Julie Andrews Albums (11)
'The Lass with the Delicate Air'
Release Date 5/7/2002
Tracks 12
Label Japanese Import
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What The Critics Say
Julie Andrews was only 22 when she released this, her debut solo album. But she already had an extensive résumé as an entertainer that included recordings dating back ten years; numerous appearances on the London stage; two Broadway musicals, The Boy Friend and My Fair Lady; and two American TV movie musicals, High Tor and Cinderella. She might have been expected to sing show tunes on her own LP, but instead she harked back to her British music hall days as a child and assembled a collection of English folk songs and art songs, tastefully arranged and conducted by Irwin Kostal. Noël Coward's patriotic World War II anthem "London Pride," only 16 years old, was the newest composition, and it set the tone of celebration of Andrews' heritage. There was no trace of the cockney accent of My Fair Lady's Eliza Doolittle, as Andrews negotiated typically English themes such as "As I Went A-Roaming" and "Tally-Ho!" Classical (Handel's Where'er You Walk) and Celtic ("O the Days of the Kerry Dancing") selections joined with a title song that harked back to the Elizabethan era and boasted a harpsichord along with the strings. No matter what Andrews sang, her lovely voice remained appealing. The Lass with the Delicate Air may not have been the most overtly commercial effort she could have made on her first LP, but it no doubt satisfied her old fans back in the U.K., and it demonstrated another side of her talent to her Broadway admirers. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Darling Lili'
Release Date 12/12/2000
Tracks 13
Label BMG International
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'A Christmas Treasure'
Release Date 4/7/1998
Tracks 14
Label BMG Special Products
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What The Critics Say
Julie Andrews' first musical undertaking since the soundtrack for The Sound of Music, and her first non-soundtrack recording in four years, was this seasonal album, originally issued by Firestone (the tire company) and later picked up by RCA Victor. Andrews seemed to have drawn on a Church of England hymnal for her selections, some of which were unfamiliar to American ears or at least unfamiliar in these versions. "Angels From the Realm of Glory," for example, had a tune famous from Gloria in Excelsis Deo, with Andrews singing "come and worship" in place of the melismatic "gloria" part. André Previn earned his co-billing on the record, taking instrumental versions of "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)," featuring himself on harpsichord, and offering unusual arrangements that sometimes suggested the Hollywood movie scores for which he was known. "Sunny Bank (I Saw Three Ships)," for example, had passages that would have fit as accompaniment to a Western, and the chart for "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" was anything but traditional. Along with Andrews' song choices and her proper, if warm, vocals, the result was an appealing but somewhat formal Christmas album. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Here I'll Stay: The Words of Alan Jay Lerner'
Release Date 10/8/1996
Tracks 12
Label Philips
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What The Critics Say
Broadway, Julie Andrews' second collection recorded for Philips, is the equal of its predecessor, The Music of Richard Rodgers. Not only does Andrews run through songs that established her as a musical star, including selections from My Fair Lady and Camelot, she sings songs from popular stage musicals like Brigadoon and On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever). The production is crisp, the music is lively and she sings with theatrical conviction, providing a wonderful listening experience for dedicated fans of Julie and showtunes. ~ Rodney Batdorf, All Music Guide
'Broadway: The Music of Richard Rodgers'
Release Date 10/4/1994
Tracks 13
Label Polygram
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'Christmas with Julie Andrews'
Release Date 7/19/1989
Tracks 14
Label Sony
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What The Critics Say
At times, Christmas with Julie Andrews suffers from overly considered and clean arrangements, but her graceful vocals and excellent selection of material -- containing not only such familiar tunes as "Away in a Manger," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," but also lesser-known tunes like "See Amid the Winter Snow," "The Holy Boy," and "The Secret of Christmas" -- makes this an excellent easy listening holiday album. ~ Robert Lovering, All Music Guide
'Broadway's Fair Julie'
Release Date 1/1/1972
Tracks 12
Label Harmony
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What The Critics Say
