Carousel (1956 Film Soundtrack) [Original recording remastered, Cast Recording, Soundtrack]

Response to David Pabian's review:

My review was not in error, as Mr. Pabian expects. The review was for the original CD release, not this expanded version. Amazon lifted it out of that spot and dropped it here, which of course makes it anachronistic. Why they did it without reading it is certainly an inept decision.

This overblown "completeitis" has got to stop. Some of the stupidist mistakes of this movie, e.g., the prelude in heaven with Billy cleaning stars, are lovingly included here - where, if the actual credits music needed to be used (arguable), it could've been faded into, without MacRae's whistling and spittin' on stars. The original, beautifully played, soundtrack album Carousel Waltz is now relegated to Appendix status, and terrible sonics accompany dancers' footstomping in the "new" expanded musical sequences, taken directly from the soundtrack. There was a reason soundtrack recordings were studio (and sometimes studio-for-recordings-only) performances. The proportions were right, the timings were correct for an overall BALANCED listening experience. These gawdawful expanded editions, often with dialogue thrown in, completely throw off those balances. An argument might be made for expanded sequences appropriate to CDs longer playing time than the standard L.P. 45min., but possibly only if those sequences were still available in their original studio-recorded, pre release-print mix. In this recording, and the Oklahoma! and King and I new expanded soundtracks, the touted "restored" segments sound like the recordings I made as a kid off of 16mm films by sticking my reel-to-reel jack into the audio output. Yucch! This is, for my money, still the most beautifully sung recording of this work (except for Barbara Ruick's cutesy cutesy 50s schtick), beautifully orchestrated, wonderfully realized. The censors made them drop "The Highest Judge of All," possibly the best song in the score, and actually the definition of who the character of Billy Bigelow is. But then it was also cut in the '94 revival - most likely because of the ineptness of the actor who played Bigelow (his "Sililoquy" is beyond painful, his 'voice' giving out about halfway through). It's a shame if the original soundtrack album of "Carousel" is no longer available. And a quick word on one of the above reviews: This is not the first time the complete Carousel Waltz is heard in stereo. There were two previous CD remasterings of the original soundtrack whereon it was included. And the reprise of "If I loved You" was part of every soundtrack release, mono and stereo.

This recording is a disappointment. Yes, the singing of MacRae and Jones is beautiful, and I even like Didier Deutsch's liner notes. Shame it's all ruined by the remastering. What a disaster! When one considers the beautiful, demo-calibre remastering that RCA has done with its mid-fities recordings of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and Saint Saen's Symphony No. 3, there seems no excuse for the painful sound of this CD. I can forgive the slight tape hiss that appears in a few portions. It's the shrill tonality of the entire disk that robs the performances of their beauty. Then there's the editing. Please explain why on a CD (not a DVD), a full 20 percent of the disk is devoted to to the sound of dancers clumping around the sound stage. I don't know if there's a better recording of Roger and Hammerstein's masterpiece, perhaps the folks at Angel will try again.