Customer Reviews

Gypsy (1962 Film Soundtrack)

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Kudos and thanks to Warner Brothers and Rhino for finally releasing this scrumptious 1962 GYPSY soundtrack. This is another feather in Rhino's cap as part of their continuing, excellent series of classic musical soundtracks, especially since it contains the long-unheasrd ORIGINAL (and ultimately unused) versions of Rosalind Russell's vocals. They are both fascinating and painful to listen to at times, but essential manna from heaven for any true movie musical fan.

A singer she may not be, but a finer actress would be hard to find, and Russell tries damned hard to be a superb Mama Rose. The
Styne/Sondheim score is nicely performed by the brassy Warner orchestra, and just the performance of YOU GOTTA HAVE A GIMMICK alone is worth the price of the CD.

The packaging is exceptionally handsome, and highlighted by several rare photographs (some in color), and the same excellent, frank and honestly informative liner notes that are the hallmark of all the Rhino soundtrack releases.

A highly recommended purchase!

The 1962 Mervyn LeRoy film version of "Gypsy" has always been the most criminally underrated movie musical -- despite the facts of its utter fidelity to the original Broadway show; a definitive reading of the role of Madame Rose by the only world-class actress to play the role, Rosalind Russell, and a poignant turn by Natalie Wood, who did something with a nothing role that otherwise defeated other actresses. At last, now we get the full recording, even with Roz Russell's outtakes. Sure she hits a bad note or two, but it's a kick to finally hear her own voice in the role, rather than the kind of homogenized overdubber that Hollywood (and short-sighted critics) always preferred. (No, it isn't the dull Marni Nixon, but the late Lisa Kirk.) The same goes for Wood, who does her own singing here as opposed to what happened in "West Side Story" (where the generic Nixon ruled). Purists, be damned! Who cares about "perfect" singing when you have the right actresses in the right roles. One has only to listen to Bernadette Peters' pathetic line readings on the new cast album of "Gypsy" to appreciate what a bad actress she is -- and what a good actress Russell is. Thank you, Warners and Rhino, for saving a neglected gem of a film musical.

At last! Our old WB LP's can be retired - we have the GYPSY soundtrack! Worth the wait? You bet!
As other reviewers have stated, this is a great package for the fan of the movie. The notes are okay (nothing new here), the photos are interesting, and the music itself is pretty well served. The remastering could have used a bit of work on the highs and lows - there is some shrillness that might have been warmed up. But it is a thrill just to have it! An extended version of June's big number and the both the album and screen versions of "Rose's Turn" are included.
Rosalind Russell's work tracks are interesting - never meant to be heard, and she's NO singer. What she is, though, is Rose Hovick! The camera loved her as it did not love Merman. RR gives a dynamite performance with assistance from Lisa Kirk on the vocals. Kirk & her technicians matched Russell's voice perfectly - lowering Kirk's pitch to her chagrin. Hearing Natalie Wood sing on the "Together" out-take seems to give lie to the proclamation that she did ALL her singing here.
Buy it! Here is GYPSY as you remember it, and then some!

Kudos to Warner Bros. and Rhino for FINALLY making the bold & brassy soundtrack to the original 1962 GYPSY available on CD. Best of all, we now finally get to hear what Rosalind Russell's unused vocals sounded like.

So, how do they sound?

Well, the lady had some intonation problems to put it mildly, but her acting blows you away. She WAS the part. What a treat to finally hear these tracks after years of wondering what they were really like.

The rest of the album is also a great listen, with that signature Warner Bros. sound (along with M-G-M's, the best orchestra in Hollywood).

This is a must-have purchase for any true movie musical fan.

Considered one of the best musicals of all time - the movie version of "Gypsy" was released in 1962 - starring the wonderful Roz Russell.

This is the first time we can hear the wonderful movie version of these songs on CD. As we know - Most of Momma Rose's songs were dubbed by Lisa Kirk. It wasn't that Roz couldn't sing - it was just that these songs were way out of Roz's range. She recorded all the tracks with her voice - some were fine, but some just couldn't be in the movie. So they brought in a wonderful Broadway vocalist - Lisa Kirk. In the final movie version - we hear Russell sing "Mr Goldstone", and the wonderful "Rose's Turn" is a mix of Russell and Kirk - with Kirk mostly on the longer sustained notes.

On this recently released Soundtrack - we hear all of Russel's outakes. "Some People", and "Small World" aren't very good. Roz does a nice job on "Everything's Coming Up Roses" - though she does struggle on the sustained notes. Roz does fine with a fast tempo song - she struggles on ballads.

Also starring in Gypsy - is the wonderful Natalie Wood. Natalie played Gypsy Rose Lee - the worlds most famous stripper. In the West Side Story movie - Natalie Wood suffered a horrible thing, they filmed the movie with her singing tracks - then last minute they brought in Marni Nixon and dubbed all her songs - and Wood didn't find out for a while. In Gypsy - Natalie gets to sing ALL her songs! She has such a beautiful voice. She does a great job on "Little Lamb", and the famous "Let Me Entertain You."

Overall - this soundtrack is worth having. With all the bonus tracks - it's fabulous. Gypsy has one of the best scores ever - and this soundtrack does the score justice.

I have always found Lisa Kirk's dramatic and vocal peformance on the GYPSY soundtrack to be the best of all Roses and I've seen and heard them all. Her dramatic sense and the quality of her acting infuse each number with power and poignance.

That said, I also find the soundtrack recording to the best of all recordings. The orchestra is full bodied, brassy, with tight and powerful tempos. The remastering on this CD is exceptional. The creators go back to the film itself for the expanded DAINTY JUNE number. It gives us a complete record of the film's musical numbers.

