 Broadway First Take, Vol. 1 Broadway First Take, Vol. 2 Judy Barnett Randy Klein Tommy Flanagan Ticktock Minutes Kuni-Leml   Jazzheads Town Crier Recordings  |
First Take, Vol. 1
This is the first volume in the fascinating Broadway First Take series of CD releases on the Slider Music /Stage label. The series features the newly-discovered, VERY FIRST studio recordings of the now-classic songs from the legendary shows of American Musical Theater. On this album, for the only time in the history of these legendary songs, we hear them with a purity never achieved again -- just as the writers wrote them. The composers/lyricists of the shows were in the studio at these recording sessions, guiding and supervising. Jerry Herman was there for Hello, Dolly!, Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe for Gigi, and Frank Loesser for How To Succeed. All the recordings derive from the original studio demo masters of these shows. It is this very aspect of the project which makes it unusual, and of interest. These recordings, mostly dating from the 1960's and 1970's, were made before the shows ever became shows. The demos were produced to convince popular singers of the day to record selections from the scores -- before the shows opened -- so that at the time of the show's premiere, the music would already be popular. During this golden age, when covers of Broadway songs were a staple of the pop world, leading theatre writers and their music publishers saw the value of making these demo recordings. As the recordings on this volume indicate, care and money were lavished to create polished masters, even though they were destined to be heard by only a handful. The results are no mere intellectual curiosities, but a listening experience of tremendous charm -- capturing the freshness of these brand new creations -- as well as one of fascinating musical detail (an ethereal, unusual approach to "Ribbons Down My Back" and interesting, alternate lyrics to "Dancing"). |
||
 |
|||
