Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Judy Garland, Judy Garland

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 4, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B000066RO5
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,150 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The "Golden Age" referred to here spans The Jazz Singer and the advent of the talkies to the death throes of the old studio system in the 1960s. So vast was the era's musical landscape that even this 42-track, double-disc anthology can't encompass all its peaks. Not surprisingly, the bulk of this collection originated with the Tiffany's of the screen musical, M-G-M, a body of work whose riches here encompass both pop-cultural bedrock ("Over the Rainbow," "Singin' in the Rain," "There's No Business Like Show Business," etc.) and some less familiar, if equally delightful star turns: Clark Gable gamely "Puttin' On the Ritz"; the sassy, 1948 original of "The Lady Is a Tramp" by Lena Horne; and a loopy duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban. Fred Astaire's elegant, epochal reign at RKO and M-G-M is represented by "Night and Day," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and three others, while Metro mainstays Gene Kelly and Judy Garland share equal time and billing. It's not perfect--Cagney's "Yankee Doodle Boy" and/or some Sinatra seem more logical choices than the odd "bonus" duet of Casablanca's "As Time Goes By" and "Lara's Theme" from Dr. Zhivago that close out disc one--but it's a stunning, surprisingly comprehensive primer on the Hollywood film musical nonetheless. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Movie Musical Soundtrack Heaven. A MUST!, June 5, 2002

By A Customer

The great folks at Rhino and Turner have once again come up with a treasure chest of great (if not THE GREATEST!) songs from the golden era of Movie Musicals. With an emphasis from the masterpieces of MGM, but also with selections from Warner Bros. and RKO, this 2 CD set is simply a must-have for fans of soundtrack gems. All the great moments are here: Fred Astaire's romantic warblings to Ginger Rogers of CHEEK TO CHEEK, THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME and LET'S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE; Gene Kelly's immortal SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, his fabulous duets with Judy Garland on FOR ME AND MY GAL and BE A CLOWN, and then of course there's Judy herself: The amazing GET HAPPY, the Oscar winning ON THE ATCHISON,TOPEKA, & SANTA FE, and of course the track that influenced the collection's title, OVER THE RAINBOW.

The list goes on and on; I got chills listening to the huge stereophonic splendor of HALLELUJAH from "Hit the Deck", and the gorgeous duet by Vic Damone and Ann Blyth of STRANGER IN PARADISE from "Kismet". The superstar line-up also includes Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Tommy Dorsey, Lena Horne, Mickey Rooney, and dozens of others.

If you don't have any of the full Rhino albums these tracks are taken from (each one of which is worth buying on its own), then this double CD is a sampler that will make you want all of them.
If you already have the full albums, you'll want this super compilation as something you'll listen to in the car or the house or on your walkman over and over again.

To top it off, there are SUPERB liner notes which are succinct and eloquent in encapsulating the genius of such a varied and unique collection of soundtrack performances. The notes are written by John Fricke, who has previously worked his magic on several great reissues and compilations, including many for Rhino. His work here is, as usual, superb.

The sound quality overall is simply terrific. Some of the tracks are nearly 70 years old, but sound very, very good. Many of the tracks from the later vintage sound as if they were recorded yesterday. All in all, a sensational product, highly recommended!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't be able to stop listening to this gem. A WINNER!!, July 18, 2002

By A Customer

Take all the greatest songs from Hollywood's greatest musicals, use top modern technology to make them sound amazing (while maintaining faithfulness to the original sonics), put them all together in a beautifully designed double CD, and you've got SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW.

I've had this for over two weeks now, and still don't want to listen to anything else. All my favorite performers are here from Bing Crosby to Doris Day and everyone else in between. There are great liner notes, wonderful pictures, and at this price, getting so many songs for so (relatively) little money is an amazing bargain. I highly recommend this CD set.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Hollywood Musicals of the Golden Age are still among us", July 13, 2005

By	J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Rhino Records and Turner Classic Movies Music present - "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW: THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS", some of the long ago musicals and stars that will never be forgotten...a 2-CD-Set covering several decades from 1935-1965 with many of the show stoppers of that time...some rare moments from entertainers that you haven't heard or thought of in sometime.