The five Roz cuts vary. Her singing voice was very poor on SOME PEOPLE and SMALL WORLD. Yet she does a decent job on EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES, YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM ME and TOGETHER. Only a small piece of Lisa Kirk's performance was edited into ROSE'S TURN in the film itself, yet Kirk's complete performance was released on the lp. It's far superior to Russell's and should in my opinion have been used in the film in its entirety.

In the supplmental material we hear the complete numbers as recorded in the original cast album of YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM ME and TOGETHER as they were first rehearsed and recorded by respectively, Russell and Malden, and Russell, Malden and Wood, which is a treat, as the lp versions were cut down Lisa Kirk renditions.

This is a GREAT soundtrack album from a GREAT movie musical. It's a crime it's been out of the CD catalogue until now but we're sure glad to have it back. The OVERTURE is magnificent in and of itself.

RUN TO ADD IT TO YOUR COLLECTION and buy the film on DVD with two cut filmed songs added as supplemental footage.

Bravo! It's back! I always thought that the 1962 "Gypsy" is the best "Gyspy" -- and its soundtrack is the best recording of the show, hands-down. The orchestrations are rich and full-bodied, unlike the tinny sound on the recordings of the various stage productions. While I was always intrigued by how Warner Bros.' music department interpolated the voices of Rosland Russell and Lisa Kirk into a seamless whole, I really appreciate hearing Roz go it alone, without any help on the outtakes. I do question the integrity, however, of their inclusion on the updated soundtrack. I don't think that they were ever meant to be heard outside of the the Warner Studios. The same thing happend to Audrey Hepburn and Natalie Wood when their vocal tracks from "My Fair Lady" and "West Side Story," respectively, were made available. All of these women would be the first to admit that they are not professional singers. You can hear them trying their best. But it's sad that none of them are around to defend work that is now being exploited. In the case of Roz, I find it fascinating that she's fine on the fast-tempo numbers ("Some People," "Mr. Goldstone," "Together," "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and "Rose's Turn") but struggles with her two slow songs ("Small World" and "You'll Never Get Away from Me"). Intersting. I also wish that Mr. Feltenstein's liner notes where less negative. He's just lazily repeating the company line of the show's ungenerous creators who seam to be angry only because they weren't more directly involved in the film version. (Hey, Jules Styne conducted the overture for the movie!) They should be grateful that the film of "Gypsy" was faithful to their original show at a time when most movies weren't (the truncated "Bye, Bye Birdie," for example). Just sour grapes. This is a great rendition -- much better than the awful Bernadette Peters version. Thank you, Warners and Rhino!

I am very pleased with the release of the GYPSY soundtrack. We have waited too many years to have it. The selling point for me are the Rosalind Russell vocals that were ultimately not used. She sings each song straight through and there are no edits or evidence of tampering and enhancing that you find on the MAME soundtrack CD starring Lucille Ball. Yes, Russell does have intonation problems but when you listen to her tender vocal on "Small World" , you realise that she thought that her rendtions would be used in the film. I suspect that today, her vocals would be used. No score written for Ethel Merman is ideal in anyone elses hands but, Rosalind Russell makes a great Rose Hovick.

I agree that we should have had the complete "Let Me Entertain You" strip, Russell's reprise of "Small World" and well as the brief "Toreadorable" sequence. Still, this release is a must for anyone who has waited for many years to have this material on CD and particularly for those of us who are Rosalind Russell fans and wanted another musical performance to go with her two recordings of "Wonderful Town" and the videos of "The Girl Rush"and the television version of "Wonderful Town". Order it or go out and buy it now!

The soundtrack for another much maligned film musical is chock-full of extras, outtakes and a very detailed booklet. We finally hear what Roz Russell would have sounded like had she done all her own singing. Digitally re-mixed and beautifully presented, this is a must for all film musical fans who need that complete collection of everything Gypsy!. True, Natalie Wood and Karl Malden were no great singers but their on screen performances more than make up for it. All the stops were pulled out to make this as complete a offering as possible. A perfect companion to the DVD. With the outtakes on the DVD along with the outtakes on this CD, you'll have all the surviving extra elements that went into this excellent film version of what many consider the greatest book musical of all time.

It's interesting to see the turnaround about the film of Gypsy. I have, since seeing it on its initial release, really had a soft spot for the film - I think Russell is terrific, as are Malden and Wood. And you will never EVER find better performers playng the three strippers - EVER. Faith Dane is unbelievably brilliant as Mazeppa and this album is worth having just for Gimmick. But musical theater fans heard that the creators didn't like it, hence they didn't like it. Now, they've done a turnaround and suddenly DO like it. Go know.

As one person has already pointed out, had someone bothered to be in the mastering room who actually had a set of ears, this didn't have to sound so shrill and ugly. It's amazing how many of these older recordings are just put on CD without work being done to help the sound. It's also amusing to read another "review" on here which basically restates all of an online theater site's review as the amazon reviewer's own.

As to Russell - what you are hearing on this CD are unedited work tracks, not finished edited vocals. The best singers on movie musicals were allowed to do multiple takes and these were edited together into a finished track. This never happened with Russell because the decision was made to have Lisa Kirk come in. These are raw tracks, no editing or fixing and totally dead-sounding without even a trace of room presence (listen to the vocals in the film - they all have room presence, including Russell's bits - her Mr. Goldstone is all her and all great). It's a little disingenuous to say these vocals are hideous without really knowing what you are listening to. A little help in that regard from Mr. Feltenstein's notes (he basically rehashes information that has been written elsewhere) would have been nice.

All that said - get it!