Customer Reviews

Judy Garland At the Grove

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Judy Garland's closing night performance at The Cocoanut Grove is finally out on CD! This CD gives us all the songs from that evening; and this is an improvement over the record album release of this concert because this CD has the three extra songs Judy sang that night that never made it to the record album release. Judy gives a fine performance; and her voice strengthens even more during the concert. Freddy Martin's musical interpretations work well, too; but I still prefer the way Mort Lindsey did it when he worked with Judy in the years to come after this concert. The quality of the sound is very good; and the cover artwork recreates the front cover of the record album jacket.

After Freddy Martin and His Orchestra go through the beautiful "Garland Overture" consisting of "The Trolley Song;" "Over The Rainbow" and "The Man That Got Away;" Judy takes to the stage much to the delight of her fans there that evening. Judy starts off with "When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles With You);" she handles this with panache and great sensitivity. The musical arrangement makes good use of the strings and the brass.

"Day In-Day Out" features Judy's vocals front and center; she delivers this with a somewhat Latin musical arrangement to enhance the natural beauty of this number. Listen also for "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart;" Judy sings this with the faster tempo she often used in her "concert years" after she left MGM. Judy's voice begins to strengthen roughly about this time during the concert; the earlier songs seem to have her sounding very slightly hoarse--or perhaps I should say that her voice was somewhat "thinner" at the beginning of this concert.

"Purple People Eater" shows Judy's ability to rock and roll as well as her personal enjoyment of this genre of music; and there's also an incredible medley of "You Made Me Love You;" "For Me And My Gal" and "The Trolley Song." Judy performs this medley flawlessly like the pro she always was--and remains!

"Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody" gets the royal treatment from Judy as she sings this straight from her heart. Judy sings this beyond perfection and the audience certainly seems to enjoy it! Of course, the audience goes wild when Judy breaks into "Over The Rainbow;" the musical accompaniment is very nicely done and Judy sings this especially well.

Judy delivers a positively electric interpretation of "After You've Gone" while Freddy Martin's orchestra uses the brass brilliantly. The concert ends with "Swanee;" this number lacks nothing--it's THAT good. The audience loves it--Judy certainly enjoyed a very good rapport with her audience that evening!

The liner notes include a brief essay by Scott Schechter; and there's an excellent picture of the marquee outside The Cocoanut Grove on the reverse of the CD artwork.

Sure, Judy wasn't quite up to the level she was at for her historic Carnegie Hall performance three years after this concert; but she still turns in a very high quality performance on this occasion. Diehard Garland fans like me will want this album for their collections; even casual fans of classic pop vocals will definitely enjoy this fine album.

Despite the fact that most of Judy Garland's officially recorded output is already available on compact disc, a few more obscure items have languished. Last year, DRG released a 1959 Capitol Records item, THE LETTER, a "concept" album featuring Garland, and now Garland's nightclub act, circa 1958, has been released "complete" for the first time. Recorded on the last night of a two-week run at Los Angeles' Cocoanut Grove, JUDY GARLAND AT THE GROVE offers a shorter program than her magnificant JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL concert three years later and Garland's voice strains a bit, but for her legion of fans, this CD is a long awaited gem filled with her standards ("When You're Smiling," "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody," "Swanee," "After You've Gone," the medley of "You Made Me Love You," "For Me and My Gal," and "The Trolley Song," and, of course, the inevitable "Over the Rainbow." Less frequently recorded songs such as "Day In - Day Out," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow," and others are included -- and a true rarity, Garland's raucous rendition of the then-popular novelty song, "Purple People Eater," is featured. Back by Freddy Martin's orchestra, Garland was at a career low point -- she was overweight and ill, but her 1960-61 career resurrection was just around the corner. The first official recording of Garland in live concert offers a tab version of what was to come. For the confirmed Garland-ite, any Garland is better than no Garland. This CD is not her finest vocalizing, but even at a low ebb, Garland is better than most. Hopefully, DRG will eventually release other Garland items missing from compact disc (for example, a complete JUDY GARLAND AND LIZA MINNELLI LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM originally released by Capitol and the 1967 ABC Records release, JUDY GARLAND AT HOME AT THE PALACE, hopefully more complete than the original single-disc LP release.