The lineup is fantastic and gives the listener a variety of what musicals were all about in the "Golden Age of the Hollywood Musicals"
June Allyson, Kay Armen, Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Ann Blyth, Jack Buchanan, Louis Calhern, Bing Crosby, Vic Damone, Doris Day, Nanette Fabray, Connie Francis, Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, Kathyrn Grayson, Georges Guetary, Lena Horne, Betty Hutton, Louis Jourdan, Howard Keel, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, Peter Lawford, Oscar Levant, Ann Miller, Ricardo Montalban, Page Cavanaugh Trio, Debbie Reynolds, Winifred Shaw, Nancy Walker, Ethel Waters, Esther Williams, Dooley Williams and Keenan Wynn.

On Disc One 21 Classic Songs from great musicals with songs in alphabetical order:
AS TIME GOES BY - Dooley Wilson with Elliot Carpenter, pianist (1942)
BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE - Esther Williams & Ricardo Montalban (1949)
BLESS, YORE BEAUTIFUL HIDE - Howard Keel (1954)
EASTER PARADE - Fred Astaire & Judy Garland (1948)
FOR ME AND MY GAL - Gene Kelly & Judy Garland (1942)
GET HAPPY - Judy Garland (1950)
HALLELUJAH! - Tony Martin, Vic Damone, Kay Armen, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Clark Burroughs (for Russ Tamblyn) (1955)
HONEYSUCKLE ROSE - Lena Horne with Benny Carter & His Orchestra (1943)
LARA'S THEME (MAIN TITLE) - M-G-M Studio Orchestra (1965)
LULLABY OF BROADWAY - Winifred Shaw & Dick Powell (1935)
MILKMAN, KEEP THOSE BOTTLES QUIET - Nancy Walker with Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (1944)
NIGHT AND DAY - Fred Astaire (1934)
PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ - Clark Gable & Company (1939)
'S WONDERFUL - Gene Kelly & Georges Guetary (1951)
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN - Gene Kelly (1951)
STRANGER IN PARADISE - Ann Blyth & Vic Damone (1955)
TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE - Ethel Waters & Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (1943)
THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT - Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray & Oscar Levant (1953)
THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS - Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Keenan Wynn & Louis Calhern (1950)
THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME - Fred Astaire (1949)
TRUE LOVE - Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly (1956)

On Disc Two more memorable performances from the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals:
A KISS TO BUILD A DREAM ON - Louis Armstrong (1951)
ABA DABA HONEYMOON - Debbie Reynolds & Carleton Carpenter (1950)
ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE - Gene Kelly (1954)
BE A CLOWN - Judy Garland & Gene Kelly (1948)
BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE - June Allyson & Peter Lawford (1947)
CAN'T HELP LOVIN' DAT MAN - Ava Gardner (beautiful woman, who my youngest grandaughter is named after...Avalon) (1951)
CHEEK TO CHEEK - Fred Astaire (1935)
EMBRACEABLE YOU - Connie Francis (1965)
GIGI - Louis Jourdan (1958)
GOING HOLLYWOOD - Bing Crosby (1933)
I GOT RHYTHM - Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney (1943)
IF SWING GOES, I GO TOO - Fred Astaire (1946)
IT'S A MOST UNUSUAL DAY - Jane Powell (1948)
LADY IS A TRAMP - Lena Horne (1948)
LET'S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE - Fred Astaire (1936)
ON THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND THE SANTA FE - Judy Garland & Company (1946)
ONE FOR MY BABY (AND ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD) - Fred Astaire (1943)
OVER THE RAINBOW - Judy Garland (became her theme song for the rest of her life) (1939)
PUT 'EM IN A BOX - Doris Day & the Page Cavanaugh Trio (1948)
THE TROLLEY SONG - Judy Garland & MGM Studio Chorus (1944)
WUNDERBAR - Kathryn Grayson & Howard Keel (two of MGM's favorite singing duos) (1953)

It was once said by the songwriters of that era - "There are two artists you want perform your songs on the big screen, they are Fred Astaire and Judy Garland they sing it just the way we wrote it, for which you will have a guaranteed hit on your hands"...well, this collections certainly has some merit to that statement...because with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire performing seven songs each, there must be something to it.

This collection of musicals still has the magic that we remember from those bygone years...but as long as we have the labels and networks who play and show these wonderful films of yesteryear, they will never be forgotten...hats off to Rhino Records, George Feltenstein (producer) and Doug Schwartz (engineer) and Turner Classic Movies for sharing those 42 selections from 42 films...celebrating decades of the tunes and artists that gave it their all...from what it commonly called "The Hollywood Dream Factory"...The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals is still among us...gotta love it!

Total Time: 2-CD-Set ~ Rhino Records 78323 ~ (6/02/2002)