17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great material on both scores, September 15, 2005
This review is from: Inside U.S.A. / The Band Wagon (Audio CD)
"Inside U.S.A." was a huge hit revue with the unique Bea Lillie, Jack Haley of "The Wizard of Oz" and such future names as Carl Reiner (not on the recordings). "Atlanta" was apparently cut as it doesn't appear in any programs of the show, and it is revue material with topical references so younger Broadway fans may wonder what the hell Bea is singing about (Atlanta was known for it's federal prison, imagine her in a neat striped suit and matching pillbox hat with a ball and chain to twirl), but her spirit was perhaps as well captured on these tracks as it ever was in a studio recording. "The Bandwagon" is also wonderful, Fred Astaire at his stage height just before he went Hollywood (with his sister Adele, a bigger star then), and a pioneer recording that was LP length before that existed. All the material by Dietz and Schwartz in it is classic and showed up in the very different film 25 years later. But these recordings may be better, and the sound is brilliant for the time. So, a bargain and let's hope the trove of theater recordings continues to be mined - how about all the Decca recordings of Bea, including the unreleased 60s recordings as well as the two lps from her legendary "Evening with Beatrice Lillie"? (See the Joyce Grenfell "Requests" recent CD for a handfull of the Decca material, beautifully remastered as bonus cuts).
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