Fred Astaire At MGM: Motion Picture Soundtrack Anthology [Soundtrack]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Rhino's two-CD collection is an extensive overview of Fred Astaire's years at MGM, most of which followed his return from premature "retirement" with Easter Parade in 1948. These songs aren't the equal of the set of great American standards collected on Rhino's companion volume Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers at RKO, and it would take encyclopedic knowledge of the films' visual elements to fully enjoy listening to some of the extended dance numbers. Still, the tunes include some of Fred's best, including "Stepping Out with My Baby," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "You're All the World to Me," "That's Entertainment," and "All of You." Photographs, an extensive appreciation by Will Friedwald, and song-by-song credits round out this welcome package. --David Horiuchi

Tracks:

Heigh-Ho, The Gang's All Here
Please Don't Monkey With Broadway
I've Got My Eyes On You
Here's To The Girls
This Heart Of Mine
If Swing Goes, I Go Too (Outtake)
Yolanda
Steppin' Out With My Baby
It Only Happens When I Dance With You
A Couple Of Swells
Easter Parade
You'd Be Hard To Replace (Extended Version)
Shoes With Wings On
A Weekend In The Country
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Manhattan Dowmbeat
Where Did You Get That Girl?
So Long, Oo-Long (How Long Ya Gonna Be Gone?)
Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You)
Medley: My Sunny Tennessee/Who's Sorry Now/So Long. Oo-Long...

Tracks:

Every Night At Seven
How Could You Belive Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life
You're All The World To Me
I Left My Hat In Haiti
Bachelor Dinner Song
Oops!
Seeing's Believing
Baby doll
I Wanna Be A Dancin' Man
By Myself
A Shine On Your Shoes
That's Entertainment!
Got A Bran' New Suite (Outtake)
Triplets
I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan
Paris Loves Lovers
All Of You ( Extended Version )
Fated To Be Mated (Extended Version)
The Ritz Roll And Rock

Amazon.com

Rhino's two-CD collection is an extensive overview of Fred Astaire's years at MGM, most of which followed his return from premature "retirement" with Easter Parade in 1948. These songs aren't the equal of the set of great American standards collected on Rhino's companion volume Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers at RKO, and it would take encyclopedic knowledge of the films' visual elements to fully enjoy listening to some of the extended dance numbers. Still, the tunes include some of Fred's best, including "Stepping Out with My Baby," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "You're All the World to Me," "That's Entertainment," and "All of You." Photographs, an extensive appreciation by Will Friedwald, and song-by-song credits round out this welcome package. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Never Again.......2000-10-12

Sobering fact: There will never again be another Fred Astaire. Sure, you'll hear someone say about so-and-so, "He's the next Fred Astaire!" I think not.

Fred Astaire is simply the greatest song-and-dance man the world has ever known. Why? Because he could do both very, very well. Fred is, of course, known primarily as a dancer, and it's unfortunate that not enough is said about his singing. In Fred Astaire at MGM, we get a few hours to sit and enjoy the vocal talents of Fred Astaire just as they were introduced in the MGM films in which he appeared. From Dancing Lady and Broadway Melody of 1940 to Silk Stockings, to those who've never heard his performances, this is indeed a rare treat.

Now, Astaire is not Crosby, nor is he Sinatra, but one thing he has mastered that the other singers haven't is the way he "sold a song." There is such tender persuasiveness as he handles the lyrics some songwriters, such as Gershwin, Berlin, and Kern, wrote especially for him. Astaire sings directly to the listener's heart, another talent which made him the legend he know him as today. In a word, he is simply untouchable.

A Great collection of songs!.......2000-06-28

I really love classic musical movies of the forties and fifties (especially MGM musicals) When I bought this CD i mostly bought it for the songs from silk stockings but because I like it so much I have to bribe myself to listen to something else! The first few songs have poor quality because the songs are from very early films of fred astaire. There are many great songs and my favorite are "this heart of mine" and "here's to the beautilful girls" because thier orchestrations are Gorgeous! There is a lot of instrumentals because of dance breaks (after all it's fred astaire) I bought this cd just for three songs and i am so glad i did because the music is so beautiful from the melodic "lime house blues" to the fast "fated to be mated" If you like fred astaire then it's almost impossible to not like this CD! BUY IT!

Yeah For Astaire!.......2000-06-28

This is a lovely two CD set that focuses on Fred Astaire's songs from the 11 musicals he made with MGM(See the list at the end of this review). The two CDs are aranged from his first musical with MGM,in 1933("Dancing Lady"), to his last in 1957 ("Silk Stockings"). All of the songs are digitally remastered and 8 of the 39 songs were recorded in stereo. Also included is a 43 page booket that contains detailed information about Fred Astaire,his carrier,his musicals, and the songs feautured on these 2 CDs.

My favorite songs included on these two CDs are: "Shoes with Wings On","A Shine On Your Shoes", the first from "The Barkleys Of Broadway", and the second from "The Band Wagon". I highly recomend this two-CD set, it really swings!

The songs on this 2 CD set are from the following movies:(Also noted are the number of songs from each movie that are on the 2 CDs,and the year the movie came out.) "Dancing Lady" (1933): 1 song "Broadway Melody Of 1940" (1940):2 songs "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946): 3 songs "Yolanda And The Thief" (1945): 1 song "Easter Parade" (1948): 4 songs "The Barkleys Of Broadway" (1949): 5 songs "Three Little Words" (1950): 4 songs "Royal Wedding" (1951): 4 songs "The Belle Of New York" (1952): 5 songs "The Band Wagon" (1953): 6 songs "Silk Stockings" (1957):4 songs

Music:

Music

Music