In 1962, Julie Andrews was both a hot recording property and between projects. Having completed her commitment to Camelot, she was angling for film roles. But her major project for the year turned out to be her daughter, Emma Kate Walton, born November 27. At the same time, as the female star of two successive chart-topping Broadway cast albums, My Fair Lady and Camelot, she seemed to have potential as a solo recording artist, and if she couldn't go on-stage or in front of the cameras during her pregnancy, she could go before the microphone at a studio. Thus, she signed on with Columbia Records (which had released both the My Fair Lady and Camelot cast albums), and quickly made three LPs. Broadway's Fair Julie was the first, and accompanied by Henri René & His Orchestra she took on a selection of show tunes she had not had a chance to sing previously. Her familiar style, with the proper British accent, the precise intonation, and the ease of phrasing, was better suited to some of these songs than it was to others. The contrast was no better heard than in the juxtaposition of the third and fourth songs. Andrews may not have made an appropriate Maria in West Side Story for ethnic reasons, but she turned "I Feel Pretty" into a tour de force. The stretch was just too far, however, when it came to the next track, "A Sleepin' Bee," from House of Flowers, sung by the West Indian prostitute Ottilie. Andrews cleaned up the grammar (one can hardly imagine her singing, "I has found"), but did not succeed in reinventing the song. Still, the album was full of little-known theater songs to which she brought her customary warmth and sympathy, making this a successful outing on the whole. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Star!, a film biography of the British actress/singer Gertrude Lawrence (1898-1952), must have seemed like an excellent vehicle for Julie Andrews when it went into production in 1967 for a fall 1968 release. Andrews was, after all, the top female film star of the day, with a string of movie musical hits including Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music behind her, and she was steeped in the vaudeville/music hall tradition from which Lawrence had emerged. But the project was inherently less likely to be accepted by a mass audience than Andrews' earlier triumphs, since it would not appeal to children and would feature a song score filled largely with evergreens from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s instead of new material. Also, despite the apparently appropriate casting, Andrews was really more of a singer than an actress (the opposite of Lawrence), and not nearly as earthy. Barbra Streisand may have found a winning approach to portraying Fanny Brice (in some ways an American counterpart to Lawrence) in the almost simultaneously released Funny Girl despite their differences, but Andrews was not so successful with Lawrence. And a lot was riding on the film. Robert Wise, who had helmed The Sound of Music, was back as director, and 20th Century-Fox expected something comparably lavish and lucrative. So, lots of money was spent, and the picture was released at a nearly three-hour running time. The result was a financial disaster that crippled Andrews' film career. That said, the soundtrack album is in some ways the best of it. One can simply ignore the film and its history and enjoy a disc's worth of Andrews interpreting a bunch of good songs by Noël Coward, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Kurt Weill, among others. She's not particularly convincing on suggestive lyrics such as Porter's "The Physician" and doesn't really dig into "The Saga of Jenny," but she's terrific on the ballad "Someone to Watch Over Me" and some of the vaudeville songs. Although Andrews dominates the disc, she does share the spotlight here and there, notably on "Dear Little Boy (Dear Little Girl)," joining Daniel Massey, who portrays Coward. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Heartrending Ballads & Raucous Ditties'
Release Date 1/1/1962
Tracks 12
Label CBS
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What The Critics Say
In 1962, Julie Andrews, fresh from the Broadway hit Camelot (which had generated a chart-topping original Broadway cast album), was expecting her first child, and therefore not available to stage or screen. But she was able to work in the recording studio, and Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight (titled Heartrending Ballads & Raucous Ditties in some territories) was her second album of the year for Columbia. On her first, Broadway's Fair Julie, she had turned in a set of theater ballads in her familiar sincere style. This album presented her other side. It was a collection of vaudeville and music hall songs, copyright dates ranging from the 1890s to the 1910s, which she dug into with gusto. If the earlier record gave listeners variations on Maid Marian from Camelot, this one contained the kind of music Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady would have liked before she came under the tutelage of Henry Higgins and cleaned up her diction. There were some sentimental ballads, such as "She Is More to Be Pitied Than Censured," maudlin tales that may have been sung straight once, but that Andrews treated tongue-in-cheek. The rest were outright comic numbers, sometimes, such as "Waiting at the Church (My Wife Won't Let Me)," sung in a Cockney accent. Andrews clearly had a feel for this kind of material, and Robert Mersey's arrangements, which occasionally included a barbershop quartet, abetted her interpretations. The singer recalled the down-on-his-luck Beau Brummel tale "Burlington Bertie From Bow" six years later and reprised it in her Gertrude Lawrence film biography Star! Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight may have been a commercially negligible album, but it was a delightful collection that must have been as much of a hoot to record as it was to listen to. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
