Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals

Product Review

As part of its pact with Turner Entertainment which controls the vaults of several of the great movie studios Rhino Records has issued many compilations of soundtrack material from the movie musicals of the 1930s to the 1960s. Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals is an attempt to present the musical highlights of the Turner collection on a single album albeit a two-disc set running two and a half hours. Perhaps inevitably it ends up sounding like a soundtrack album drawn from the series of MGM anthology films of the 1970s under the title That's Entertainment! Annotator John Fricke admits the tracks are 'predominantly (though not exclusively) drawn from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer properties ' which he claims is 'simply because they had the greatest talents to invest in all aspects of their product.' Fair enough although one might add that 20th Century Fox and Paramount had some pretty great talents too and none of them are here unless like Bing Crosby for example they occasionally made a picture outside their contracted studios that has somehow fallen into the Turner maw. Still when you are drawing from the MGM Columbia and RKO catalogs you have some great material to choose from. The songs performed by Judy Garland Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly whom Fricke calls 'The Big Three ' are a given and they are also overly familiar. More interesting are the performances by less frequently heard singers like Nancy Walker Jane Powell and even Ava Gardner (whose voice was dubbed in the 1951 Show Boat but not here). Taken from primary sources the tracks appear in better sound quality than you will hear on the endless European gray-market compilations flooding the market. And if there are favorites missing it's only because it would take more than two discs to do justice to the era. ~ William RuhlmannIncludes liner notes by John Fricke.All tracks have been digitally remastered.2cds-Gene Kelly/Judy Garland/ Fred Astaire/Bing Crosby/LenaCom

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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

Title Tracks for Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals

1. Singin' In The Rain: Singin' In The Rain - Gene Kelly
2. Annie Get Your Gun: There's No Business Like Show Business - Howard Keel
3. An American In Paris: 'S Wonderful - Gene Kelly
4. The Band Wagon: That's Entertainment! - Oscar Levant
5. Kismet: Stranger In Paradise - Vic Damone
6. Easter Parade: Easter Parade - Judy Garland
7. Gold Diggers Of 1935: Lullaby Of Broadway - Winifred Shaw
8. Summer Stock: Get Happy - Judy Garland
9. The Gay Divorcee: Night And Day - Fred Astaire
10. High Society: True Love - Bing Crosby
11. Thousands Cheer: Honeysuckle Rose - Lena Horne
12. The Barkleys Of Broadway: They Can't Take That Away From Me - Fred Astaire
13. Broadway Rhythm: Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet - Nancy Walker
14. Neptune's Daughter: Baby, It's Cold Outside - Esther Williams
15. For Me And My Gal: For Me And My Gal - Judy Garland
16. Idiot's Delight: Puttin' On The Ritz - Clark Gable & Co.
17. Hit The Deck: Hallelujah! - Kay Armen
18. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers: Bless Yore Beautiful Hide - Howard Keel
19. Cabin In The Sky: Taking A Chance On Love - Ethel Waters
20. Casablanca: As Time Goes By - Dooley Wilson
21. Dr. Zhivago: Lara's Theme (Main Title) - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
22. The Wizard Of Oz: Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
23. A Date With Judy: It's A Most Unusual Day - Jane Powell
24. Kiss Me Kate: Wunderbar - Howard Keel
25. Show Boat: Can't Help Lovn' Dat Man - Ava Gardner
26. Going Hollywood: Going Hollywood - Bing Crosby
27. Meet Me In St. Louis: The Trolley Song - Judy Garland
28. Gigi: Gigi - Louis Jourdan
29. Girl Crazy: I Got Rhythm - Judy Garland
30. Two Weeks With Love: Aba Daba Honeymoon - Debbie Reynolds
31. Words & Music: The Lady Is A Tramp - Lena Horne
32. Good News: The Best Things In Life Are Free - June Allyson
33. Top Hat: Cheek To Cheek - Fred Astaire
34. The Strip: A Kiss To Build A Dream On - Louis Armstrong
35. Romance On The High Seas: Put 'Em In A Box - Doris Day
36. If Swing Goes, I Go Too - Fred Astaire
37. Almost Like Being In Love - Gene Kelly
38. Follow The Fleet: Let's Face The Music And Dance - Fred Astaire
39. The Pirate: Be A Clown - Judy Garland
40. When The Boys Meet The Girls: Embraceable You - Connie Francis
41. The Harvey Girls: On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe - Judy Garland & Co.
42. The Sky's The Limit: One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) - Fred Astaire

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(17 customer reviews)

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful

This is Movie Musical Soundtrack Heaven. A MUST!, June 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals (Audio CD)

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...Read more

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

"Hollywood Musicals of the Golden Age are still among us", July 13, 2005

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals (Audio CD)

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...Read more

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

You won't be able to stop listening to this gem. A WINNER!!, July 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals (Audio CD)

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.