JUDY! JUDY! JUDY! the Judy Garland in Carnegie Hall poll

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I will have to listen and vote. Not sure i've ever heard the entire lp.

I think there are no bad excuses to listen to this all the way through in one sitting. It has a building mania that feels very singular as you are listening to it. I like how she remains very professional. For all her reputation, it never becomes bloodletting at the expense of craft. Of course this has a poignancy of its own, but when I listen to Judy I never really get hung up on all the biographical stuff that's meant to give her spice. As a singer she is expressive and compelling and her voice still sounds great at this point. Never sure whether I prefer this big band incarnation of Zing went the strings of my heart or the way she sang it originally in that movie with Mary Astor as her mother (not meet me in st louis.)

that was the movie, sweetz

i know i have this on vinyl, i imagine with fewer tracks.

btw plax i'm in London late November

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this is like a top 50 most important records record imo, I get that most people aren't gonna listen to it but I'd have expected more action on this poll. the entrance is hard to beat -- I mean, the build is incredible throughout, the audience/performer feedback loop to the fever pitch, but God that Trolley Song kills me

Judy is one of two singers I know who can make "Rock a Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" work for me and it's just incredible the voice she's still in after singing her heart out all that while

arrangement is killer on Rock a Bye too

wait I'm having a huge memory discord - that overture's instrumental, in my mind she sings "trolley" but no. did she ever do "trolley" on "The Judy Garland Show"

Gotta go with "Alone Together." She absolutely nails it

You Go To My Head is great.

the remaster sounded particularly good when i heard it; much clearer and cleaner and more of a live-on-stage ambience; she his the mic a couple of times and you can really hear it. that sort of thing.

Even on the original those mic hits are jarring, I wonder why they didn't just edit them out

I like the moment at the end when the crowd shouts for more and Judy's like "Really?" and then "We'll do Chicago" as if she's suddenly in an after hours club singing whatever she wants to sing and then she launches into a relaxed and confident-sounding rendition of Chicago

edit them out? hm yeah well i mean this is that whole 'remastering should/shouldn't remove mistakes' debate again. like hisses and mic pops and drop outs on Beatles remasters.

also worth a listen is Rufus Wainright's take on You Go To My Head where he leaves in the bit where she forgets the words, like the card that he is.

I meant edit the mic noise out back in 1961 before they became an "authentic" part of the recording

(apologize for the crap wording)

this concert is such an important moment in American musical history that it should be heard as close to you-are-there as possible imo

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Damn, my vote didn't go through - should say one for "Alone Together"

god this is the best

I should listen to this. I like Judy Garland, The Pirate, The Clock, A Star Is Born and especially Meet Me in St. Louis (and yes, The Wizard of Oz) are all truly great films and number among my favorites, but I've never put on any of her records.

Wish I had discussed the origin of the thread title bit with Morbs when I had the chance.

FWIW, the DCC Compact Classics reissue is worth tracking down. A new mixdown from the original three-track, it only uses a hint of reverb (not digital reverb, a real echo chamber) as if you were leaning against the stage like so many fans were in the photos taken of that night. (The original stereo mix swamps Garland's vocal in reverb, which was a misbegotten trend with stereo mixes of that era - mono mixes weren't subjected to the same treatment.)

If you're lucky, you may be able to find a copy for $50, which is possible if you're patient, but otherwise you can download an mp3 copy here.

I am more open to this than I have been in the past but the stage banter still kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.