New Release: Judy at Carnegie Hall

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For Release on March 3, 2000

DCC COMPACT CLASSICS TO RELEASE
JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL
ON 2-CD 24 KARAT GOLD AUDIOPHILE SET

Judy Garland's Landmark Grammy-Winning Concert Recording Will Be Issued Complete and Uncut for the First Time.

DCC Compact Classics is set to release JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL, perhaps the most acclaimed live concert recording ever made, on its esteemed 24 Karat Gold audiophile format. The set, on two compact discs, will arrive in stores March 14.

This new release will present -- for the first time ever -- the entire landmark concert that took place on April 23, 1961, exactly as it happened. DCC, known for its attention to detail, has taken great care to correct flaws on previous versions of the record. In essence, this is a new album both in it's sonic quality and attention to historical accuracy.

JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL, one of the earliest live concert recordings ever made, stayed on the Billboard chart for 94 weeks -- 13 weeks at Number One -- and was the winner of five Grammy Awards, including Best Female Vocal Performance and Album of the Year. Singing 25 songs, expertly picked by Garland herself, she was proclaimed by critics and public alike to be at the peak of her performing skills. On this album are all of the songs associated with Judy Garland, including "You Made Me Love You," "For Me And My Gal," "The Trolley Song," "The Man That Got Away," "Come Rain Or Come Shine," "Swanee," "Rock-a-bye-Your Baby," and perhaps the most moving version of Judy's signature song "Over The Rainbow." Also included are songs then new to her concert repertoire, such as four numbers performed with only a jazz unit ("Who Cares?," "Puttin On The Ritz," "How Long Has This Been Going On?," "Just You, Just Me"), three performed only with piano ("You're Nearer," "A Foggy Day," "If Love Were All"); and many that utilize the entire orchestra (including "That's Entertainment," "Stormy Weather," "San Francisco"), all under the direction of musical arranger/conductor Mort Lindsey, who worked with Judy for the rest of her life.

Judy Garland had one of the greatest careers in entertainment history. Born as Frances Gumm in 1922, Judy was a child star in vaudeville before being signed by MGM at age 13. Starring in the most beloved and widely seen movie of all time -- 1939's "The Wizard Of Oz" -- made her a major star, brought her a special Academy Award, and led to other successes for the studio, including "Meet Me In St. Louis," "Easter Parade," "The Harvey Girls" and "Summer Stock." In 1951, she returned to her first love -- performing before a live audience -- and made a spectacular stage comeback, first at the London Palladium and later at the Palace Theater in New York. She continued to make records and television specials and was nominated for an Academy Award for her starring role in "A Star Is Born." During her 1960-1961 one-woman concert tour, which included the Carnegie Hall show, she performed at nearly 60 venues in the U.S. and Europe. The tour was followed by another Oscar-nominated performance in "Judgment At Nuremberg" and a weekly variety series for CBS in 1963-64. She continued working in television and on stage until her untimely death in London on June 22, 1969 at the age of 47.

Nearly 40 years after her most triumphant tour and performance captured live on JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL, Garland has continued to be adored and to be rediscovered by new generations. This deluxe two-CD set of her most famous recording also contains the original album artwork, photographs and liner notes. A new essay called "Two Hours of Pow" by noted Garland historian and producer Scott Schechter has been added to provide supplementary information on her fascinating life.

JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL joins a lengthy and growing catalogue of DCC's 24 Karat Gold compact disc line, the premium audiophile CDs on the market today. Only the original masters are used to create these flawless discs -- meticulously re-mastered by the acclaimed Steve Hoffman -- to bring an unparalleled audio clarity to the music and, in this case, assuring the ultimate visit with Judy. This will be a new listening experience for those familiar with old issues of the concert and a revelation to those who have never before spent an evening with JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL, the greatest live audio representation of one of the world's most enduring talents.

(For Media Coverage / Reviews / or for Further Information, please contact Scott Schechter via email at GARLANDS63@AOL.COM)

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Here is an article on the new release from the March issue of ICE Magazine :

THE ULTIMATE DIVA

At a time when rock music was at its all-time low, in the early '60s, more sophisticated artists like Judy Garland ruled the charts. The biggest album of 1961 was Garland's Judy at Carnegie Hall, which was released in July, eventually spent three months in the #1 position on Billboard's album chart and won Garland two Grammy's, one for album of the year.

On March 14, the DCC Compact Classics label will reissue Judy at Carnegie Hall as a double gold CD, an expensive proposition these days. "People have always told me that this was the greatest single night in the history of entertainment," label A&R chief Steve Hoffman tells ICE. "That's a hard thing to live up to, but she does. She was totally `on,' and the whole audience was right there for her. There were movie stars and celebrities in the audience, including the guy who wrote `Over the Rainbow.' Whether you like her or not, the excitement is infectious, and by halfway through, you're a Judy fan."

DCC had another good reason to go the distance with this release: first-time access to the original multi-track masters. "There are no fade outs between album sides," Hoffman says, "because it's taken from the original Carnegie Hall three-track master recording tapes. Every second of that concert is here. And the tapes were in excellent shape, like the day they were made."

Hoffman gave the tapes what he calls a "light remix" for this release. "It's nice hearing her not squashed and buried in the mix of the orchestra," he says. "She's out in front now, a lot louder than the orchestra. It's like she's standing right there."

Were any dialog or other elements judiciously edited? "Nope... I took nothing out," Hoffman says. "Whatever they caught on tape, whether it be a clunking microphone or whatever, it's all here. The only gap that occurs is when the engineer changed reels between two songs, but that's just momentary."

"Also, most other versions of this album added fake echo and fake applause to smooth over the rough spots. But we're presenting it just the way it sounded that night -- no fake echo, no fake applause."

Previous CD reissues of Judy at Carnegie Hall have used a substitute studio version of the song "Alone Together," because the live version couldn't be located, Hoffman says. But it's there on the multi-tracks, and is part of the new DCC release.

This album owes its very existence to a stroke of luck. "Judy happened to owe Capitol one album at the time," Hoffman says. "So Capitol said, `We're probably never going to get her into a studio again, so we'll just tape some concerts, and we might as well do Carnegie Hall because it's right here in New York.' So they brought their tape recorders down and captured this great night."

News release and article reprint courtesy Scott Schechter