'Alternate Judy Album' Coming Featuring Unheard Takes From Judy Garland

HIGH DEFINITION TAPE TRANSFERS (HDTT) is pleased to present these never-before-heard alternate takes for the songs on Judy Garland’s well-loved 1956 Capitol album entitled “Judy.” These recordings were recently discovered by award-winning designer and collector Raphael Geroni on a unique set of acetate discs that he owns, preserving the original recordings made in late March, 1956. Except for one song, they were not the takes that appeared in the Capitol “Judy” album when it was released over six months later, on October 10, 1956. The acetate records have been transferred and lovingly restored by acclaimed audio restoration engineer John H. Haley of Harmony Restorations, LLC.

After the very successful release of Garland’s first Capitol album in 1955, immediately following a 90-minute CBS television special, the following year it was decided to again pair a Capitol album release with a CBS TV special, an episode of the General Electric Theatre series. This time, the half-hour TV show would employ the music from the album, with no separate orchestra for the show itself. In this show, which aired live on April 8, 1956, Garland performed some songs live to pre-recorded orchestral tracks from the Capitol recording sessions and lip-sync’ed other songs to the pre-existing Capitol recordings that included the vocals. The conductor/arranger, Nelson Riddle, was credited for both the album and the TV show. We can tell that the acetates are from the original March sessions because they correspond to the pre-recorded music that was used in the TV special that immediately followed.

The Capitol LP album ultimately included only eleven of the twelve songs originally recorded, omitting the beautiful Jerome Kern song “I'm Old-Fashioned,” which was not released until the “Judy” album appeared on CD in 1989. Fortunately, the acetate recordings do include that song in a tender rendition that is different from the one that was released in 1989. The acetates are comprised of 12 takes in all, covering all but two of the songs in the album, and adding a second take of one song and an instrumental number that was in the TV show but not on the album.

What happened here is that in early 1956 Garland’s infant son Joseph Luft (born March 25, 1955) came down with a respiratory infection, a common enough thing in young children, and Garland caught it. Singers dread respiratory infections because it can take many weeks for a singing voice to return to normal, even after the infection has otherwise subsided. Garland’s lingering infection left her singing somewhat impaired in early 1956, but she was in no position to put off the scheduled March recording sessions because if that had happened, there would have been no music for the TV special that was to immediately follow--she was forced to charge ahead. At some later point after she had fully recovered, before the October 10 release date, she went back into the Capitol studios and redid the vocals on all but one of the tracks, and we hear those redone versions in the released album. Research has not succeeded in determining when the additional sessions occurred; they appear to be undocumented.

Even recovering from a respiratory infection, Garland, being the trouper that she was, certainly delivered the goods. In some instances, listeners may find that her earlier interpretations are more dramatic (e.g., “Come Rain or Come Shine”), have a greater sense of irony (e.g., “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries”), or are more touching (e.g., “I’m Old Fashioned”) than the later, more perfectly vocalized tracks. This release truly presents an alternative Garland album, which although not without flaws, can be enjoyed alongside the released album as a different experience of the same songs. Garland was ever the canny performer who could turn whatever circumstances she was presented with to her advantage, and there is no doubt that she did so in what is heard here.

HDTT also presents (1) the soundtrack of the closely related GE television show, in a new, modern restoration, (2) two unreleased “band track” recordings for songs in the “Judy” album (just the accompaniments with no vocal), from a rare acetate record, and (3) a very special live recording of the last half of “Over the Rainbow” from the opening of Garland’s 1956 Palace Theatre show on September 26, 1956, in its first restoration. Strangely, there appears to be no other surviving recording of anything from the almost four month run of this important show. The instant HDTT release, together with HDTT’s previous release of the opening night of Garland’s 1956 Las Vegas appearance, documents in some fashion all or at least most of Garland’s performing and recording activity that occurred in 1956, apart from the readily available Capitol “Judy” album.

Tracklist

TAKES FROM ORIGINAL MARCH, 1956 “JUDY” SESSIONS
01. I Feel a Song Coming On (Oppenheimer, McHugh-Fields); Band Track recorded March 19, 1956; vocal recorded March 27, 1956.
02. Last Night When We Were Young (Harburg, Arlen); recorded March 31, 1956.
03. Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries (Brown, Henderson); recorded March 31, 1956.
04. Dirty Hands, Dirty Face (Jolson, Leslie, Clarke, Monaco); recorded March 19, 1956.
05. Blues for Peter Gennaro (Riddle) (instrumental); recording date unknown.
06. Come Rain or Come Shine (Arlen, Mercer); recorded March 31, 1956.
07. April Showers (DeSylva, Silvers); recorded March 19, 1956.
08. Lucky Day (DeSylva, Brown, Henderson); Band Track recorded March 26, 1956; vocal recorded March 27, 1956.
09. Memories of You (Razaf, Blake); recorded March 26, 1956.
10. I’m Old Fashioned (Kern, Mercer); recorded March 26, 1956.
11. I Will Come Back (trad’l); Band Track recorded March 19, 1956; vocal recorded March 27, 1956.

SOUNDTRACK OF THE GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATRE TELEVISION SHOW
12. Program introduction (Ronald Reagan).
13. I Feel a Song Coming On (Garland).
14. GE announcement and commercial.
15. Judy Garland spoken announcement.
16. I Will Come Back (Garland).
17. Judy Garland introduces pianist Joe Bushkin.
18. Unknown piano piece with orchestra (Joe Bushkin, piano).
19. Dialog with Judy Garland and Joe Bushkin.
20. Last Night When We Were Young (with Joe Bushkin, piano).
21. Piano interlude and dialog with Judy Garland and Joe Bushkin
22. Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries (Garland with Joe Bushkin, piano).
23. Dirty Hands, Dirty Face (with live spoken part).
24. GE commercial.
25. Blues for Peter Gennaro (instrumental).
26. Come Rain or Come Shine (Garland).
27. April Showers (Garland).
28. April Showers (orchestral interlude).
29. Closing announcements (Ronald Reagan) and GE commercial.

BONUS TRACKS
30. Dirty Hands, Dirty Face; alternate take, recorded March 19, 1956 (from acetate).
31. Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries; Band Track; no vocal, from acetate; recorded March 31, 1956.
32. Lucky Day; Band Track; no vocal, from acetate, recorded March 26, 1956.
33. Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home (Arlen, Mercer) (Garland and her Eight Boyfriends; orchestra conducted by Jack Cathcart; live from Las Vegas debut show, July 16. 1956).
34. Over the Rainbow, (Harburg, Arlen), last half (Opening Night of Garland’s Palace Theatre show, NYC, orchestra conducted by Jack Cathcart, September 26, 1956).
 

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