Considering the fact that Judy was is poor health and severely overweight throughout most of the mid to late 1950's, this nightclub performance is top notch. Recorded on her closing night of a 2 week engagement, Judy had some voice problems during her first number "When You're Smiling". But she was able to shake them off and continued to give a powerful and remarkable performance, with a succession of great songs and amusing chatter between numbers. Audience reaction is tremendous and exciting to hear. It's not fair to compare this recording to Carnegie Hall. Two different settings, sound, larger audience, a healthier Judy etc. This CD still captures the excitement of the Grove show and Freddie Martin's dance band really swings it. A surprise treat was an announcement at the end of the show informing the audience that Capitol Records had just recorded the show for an album! Scott's liner notes are excellent also. A terrific all around package that I was more impressed with as a CD than album. Highly recommended!!

I was Pleasantly surprised that this 1959 LP has come out on CD. I saw Judy Garland for the first time in person here in Chicago at Orchestra Hall in 1958, and she was great. Just great. It was one of her first concerts before the Carnegie Hall thing. Half of the songs she did at Orchestra Hall were the same ones she did at Carnegie Hall, so I never quite understood what made the Carnegie Hall so much greater! Judy herself has said,"People keep saying I'm making a comeback. I don't know where I've been!" Of course the Coconut Grove show was shorter than her previous concert because night club acts were shorter than actual concerts, and the LP record did cut three songs from Judy's set of songs. But LP reords could hold just so much material because there was not enough room on an LP record. So something had to go. Oddly enough the three numbers that were cut from the LP, were used later on, on different CD compilations. But back 'in the day' I was so happy with the Judy Garland At The Grove record album because it was the closest thing we had to a 'live' album of Judy Garland. I believe we had less back then,but appreciated so much more. Yes the Judy At The Grove on CD is great, especially since it reminds me of the first time I saw Judy. The sound is terrific. There has been speculation that Judy was not in great voice on this performance. Bull. This was a real live performance, given by one of our greatest talents the world has ever known.Judy sang her heart out (as she ususlly did anyway). I say this is one of the greatest live performances ever recorded by Judy. In my humble opinion, it is right up there with Judy At Carnegie Hall and all the rest

Even as ill as she was at the time this album was recorded, she was still incredible! Her version of "When The Sun Comes Out" cannot be touched! A damn good buy! And it took long enough for this to be put out on CD! Can't imagine what took so long!

"Garland at the Grove" has been mostly out-of-print during the last few decades, not the least of which is because the "Judy at Carnegie Hall" monolith simply blocked it from public consciousness. True, this was recorded on the last night of her two-week two-a-night appearance at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles and not the opening night, as Capitol Records advertised at the time. Also true, Judy was suffering from some of the worst bouts her personal demons had ever inflicted. Nevertheless, her appearance here was so mesmerizing that Capitol Records was practically forced to make a recording they initially resisted.

Thank God. Yes, Judy's voice is a bit wavering at times and, uncharacteristically, she struggles with pitch here and there. Still, she is galvanic in her prime moments and proves that the Garland magic was fully intact at the Grove. Unsurprisingly, the most rewarding moments are from songs not included in the "Carnegie Hall" set. Pitch problems aside, "Day In-Day Out" is a showstopper and Garland coos and belts with equal aplomb. "When the Sun Comes Out" is a devastating moment with Garland tearing down the house. A throwaway, "Purple People Eater" is a thorough showcase for Garland's wry comedic and interpretive skills. It's a silly take-off on '50s sci-fi mania that could have been a campy disaster. But Garland sings and acts the song with wry comedic acuity, not to mention a booming vocal bombast that makes its ridiculousness utterly sublime.

"Grove" captures a moment, between the ultimate high of "A Star is Born" and the near-ultimate high of "Carnegie Hall". It instilled the Garland legend with new vigor, but the bottom line is that Judy was still the best thing around when it came to delivering the goods in a moment of singing virtuosity.

Garland at The Grove is great. A nice live experience. A good chance to see her nightclub style at work. The audience loved her.

Love this CD.
Judy is in fine vocal form and sounds like she is having alot of fun during her appearance at The Cocoanut Grove.
The Purple People Eater song is a BLAST!!!
Wish I could have been there.

Finally we have the complete performance released as it was recorded. The sound on this remaster surpasses all previous releases in my opinion.A great forerunner to Garlands Carnegie Hall concert.RUN OUT AND BUY IT, things of this elk tend not to be availible very long.

I guess this is worth owning because it is on cd for the frst time and because Judy completrists want this cd. Ok the goos stuff on here, Day In and DAY out. I cant give you anything but love baby and of course flying purple people eater. But Judy was at the end of her run when this cd was recorded at the grove and hoarse. Plus she was very over weight retaiing fluid and th the absolute worst with her pill addiction, Still it is a good showcase for her and a good vocal perfromance, but not her best.