Judy at Carnegie Hall

Judy at Carnegie Hall is a double-LP (re-released decades later as an extended, two-disc CD) live recording of a concert by Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with backing orchestra conducted by Mort Lindsey. It was recorded on the night of Sunday April 23, 1961.

Garland's live performances were a big success at the time and her record company wanted to capture that energy onto a recording. The double album became a smash, both critically and commercially.

The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making Garland the first woman to win the award, and spent thirteen weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart.

Garland's career had moved from movies in the 1940s to vaudeville and elaborate stage shows in the 1950s. She also suffered from drug and alcohol abuse, and, by 1959, had become overweight and ill and needed extensive medical treatment. After a long convalescence, weight loss, and vocal rest, she returned in 1960 to the concert stage with a simple program of "just Judy", omitting the vaudeville and comic acts that usually preceded her. Garland's 1960–1961 tour of Europe and North America was a success, and her stage presence was highly regarded. At the time Garland was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer". Audiences were documented as leaving their seats and crowding around the stage to be closer to Garland, and often called her back for encore after encore, even asking her to repeat a song after her book of arrangements was completed.

Accolades

The double album was an enormous best seller, charting for 73 weeks on the Billboard charts, including 13 weeks at No. 1, and being certified Gold. It won four Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Engineered Album, and Best Album Cover. It has never been out of print.

In 2001, after the television miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows showed Judy Davis recreating Garland's 1961 Carnegie Hall appearance, the album was rereleased in a slightly different form, and it appeared again on the charts, rising to number 20 for internet sales, and number 26 on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums.

In 2003, the album was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Track listing

2001 compact disc release

In 2001, Capitol released the album as a double Compact Disc set (catalog number 72435-27876-2-3). This edition has the songs in their original running order, and includes material that was not on the original LP set: Garland's monologues and comments to the audience and orchestra; the orchestra preparing for the next number; and a false start on "Come Rain or Come Shine". The CD release purports to reproduce the concert as the audience heard it, "warts and all".

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

• The Judy Garland Online Discography "Judy At Carnegie Hall" pages.
• Library of Congress essay on recordings addition to the National Recording Registry.
• "A Lot to Learn from 'Judy at Carnegie Hall'", David Was, National Public Radio, June 10, 2006.

1. Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall
2. Judy Garland
3. Christian Hebel
4. List of awards and nominations received by Judy Garland
5. Rufus Wainwright
6. List of Judy Garland performances
7. Judy Garland discography
8. At Carnegie Hall
9. List of songs recorded by Rufus Wainwright
10. Rufus Does Judy at Capitol Studios
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13. Grammy Award for Album of the Year
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