Amazon.com essential recording
Lions and tigers and bears, the yellow brick road, gamboling midgets, warnings scrawled high above by a skywriting witch: No movie ever imprinted itself on young imaginations or endured in adult memory more than MGM's classic 1939 musical, and no movie score ever hooked as forcefully into our collective cultural memory. This exemplary soundtrack finally treats this deserved classic to a thoughtful and comprehensive rendering that confirms the enduring power of Harold Arlen's original music and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg's lyrics. On film, the songs unreeled as a mixture of discrete songs and multithemed medleys with frequent reprises, a presentation preserved here, epitomized in the "Munchkinland Musical Sequence." If not as concise as Bobby McFerrin's legendary, hilarious concert compression of the entire musical story, this telling of
The Wizard of Oz relives the film just as vividly. "Over the Rainbow" is presented here with multiple alternate takes, making it a must for fans of Judy Garland.
--Sam Sutherland
From Amazon.co.uk
The Wizard of Oz is a treasured part of our cinematic heritage; a colourful fantasy with a succession of perfectly integrated songs, and a glowing tribute to the irreplaceable Judy Garland. Her natural acting skill and magical way with a song were very much in place even at the tender age of 17, and no matter how many times you hear "Over the rainbow" (the most famous song to have almost ended up on the cutting room floor), her tender, wistful performance never fails to cast its spell. The rest of Arlen and Harburg's joyful score also refuses to age; sequences like Dorothy's introduction to the Munchkins, and the solos for the three characters she meets on the Yellow Brick Road are as sophisticated as they are amusing. It is also the little details in Herbert Stothart's background score, like the furious peddling theme for Miss Gulch, that add much to the film's priceless charm. This handsomely packaged, comprehensive two-disc set contains the entire score, as well as out-takes and alternate takes, making it a wonderfully potent souvenir of a timeless classic. A
single-disc album of highlights from the score is also available --
Robert Seeley
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