Customer Reviews

Judy Garland: The Complete Decca Masters (Plus)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a fan of Judy's since I first watched her in the "Wizard of Oz" as a child, but lately my interest in her has resurged with the recent books and television shows made available this past year. However, I credit this CD set for really doing it as I listen to it almost every day.

Put off by some of those cheaper, low quality sounding boxed sets, I went with this CD set because of the collection of music which spans almost fifteen years of her career. Judy's voice is strong, rich and beautiful and exactly how she should always sound. Disc one spans recordings from 1936-1941 and includes hits like "Over the Rainbow", "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You", and "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart". My personal favorites from this disc are "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Everybody Sing". The latter always makes chills run down my spine.

Disc Two includes recordings from 1941-1945 and it's is interesting to see how Judy's voice takes on a more condfident tone, adding to an already rich and powerful voice.

Disc Three is my personal favorite, encompassing years 1942-1945. It includes music from her most famous movies like "The Harvey Girls", "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "For Me and My Gal". The title song of the latter, sung with Gene Kelly is charming as well as "Yah-Ta-Ta, Yah-Ta-Ta, Talk Talk, Talk", with Bing Crosby. Other favorites are "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and The Trolley Song".

Half of Disc Four is just a compilation of songs already found in the previous discs, so I was not too happy about that, but the first half included songs from Gerswin and Rogers and Hammerstein.

There is a great booklet enclosed which gives a background history of Judy's career with Decca including some beautiful photographs.

Yes, most of the music can be found in smaller collections and it is pricey, but it's worth every penny and a must have for the serious Judy Garland fan.

Most of the songs on this comprehensive Decca collection have been released and re-released to death in crappy versions. The songs on this set are crystal clear, and have obviously been remastered and cleaned up from original source material. The downfall is that if you are to compare the Decca versions vs. Judy's MGM studio versions of these songs, the MGM versions blow these away. The orchestral arrangements are much simpler and I would even go so far as to say that there is less emotion in Judy's voice. If you want a nice Garland collection, buy "Judy Garland: Collectors' Gems From The M-G-M Films - Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology" or "Judy Garland In Hollywood: Her Greatest Movie Hits - Original Soundtrack Performances 1936-1963."

Some of Judy Garland's best recordings are on this extensive four CD set. We get all the recordings she made for Decca Records which had her recording contract while she was working in films at MGM Studios. This set, therefore, gives us all of Judy's songs from her MGM years with the exception of the last two or three films that she made when she was then recording on the MGM record label.

The CD set presents these fine numbers in chronological order; and that's fine with me! Each of the four CDs boasts some great artwork and the quality of the sound is very good.

Disc One is full of great songs. "Stompin' At The Savoy" features a very young Judy with a big band arrangement using the brass very well. Judy's excellent diction bolsters her performance; and the musical interlude awes me. "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You" was a huge hit for Garland; we don't get the movie version but it's pretty close. The piano sounds great on "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You." In addition, listen for "Embraceable You;" this starts with the strings on a musical flourish and when Judy comes in this number takes flight!

Disc Two continues the hits. "It's A Great Day For The Irish" features Judy singing at her best with a lush orchestral accompaniment. How Judy belts this out! "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" gets the royal treatment from Judy with a beautiful musical arrangement. "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" is slower than usual; but oh how sweet this is! "That Old Black Magic" is a great song by Arlen and Mercer. Judy sings this flawlessly. Great!

Disc Three offers Judy performing many songs including "For Me And My Gal" with Gene Kelly; they never sing a superfluous note and this impresses me very much. "Meet Me In St. Louis" is absolutely wonderful and Judy does this justice as only she could. Listen also for the classic ballad entitled "The Trolley Song;" Judy sings this wonderfully. Love the sound of that trolley car bell!

Disc Four has alternate takes, a must have for any true blue Judy fan; Judy also does "On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe" with The Merry Macs. The Merry Macs harmonize so beautifully and Judy's voice is in excellent form. The alternate take of "I Got Rhythm" features a loud brass intro and Judy performs this very well. The alternate take of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is also guaranteed to please the Judy Garland fan.

We get a lavish booklet with all the recording information with recording dates. The pictures of Judy and her peers in the booklet are a wonderful addition to this package!

Overall, the Judy Garland fan simply must have this wonderful set in their collection. I am mystified that this is out of print; but don't let that bother you. You won't regret this purchase; even people new to Judy's artistry will be hooked once they hear these four albums.

Thank you, Judy! We will never forget you!

This box set is a must have for any fan of Judy's studio work. The recordings are great quality and Judy sounds amazing. The CDs come in a gorgeous box with a great large booklet.

I must admit that I was not a Judy Garland fan until recently. Like most people, I have seen her movies and remember her fondly from childhood. However about 2 months ago I went to a website which had a few MP3's of her singing and I was in for a revelation. I heard her sing some songs on the internet a few years ago and got hooked.
Many of these songs will be unfamiliar to you or you may never have heard them unless you can remember World War 2. I won't go into the contents, you can look them up online. The box comes with a nice booklet and top class packaging.
My complaint? The CD was taken straight off the metal masters. No remastering. This means any hisses, pops are there as well as an extreme lack of bass which had me checking my system. I realize the producers wanted to give an unfettered sound and it's entirely within their purview. Having said that, if they ever put out a remastered box set, I'm buying it.