Memorial Show [Box set] [Enhanced] [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
A seriously impressive array of stars (Willy & The Poorboys feat. Bill Wyman, Mick Jones & Big Audio Dynamite, Steve Harley, Roger Taylor, The Spiders From Mars feat. Def Leppard & Bill Nelson, Ian Hunter, Roger Daltrey, & more) turned out to pay tribute to the late & extremely talented Mick Ronson. Recorded at London Labbatts Apollo, April 1994. Disc three is visual only, it features 'It's A Kind Of Magic' & 'All The Young Dudes'. Includes 28-page full color booklet. 24 tracks. Standard double jewel case. Pilot/Alchemy. 2003.

Tracks:

Opening Comments
Prelude #2
Commentary
An American In Paris
Commentary
Eulogy
Swanee
The Man I Love
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Station Identification : Commentary
1st Movement : Allegro
2nd Movement : Andate con moto
Concerto In F: 3rd Movement : Allegro con brio

Tracks:

Intermission : Mrs. Leiland Atherton Irish; Oscar Hammerstein Tribute; Edward G. Robinson Tribute; Commentary
Introduction To The Second Half
Anthology : The Man I Love, Liza, Lady Be Good, Somebody Loves Me, Do It Again, I Got Rhythm, Wintergreen For President, Strike Up The Band
Commentary
Porgy And Bess: Introduction And Summertime
Commentary
Porgy And Bess: My Man's Gone Now
Porgy And Bess: The Buzzard Song
Porgy And Bess: The Train Song
Porgy And Bess: I've Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
Porgy And Bess: Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Porgy And Bess: I'm On My Way
Commentary
Rhapsody In Blue

Customer Reviews:

An Absolute Must For Lovers of Music and History.......2001-01-20

This album contains the best works of George Gershwin, played by the very best artists of the period. The quality of the recording is excellent, actually amazing considering that this recording was made in 1937. The music of the master, George Gershwin, and the authenticity of the playing is more than enough reason to buy the CD set. But there is more: The album consists of the complete two and one half hour historic radio program, broadcast as the announcer says "by short wave to the four corners of the earth." It is so moving that you can feel like you are experiencing it live. The 16 pages of liner notes that come with CD set have been carefully researched for historical accuracy and competent critical evaluation of the music. One could have wished the producers would have found room on the cover of the CD set to list Charles Previn, who conducted Concerto in F, which accounted for approximately thirty minutes of the playing time and for Nathaniel Shilkret and Nathaniel Finston who, as conductors, were the featured artists for another approximate half hour of playing time. One could only wish that there were only such minor complaints with all musical recordings. The producers deserve thanks for making this wonderful piece of history available to the public.

A real collector's item, especially for old-time radio buffs.......2000-09-24

This recording preserves,for all posterity and in quite listenable sound for its time, one of the most important and moving cultural events of the early twentieth century--the full-length memorial tribute to George Gershwin, the USA's greatest composer ever,IMHO.

This was broadcast on CBS Radio in September,1937, barely two months after the composer's shocking and untimely death from a brain tumor at the age of thirty-eight. All of his most famous pieces for concert hall are heard here,and the advantage of hearing them in a live performance is that they are not edited, as they often would have been in recordings made during that era. (Gershwin's own recording of the "Rhapsody in Blue",made in the 1920's in a recording studio,is rather severely cut.)

Many of the performers, such as Fred Astaire and Oscar Levant, give memorable performances,but there are a few clinkers. The great German conductor Otto Klemperer may be brilliant in Beethoven and Bach, but he was not the man to conduct Gershwin's Second Prelude, heard here in an orchestral arrangement. He has no feel for jazz idioms whatsoever, and he makes this slow, blues-like piece sound like a dirge out of Mahler or Bruckner. It is,sad to say, the worst performance of the Prelude I have ever heard. And whatever possessed the producers of this concert to get Lily Pons,with her pronounced French accent,to sing "Summertime", rather than an American soprano,which they could have gotten easily? It throws the whole "Porgy and Bess" segment out of whack.

That "Porgy" segment, however, is one of the most valuable historical documents ever recorded. It presents members of the original 1935 cast of the opera performing unedited versions of several arias,duets and ensemble pieces from the opera, conducted by Alexander Smallens, the original conductor. And it presents perhaps the only surviving recording of Ruby Elzy,the original Serena, singing "My Man's Gone Now". (Miss Elzy was NOT featured on the so-called Broadway cast album; Anne Brown,the original Bess,sang Serena's music on that one,as well as singing Bess and Clara's arias.) And we finally get to hear Todd Duncan perform "The Buzzard Song", which was cut from the opera for a very long time.

Fred Astaire's spoken tribute to Gershwin is very moving, and at one point, his voice is heard cracking with emotion. The announcer and narrator, however, speaks in that overenunciated, dramatic, actorish style which was apparently the norm for radio announcers of that period. He sounds as if he were getting ready to either impersonate Orson Welles, or audition for "Hamlet", and his style of speaking is almost quaint nowadays.

But this album is still irreplaceable.

An update to this review - This edition of the memorial concert is apparently out of print, and the concert itself has been reissued as part of the ongoing CD series "The Radio Years". DO NOT BUY THAT VERSION. It is vastly inferior to this one. This version has spectacular sound for its time, and the new reissue sounds as if had been recorded through a tin can. And not only is the sound bad on the reissue, but there is tons of surface noise and the program itself seems to be abridged.

