have been put back into commission and provide the jaw-dropping sound on this delightful set. There is a good reason that Garland historian Scott Schechter titled his specially-penned liner notes essay "Two Hours of POW!" With relentless verve, Garland takes on her entire musical catalogue with astonishing aplomb. There is little sign of the decades of self-abuse which had left her frail by the early '60s. But what we are fortunate enough to have is the magic and youth of her voice. Especially poignant are "You Go to My Head," "Just You, Just Me," and her quintessential reading of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Judy at Carnegie Hall is far and away the finest live performance to be issued during her lifetime. The numerous improvements made on this 40th anniversary edition will no doubt serve her legacy well. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
'The Magic of Judy Garland'
Release Date 1/1/1961
Tracks 12
Label Decca
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'That's Entertainment!'
Release Date 1/1/1960
Tracks 12
Label Capitol
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What The Critics Say
Five years into her tenure at Capitol Records, Judy Garland had slipped from the top rung of the label's concerns. After her first three Capitol LPs all figured in the charts, her next three did not, and when she came to record her sixth studio album and seventh release overall, her sessions were no longer being overseen by heavyweight arranger/conductors Nelson Riddle or Gordon Jenkins, who had handled her last four; this time, the arrangements were farmed out and Jack Marshall conducted. Nevertheless, the results were engaging. Twelve songs Garland had never before recorded were chosen, including a good newly written tune by André Previn and Dory Langdon, "Yes." The rest came from the treasure chest of pop standards written for Broadway and the movies in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s (plus the 1953 title song), by such songwriters as Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Dietz & Schwartz, and Garland's personal favorites, Arlen & Harburg. Marshall and his arrangers mixed up the styles, from full-scale orchestral settings to the bluesy small-band accompaniment to "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and Marshall's own piano on Kurt Weill's "It Never Was You." Garland was in good voice and sang with assurance, resulting in another terrific collection. Unfortunately, she was touring in Europe when the album was released and, lacking any real promotion, it didn't sell. The following year, however, Garland used the material as the basis of her stage show, singing five of the songs at the performance that produced her chart-topping, Grammy-winning comeback album Judy at Carnegie Hall, so That's Entertainment! serves as something of a curtain raiser to that collection. [The reissue released as Capitol LP SM-11876 is an abridged version of this album that deletes "I've Confessed to the Breeze" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?," and was released on CD in 1987.] ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Conceived by arranger Gordon Jenkins as a relationship concept album (with one side each from the man and the woman), The Letter turned into something quite different when Capitol requested it be turned into Judy Garland's next LP. Garland and her narrator co-star, past Academy Award nominee John Ireland, look back at their relationship -- trading dialogue, singing reflective songs, and reading excerpts from "the letter," which he has written to her as one last plea before the end of their love affair. Jenkins' ambitious concept was written well and executed perfectly, and no one was better than Garland for a dramatic romantic role encompassing hope and humor. And yet, The Letter suffers, as all but the best concept albums do. Ireland is no match for Garland (fortunately his role is much smaller), and the few audio concepts on display tend toward gimmicks -- occasional sound effects, a humorous conversation between Garland and Ireland while a bluesman is singing at a Greenwich Village dive, and the Ralph Brewster Singers, who intrude very seldom but are stuck harmonizing at least one line that should never have been harmonized quite so reverently -- "It was just another saloon, with pretty good food." None of these songs were performed much afterwards, but they are very good; "The Worst Kind of Man," "That's All There Is, There Isn't Any More," and "The Red Balloon" would do well in anyone's repertoire. In all, The Letter is a fair concept album, its interruptions annoying but its overall power raised by the twin talents of Judy Garland and Gordon Jenkins. Capitol certainly pulled out all the stops in its recording and release; the original three-track stereo recording is exquisite, and upon its initial release, special copies of "the letter" were placed in envelopes and taped to the front of each record jacket. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
From the spring of 1951 on, Judy Garland's reputation rested on her abilities as a live act, but it took another eight years before her first commercially recorded live album was issued by Capitol Records, demonstrating to people unable to make it to venues like the Palladium what all the fuss was about. In this case, Garland's set at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles was recorded in August 1958 for release six months later. Accompanied by Freddy Martin & His Orchestra, Garland performs many of her best-known songs from the movies, including, of course, "Over the Rainbow." A significant part of the song list is given over to material from the 1910s and '20s, some of it associated with Al Jolson -- "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," "Swanee," etc. Selections such as "When You're Smiling," the rock & roll novelty "Purple People Eater," and a medley of "You Made Me Love You," "For Me and My Gal," and "The Trolley Song" boast extra musical sections, the special material probably written by longtime Garland associate Roger Edens. The audience is enthusiastic, especially toward the end, when, coming out for her encores, Garland asks for requests and gets plenty. Even without the visual complement (and said to be suffering from laryngitis, which is only occasionally evident), she is clearly a powerful performer with a strong connection to her listeners. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
