Judy Garland Live At Carnegie Hall [Original recording remastered]

Note: This is not the complete, nor even the original LP version, of Judy's amazing concert. Stay away!

Let me tell you: It's bad. Really bad. I had hoped that with the JSP set presenting the original mono LP, the Delta set would present the original stereo LP. That would have made the two perfect bookends for each other. They would have complemented the expanded, complete 2001 Capitol set and the 2000 "Gold" set quite well. But no, this second set is not the original stereo LP.

For starters, the liner notes aren't really notes at all, and they're incorrect. No authorship is provided. Liner notes or booklets can be overlooked if the errors are minor, but these are simply wrong.

The real travesty is in the content. The sound quality is tinny and the concert sounds a bit sped up. Each song from the concert is split up as a separate track. Each one fades out (usually very slowly), then a pause, then the next one fades in. Some start right off with the music only to fade out as the others do. In other words, the concert is gone and in its place is what would seem (especially to anyone who's never heard it before) to be a compilation of live performances. It's presented like a compilation or studio album. To make matters worse, the fade-in to "Over the Rainbow" doesn't finish until after Judy begins singing. Her voice is low then gets louder with the fade-in. Did that happen at the concert? The same thing happens on a few of the other tracks such as "That's Entertainment!" and "You're Nearer." This Delta set is bad. Just bad.

As if the above isn't enough, the set completely omits what little chatter there was from the original LP. The famous "Do you really want more? Aren't you tired?", "I know, I'll sing 'em all and we'll stay all night!" and the rest of the spoken bits are gone. The exception is Judy's "One, two, one-two-three. Ooh, it worked!" prior to "Who Cares?" and "I don't know..." prior to "How Long Has This Been Going On?" both of which had to be included because they overlap the beginning of the numbers. Inexplicably Judy's additional "One, tow, one-two-three" prior to "Just You, Just Me" is included. After Judy's last song, "Chicago," the "concert" fades out. No "Goodnight! God Bless" from Judy as on all previous releases, including the original LP.

I suspect the label used the expanded 2001 version as their source, taking only the songs, no talking, to avoid copyright issues. It makes sense as it's obvious the label and producers had no clue what was and wasn't included in the original LP release nor the expanded release. They simply took each song and added the fades. There are no production credits and no author credits, only the label information. Talk about a "hack job."

Save your money and get the recent JSP release or the 2001 Capitol release.

I have the vinyl, the CD and now this remastered version with extra tracks from another Judy album. If only they had filmed the whole performance - it is a performance all friends of Dorothy would love to see. Show business at its very best.

CD1 + CD2 tracks 1-6 from "Judy At Carnegie Hall", April 23, 1961, a legendary night for Judy and show business. The two-record set was as big a hit as the concert and spent 95 weeks on the charts, 13 at number 1. CD2 tracks 7-10 from "Alone" (May 6th, 1957) orchestrated and conducted by Gordon Jenkins, "Alone" was Judy's first and best "conceptual" album. All of the songs reflect the album's title of being "alone". CD2 tracks 11-14 from Judy in Love (November 3rd, 1958), "Judy In Love" is the opposite in theme from her previous album, "Alone" in that it focuses on more upbeat songs about, simply, being in love. CD2 tracks 15-20 from "That's Entertainment!" (October 31st, 1960), This is the first Garland album on which most of the songs Judy had not previously recorded or performed. This was the last original album of Judy's recording career. Judy would perform most of these songs in concert during her enormously successful 1960-61 tour.
The total running time for this set is approx 133 minutes and the sound transfers are very good quality. As with the Performance label releases there is a liner note and this one gives plenty of background. The mix of recordings and the inclusion of bonus tracks from 3 other albums on the run up to the live concert make for an interesting comparison. As already noted the earliest album saw Judy with the very experienced arranger and conductor Gordon Jenkins, next up is Nelson Riddle then Jack Marshall and finally Mort Lindsey who was also the musical director of her TV shows. Each of these arranger/conductors had a style of their own and each brought out the best from Judy Garland but there can be no doubting that the peak of the Carnegie Hall concert was the best it was ever going to be. This new compilation provides a musical insight into the Capitol years and for a modest price a great selection of songs too.