We can only hope that the edition listed on this page will be re-issued some day. This historic concert deserves no less.

Average customer rating:

This Merry-Go-Round Doesn't Break Down!
Saluting the Wurlitzer 165
A must-have for anyone who loves band organs!
For certain ambient moods....
The happiest music on earth!

Catch the Brass Ring

Manufacturer: Klavier
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Catch Another Brass Ring (Nostalgic Carousel Music)
The Enchanted Carousel: Old Fashioned Band Organ Music
Carousel Memories

ASIN: B00000DUWQ
Release Date: 1987-01-01

Tracks:

Alexander's Ragtime Band
Beside a Babbling Brook
You Gotta See Mamma Every Night
Old Reliable March
Missouri Waltz
Beer Barrel Polka
Yes, We have no Bananas
Barney Google
Boston Commandery March
When My sugar Walks Down the Street
Oh Katherina
Paddlin' Madeline Home
Always
Alley Cat
Doo Wacka Doo
King of the Air March
Show Me the Way to Go Home
I Love My Baby, By Baby Loves Me
Me and My Shadow
Louise
American Patrol (March)
All Alone
Bye Bye Blackbird
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
Agravatin'Papa
Yes sir That's my Baby
Roses From the South
Ja Da
Heaven's Artillery March
Waltz
Goodnite Waltz

Album Description

Old-fashioned Merry-Go-Round music including favorites such as "The Beer Barrel Polka", "Bye-Bye Blackbird", "The Missouri Waltz" and 28 others.

Customer Reviews:

This Merry-Go-Round Doesn't Break Down!.......2005-04-12

Since several other reviewers have given very good descriptions of this CD, I won't re-hash here, but simply say I agree with what they've said. I will add my two cents on a few points not mentioned, though.

Since the Wurlitzer 165 band organ upon which these musical selections are played is in such good condition, we get a musically idealized version of what we once heard at the merry-go-round. The sonic reality often was quite a bit less, with imperfectly working instruments and the sound of the drive motor as it pumped away to turn the carousel, not to mention the noise of the crowd and the children shouting and squealing. This is no criticism of the CD, though, since it only purports to present the music; it would take a lot more than a CD to present a realistic facsimile of the total experience.

The liner notes are brief, but provide some interesting background on the origin of carousels and the words themselves. I think the writer, Tupper L. Turner, deserves credit for his/her efforts.

I was surprised to see Track #30 listed as "Waltz (Title unknown)" when opera lovers will immediately recognize it as two tunes from Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore" (The Troubadour). The first tune is the soprano/tenor duet in the Miserere scene of Act IV; the second is the baritone aria "Il balen del suo sorriso." In any case, neither is a waltz proper, for both are in 6/8, not 3/4 time.

The selection of tunes, of course, depends on availability of the paper rolls which encoded them. I liked most of the tunes, familiar and otherwise, pretty well, and with 31 tracks there's quite a bit of all kinds there, including "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down."

Overall, then, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the CD and the appropriateness of its content. There are several other CDs of this nature available, I know, but I'm not familiar enough with them to offer any comparisons. I just know that I like this one and am happy to have it in my collection. And I suspect that little children will love it!

Saluting the Wurlitzer 165.......2004-12-30

It's a toughie reviewing this album - I don't know quite how to rate it for the everyday listener, seeing as how band organ music is definitely an acquired taste. However, that said, if you happen to be a band organ nut, you're in for a treat with this CD. It's about as good as it gets.

Kudos to Klavier records for making a recording of this wonderful Wurlitzer 165 band organ - it sounds like a dream, and has transferred relatively well to CD format. My only complaint is that the glockenspiel sounds rather abrasive, and gets really grating when recorded onto a cassette tape. Otherwise, the album is pristine.

The tunes featured are all classic band organ offerings, and the rolls used are in splendid shape. The organ's mechanism performs beautifully - whatever "prominent Midwestern collection", as the liner notes read, it comes from is taking very good care of it.

Basically, this, alongside its sister album "Catch Another Brass Ring", stands as an ideal representation of what a Wurlitzer 165 should sound like. Band organ lovers will adore it. The average Joe? Hard to say...but it's certainly worth a try.

A must-have for anyone who loves band organs!.......2003-05-17

This is the real thing,not some [poor],boring pipe organ imitation.You'll feel like you're really at the fair again when you listen to this CD!

For certain ambient moods...........2002-10-13

Play this CD on a system in another room, at low volume, for that ineffable feeling that there's a tumble-down old-fashioned trolley park just over the next hill.

The happiest music on earth!.......2002-09-17

This is the perfect antidote for the blues! It is absolutely impossible to feel down once you begin listening to this CD! I use it to give me a lift whenever I need it. I DARE you to not giggle with glee upon pressing the "play" button! If you have fond remembrances of carousel music as a child, you will get goosebumps and feel warm and fuzzy all at once when you listen to this! Why take anti-depressant drugs when you can cure the blahs quickly and naturally with this CD? An exceptionally clear recording, I bumped it down to four stars ONLY because I liked the musical selection slightly better on their follow-up album, "Catch Another Brass Ring."

Average customer rating:

The Dinah Shore Memorial Album
Dinah Shore
Manufacturer: Hall of Sermon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Classic | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000008RYE
Release Date: 1994-05-03

Music Review:

Music Review

Music Review