A Star Is Born [1954 Soundtrack] [2004 Bonus Tracks]

• Main performer: Judy Garland
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 78:00
• Release Date: 1954

Review

The 1954 remake of A Star Is Born, starring Judy Garland, marked a major cinematic comeback for the actress, her first film since being dropped by MGM in 1950 and a major box-office hit that earned her an Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack album, which, its initial release, consisted solely of Garland vocal performances (two of them, "Here's What I'm Here For" and "Lose That Long Face," cut from the film shortly after it opened), marked another kind of comeback for her. As with her film career, it was her first recording since 1950's Summer Stock soundtrack to achieve commercial success; it peaked at number four on Billboard's LP chart and never went out of print over the next 50 years, with an expanded version released in 1988 and this even longer one in 2004. In its original version, it consisted of seven tracks, six of them written by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin. Five of those are good tunes, but one, the Oscar-nominated torch song "The Man That Got Away," became a standard and a signature song for Garland. The other highlight of the album is the 15-minute "Born in a Trunk" medley, a virtual musical autobiography that seems to refer as much to Garland herself as to the character she plays in the movie. Leonard Gershe and an uncredited Roger Edens (Garland's longtime associate who had written much special material for her in the past and could not be named because he was still under contract at MGM) assembled it and wrote connective material, resulting in a tour de force. The 1988 reissue added an "Overture" and sound effects, and it was the first version released in true stereo. For this 50-year anniversary release, the reissue producers have gone back to the drawing board, adding more than 35 minutes of material, largely consisting of instrumental tracks in which musical director Ray Heindorf (who earned an Oscar nomination for his trouble), probably with the help of orchestrator Skip Martin (who goes unmentioned in the album credits) used the Arlen melodies to create background music for the film. There are also alternate takes, outtakes, and a longer edit of "The Man That Got Away" (with an instrumental introduction) to pad things out to a CD-filling 78 minutes. It's really more than anyone but film buffs would want, but that's what's come to be expected in the later CD era. What would have been revelatory, but apparently do not exist, are takes of the Arlen/Gershwin songs "I'm off the Downbeat" and "Green Light Ahead," written for the film, but not used and, presumably, never recorded. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Overture)	2:05
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Night of the Stars: The Show Heindorf) / Why (Swanstrom, Davis, Coots) / Salute to the Lions (Sears)	1:41
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Gotta Have Me Go With You)	3:41
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Norman at Home - Gotta Have Me Go With You (Outtake))	2:39
J. Melis	Pasion Oriental (used in the film A Star is Born, 1954)	2:52
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (The Man That Got Away)	6:25
Lew Pollack	Cheatin' On Me	2:23
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (I'm Quitting the Band... - The Man That Got Away (Partial Outtake))	1:40
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (The Man That Got Away (Instrumental Version - Partial Outtake))	5:04
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Esther in the Boarding House - The Man That Got Away (Partial Outtake))	2:30
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Oliver Niles Studio - Lose That Long Face)	0:40
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Esther's Awful Makeup - The Man That Got Away)	1:48
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (First Day in the Studio - The Man That Got Away)	0:48
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Born in a Trunk (Medley): Swanee (Gershwin, Caesar) / Born in a Trunk (Gershe) / I'll Get By (Turk,)	15:09
Johnny Green	Easy Come, Easy Go	1:55
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Here's What I'm Here For)	3:11
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (The Honeymoon - The Man That Got Away / It's a New World)	1:30
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (It's a New World)	2:29
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Someone At Last)	6:46
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Lose That Long Face)	3:58
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Norman Overhears the Conversation - It's A New World)	2:08
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (It's A New World (Alternate Take))	1:52
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (The Last Swim - The Man That Got Away (Outtake))	1:38
Harold Arlen	A Star is Born (1954), film score (Finale - End Credits)	1:41
Gene Austin	When My Sugar Walks Down the Street (from the musical 'Grab Bag')	0:32
Unspecified	The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial (for the 1954 version of "A Star Is Born")	0:55

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