| A Star Is Born (Expanded 1954 Film Soundtrack) | 
 enlarge | Artists: Judy Garland, Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin
Label: Sony
Category: Music
Buy New: $19.95
Buy New/Used from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:   (21 reviews)
Sales Rank: 117716
Format: Extra Tracks, Original Recording Remastered, Soundtrack
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.6 x 0.5
MPN: 65965
UPC: 074646596524
EAN: 0074646596524
ASIN: B00009KU7U
Release Date: May 18, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Overture | | • | Night Of The Stars | | • | Gotta Have Me Go With You | | • | Norman At Home | | • | Pasion Oriental | | • | The Man That Got Away | | • | Cheatin' On Me | | • | 'I'm Quitting The Band...' | | • | The Man That Got Away (Instrumental Version) | | • | Esther In The Boarding House | | • | Oliver Niles Studio | | • | Esther's Awful Makeup | | • | First Day In The Studio | | • | Born In A Trunk (Medley) | | • | Easy Come, Easy Go | | • | Here's What I'm Here For | | • | The Honeymoon | | • | It's A New World | | • | Someone At Last | | • | Lose That Long Face | | • | Norman Overhears The Conversation | | • | It's A New World (Alternate Take) | | • | The Last Swim | | • | Finale - End Credits | | • | When My Sugar Walks Down The Street | | • | The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
What a Voice, What a Score... August 11, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
...and what everything else. I got this CD as a fan of Judy Garland, but was pleasantly surprised that it had some of the best parts of the score, too. It's definitely the jazziest score to a Garland film, and every note is beautiful. I wish 'Born in a Trunk' was broken up into more tracks -- this performance of 'Swanee' was too good to be crammed into the middle of a fifteen-minute track -- but besides that there is nothing bad I can say about the CD. Everything about it is perfect.
Forgive the cheesy title, but a star is re-born once again. July 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In 1954, Judy Garland gave the most acclaimed performance of her career as a musical movie star in George Cukor's musical remake of the 1937 straight-up drama A Star Is Born. After its premiere, the film was heavily edited and would not be seen in its near complete form again for nearly thirty years. Judy was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, but lost to Grace Kelly, to the chagrin of many Garland fans to this day, as well as many celebrities of the day. (Groucho Mark famously called it the biggest robbery since Brinks.)
In all that mess, the soundtrack was released by Columbia on vinyl record in mono and has since never been out of print and was a best-seller for years. In 1988, Columbia took the musical numbers and the overture directly from the film's stereo soundtrack (As, sadly, stereo soundtrack masters no longer existed.) and released those onto CD. The sound quality was somewhat horrendous, but digital audio was still in its infancy and not much else could be done.
In 2004, for the film's 50th anniversary, Columbia, Legacy, and Sony Music Soundtrax released this incredible new expanded remastered CD reissue of the film's soundtrack. This is the most complete soundtrack you can find and it's definitely worth upgrading from your 1988 CD release.
This CD contains not only all of the songs, including an extended intro to The Man That Got Away which was shortened in the film as well as the complete intro to Gotta Have Me Go With You, but also contains a near complete release of the instrumental score, which includes whole tracks and parts of tracks that were not used in the film, as well as an alternate vocal take of It's A New World, the deleted When My Sugar Walks Down The Street segment from Born In A Trunk, and a static-y complete version of The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial, which was taken from a worn acetate playback disc - the only complete recording in existence.
The soundtrack is taken from a mixing and matching of several elements, such as acetate playback discs, the original Columbia mono soundtrack album masters, and the film's 4-track stereo soundtrack, among others. This means that the soundtrack goes back and forth from being stereo and mono. However, this does not detract from my listening experience any, and frankly, I can't tell much of a difference. One interesting note is that Gotta Have Me Go With You uses both the film's soundtrack and the mono soundtrack album masters to create a faithful listening experience, from the mono instrumental intro to the song itself, which except for a short portion, is taken from the film's 4-channel soundtrack. (The mono portion of the vocal part was used to edit out some plot-related screams that were present in the 1988 release. This method of retaining the aural integrity of Gotta Have Me Go With You was also used when it was included on the Rhino Records compilation Judy Garland In Hollywood: Her Greatest Movie Hits.)
Despite the fact that this soundtrack is taken from several different surviving elements and sadly not from a single set of elements, as Warner Bros. didn't have the foresight to save everything like MGM and Disney did, this is an excellent presentation of this landmark soundtrack. The sound quality for the most part is excellent, and the liner notes are also wonderful. Garland historian John Fricke writes a small essay on the production of the film and an annotated guide to the soundtrack, which gives a synopsis of the plot and also indicates where the tracks from the CD appear in the film. Producer Didier C. Deutsch also writes a small essay on the creation of this CD release, giving notes on the elements and some specific tracks.
Amazon is offering this soundtrack at an excellent price, and I have to say, it's a bargain for a soundtrack of this caliber and sound quality. Any Garland fan or movie soundtrack fan should have this in their collection.
A Star Is Born Soundtrack Review January 10, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A really excellent soundtrack to go with an excellent movie. This is some of Judy Garland's best material in both music and acting. The power of her voice on "The Man That Got Away" is amazing. "Born In A Trunk", "It's A New World", "Someone At Last" and "Lose That Long Face" are other recommended tracks. This is a MUST HAVE for all you Judy Garland fans.
Judy at her peak! May 30, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Judy Garland's finest film work was "A Star Is Born." Because she and her husband, Sid Luft, were also the producers, it was the most intensely involving production she had ever undertaken. The laser focus of her brilliant talent was never before realized on film to this degree. Also, she had gained tremendous personal confidence due to the unprecedented audience response to the concerts she had done between her MGM films and ASIB. The love with which the live audience embraced her, brought new heights to her acting as well.
The production values of the film were top of the line and it shows on this fine CD. It's a chance to experience Judy's talent on a more intimate basis without the visuals.
A must-have for every serious Garland collector.
a "Star" shines like never before... April 27, 2005
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
This reissued remaster of A STAR IS BORN is a must-own for fans of the movie, and in particular those who were somewhat dissatified by the previous CD edition (CK 44389). That edition was great for offering us most of the main numbers in stereo/mono mix but was marred by poor analogue distortion and other remastering problems (though this was the best that could have been done at the time). This new edition (CK 65965) presents the entire score, including background and incidental sections as well as the cut material, in a sparkling new package.
The big bonus for getting this latest edition is for Garland's complete rendition of "The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial" (without the dialogue of James Mason). This has been taken from a rare acetate master, so while the sound quality is not the best, having the number complete without interrupting dialogue is a more than ample compensation. You will notice too that "Lose That Long Face" has been newly mastered from a better stereo source (cutting out the thunder-crashes that were heard on the first CD master, and Garland's singing no longer has those violent analogue fluctuations during the introduction). "Gotta Have Me Go with You" is now presented without the screams and noises, in a new master from the mono soundtrack.
"When My Baby Walks Down the Street", a section cut from the "Born in a Trunk" sequence, has been added as a bonus track. This sparkling-new STAR IS BORN reissue is a great tribute to what is most definitely Judy Garland's greatest hour on film.
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