Judy at Carnegie Hall

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Judy at Carnegie Hall
Live album by
ReleasedJuly 10, 1961 (1961-07-10)
RecordedApril 23, 1961
VenueCarnegie Hall
GenreVocal pop
Length122:51
LabelCapitol
ProducerAndy Wiswell
Judy Garland chronology
That's Entertainment!
(1960)
Judy at Carnegie Hall
(1961)
Judy Garland Live!
(1962)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]

Judy at Carnegie Hall is a double-LP (re-released decades later as an extended, two-disc CD) live recording of a concert by Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in New York, with backing orchestra led by Mort Lindsey. This concert appearance, on the night of Sunday April 23, 1961, has been called "the greatest night in show business history".[3][by whom?]

Garland's live performances were a big success at the time and her record company wanted to capture that energy onto a recording. The double album became a smash, both critically and commercially.

The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making Garland the first woman to win the award, and spent thirteen weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart.

Garland's career had moved from movies in the 1940s to vaudeville and elaborate stage shows in the 1950s. She also suffered from drug and alcohol abuse, and, by 1959, had become overweight and ill and needed extensive medical treatment. After a long convalescence, weight loss, and vocal rest, she returned in 1960 to the concert stage with a simple program of "just Judy," omitting the vaudeville and comic acts that usually preceded her. Garland's 1960–1961 tour of Europe and North America was a success, and her stage presence was highly regarded. At the time Garland was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Audiences were documented as leaving their seats and crowding around the stage to be closer to Garland, and often called her back for encore after encore, even asking her to repeat a song after her book of arrangements was completed.

Accolades[edit]

The double album was an enormous best seller, charting for 73 weeks on the Billboard charts, including 13 weeks at No. 1, and being certified Gold. It won four Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Engineered Album, and Best Album Cover.[4] The album has never been out of print.

In 2001, after the television miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows showed Judy Davis recreating Garland's 1961 Carnegie Hall appearance, the album was rereleased in a slightly different form, and it appeared again on the charts, rising to number 20 for internet sales, and number 26 on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums.[5]

In 2003, the album was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Track listing[edit]

Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Who Cares (As Long as You Care for Me)"George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin1:46
2."Puttin' On the Ritz"Irving Berlin2:45
3."How Long Has This Been Going On?"George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin4:12
4."Just You, Just Me"Jesse Greer, Raymond Klages2:16
5."The Man That Got Away"Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin5:03
6."San Francisco"Walter Jurmann, Gus Kahn, Bronisław Kaper4:45
7."I Can't Give You Anything But Love"Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh6:46
8."That's Entertainment!"Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz6:38
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Come Rain or Come Shine"Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer7:23
2."You're Nearer"Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart2:33
3."A Foggy Day"George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin3:04
4."If Love Were All"Noël Coward2:53
5."Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"James F. Hanley4:04
6."Stormy Weather"Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler6:11

2001 compact disc release[edit]

In 2001, Capitol released Judy at Carnegie Hall as a double Compact Disc set (catalog number 72435-27876-2-3). This edition has the songs in their original running order, and includes material that was not on the original LP set: Garland's monologues and comments to the audience and orchestra; the orchestra preparing for the next number; and a false start on "Come Rain or Come Shine." The CD release purports to reproduce the concert as the Carnegie Hall audience heard it, "warts and all."

Charts[edit]

Chart (1961-2001) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[6] 13
US Billboard 200[7] 1
US Top Catalog Albums (Billboard)[8] 26

Certifications and sales[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[10] Gold 2,000,000[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ AllMusic review
  2. ^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 273.
  3. ^ Me and My Shadows: Life With Judy Garland (2001)
  4. ^ "4th Annual Grammy Awards 1961". The Recording Academy. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  5. ^ Bronson, Fred (May 17, 2001). "Ms. Jackson Debuts Above 'Ms. Jackson'". Billboard. Vol. 113, no. 11. p. 106. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ^ "Judy Garland | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  7. ^ "Pop LP's Years Ago November 27, 1961". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 26, 1966. pp. 38–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. ^ "Judy Garland Chart History (Top Catalog Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  9. ^ Parish, James Robert; Pitts, Michael R. (2003). Hollywood Songsters: Garland to O'Connor. Taylor & Francis. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-415-94333-8.
  10. ^ "American album certifications – Judy Garland – Judy at Carnegie Hall". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links[edit]