Editorial Reviews

Of the promised Turner/MGM soundtrack releases from Rhino, this one is among the most anticipated. Fortunately for the discerning soundtrack collector, it's well worth the wait -- fans of musicals in general should not miss this one, and even those who know the Singin' in the Rain score backwards and forwards will likely want this double-CD edition as a reference source. Producers Marilee Bradford and Bradley Flanagan have gone back to the original music sources to retrieve all the musical material from the film in its optimum form. They've also added several outtakes, including the unused version of "You Are My Lucky Star" (which has appeared in one prior edition of this soundtrack, from Sony Music Special Products), as well as a brace of supplementary material, including an alternate version of the main title (in instrumental form; the vocal angles were lost). But on top of that, they've included a whole second CD, 78 minutes of music and built around the preceding versions of the songs featured in Singin' in the Rain, going all the way back to Charles King's 1929-vintage renditions of "The Broadway Melody" and "You Were Meant for Me," and including James Burroughs' "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" and Cliff Edwards' performance of the title song. These extend up to Judy Garland's performance of the latter from Little Nellie Kelly (a decade after Edwards) and Frances Langford's version of "Broadway Rhythm" -- one only wishes the makers could also have included Spanky's version of the same tune from The Our Gang Follies of 1938. The remainder of the disc is filled out with material that can hardly be considered filler -- orchestral excerpts of the Singin' in the Rain score and lyricist Arthur Freed singing two of his own songs, and it finishes with an alternate version of "The Broadway Melody Ballet" from Singin' in the Rain. Additionally, a number of the tracks from the movie are newly mixed to stereo from the original studio angles. The remastering job on all of it -- even those 1920s and 1930s recordings retrieved from film releases and never intended to be heard freestanding and fully exposed -- has stood the test of the time across more than a decade, and runs circles around prior issues of this soundtrack. The material from 1929 is a bit compressed, but the 1930s-vintage recordings reveal little or none of the boxiness that one expects from film-based recordings of the period. And to top it off, the makers have provided copious liner notes (including a very witty and informative article from scenarist/screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green). The whole release should be irresistible to musical buffs and soundtrack collectors, lovers of great American songs, and nostalgia mavens, but it will almost certainly also dazzle and delight casual listeners, who should not be put off by either the depth of the double-CD set or its price. This is a bargain, given what's here, and also as much fun as the movie from which it's derived. ~ Steven McDonald & Bruce Eder, All Music Guide All Music Guide

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