ABOUT
THE DISC & RECORDINGS:
April
23, 1961 - a legendary night not only for Judy Garland, but
for the entertainment industry in general. This night, attended
by the normal folks and the glitteratti of show business,
has gone down in history as one of the greatest nights in
show business. Judy was in perfect shape both vocally
and performance-wise. The creme-de-la-creme of show business
were there, and all were "reaching out to touch Judy
Garland"
as Rex Reed would state years later. All who were there would
talk about it as if it were a revival of some sort.
Capitol wisely decided to record this concert. The two-record
set would spend 95 weeks on the charts, 13 of those weeks
at #1. The record would garner FIVE Grammy Awards: Best Solo
Vocal Performance, Female; Album Of The year (the first time
an album by a female artist or a concert recording won
this award); Best Album cover; Best Engineering Contribution,
Popular Recording; A Special Artists And Repertoire Award
given to the set's production Andy Wiswell).
The album made its CD debut in 1987 when Capitol released
an abridged version. The outrage
from fans was such that the label released a 2-CD set in 1989 (#C2-90013),
complete with most of that previously unreleased dialog. In March 2000, the complete concert (including all of Judy's
stories and chatter to the audience) was released by DCC
Compact Classics. This 24 karat 2-CD set presented the concert
as recorded through the microphone that night, with no auditorium reverb
added. All the songs were presented in the order of the concert.
Capitol released their own complete, restored and remastered
version on a special 2-CD release on February 27, 2001, to
commemorate the 40th anniversary of the concert. The difference
between this and the DCC Compact version is that this Capitol
version has the added "hall" sound, whereas the
DCC version presents the sound as recorded in Judy's microphone.
This results in a sound that places Judy's voice front and
center, with the rest of the hall in the background. It's
a matter of taste as to which one a fan prefers.
The difference
between this and the DCC Compact version is that this Capitol
version has the added "hall" sound, whereas the
DCC version presents the sound as recorded in Judy's microphone.
This results in a sound that places Judy's voice front and
center, with the rest of the hall in the background. It's
a matter of taste as to which one a fan prefers.
To this day, "Judy At Carnegie Hall" is considered
one of the greatest live performances ever caught on record.
If it's possible
for the electricity of a performance to come through on a record,
this is it!
All
images
on
this
page
from
the
collection
of
Scott
Brogan.
Album cover restoration provided by "Alex in Belgium".
Thank you Alex!
|
DISC
CREDITS: Presented
by: Freddie Fields and David Begelman, Carnegie
Hall, New York, April 23, 1961 |