| View Larger Image | 12 Songs From Call Me Madam (1950 Studio Cast) With Selections From Panama Hattie (1940 Original Cast Recording) | Audio CDby Ethel Merman, Irving Berlin
Cole Porter (Composer), Gordon Jenkins (Composer), Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (Composer), Ethel Merman (Composer)
| List Price: | $14.98 | |
| | Binding: | Audio CD | | Format: | Cast Recording, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack | | Studio: | Decca U.S. | | Release Date: | May 15, 2001 | | Sales Rank: | 80,087th |
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TRACK LISTING |
Disc: 1
- Track 1: Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman
- Track 2: Washington Square Dance - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman
- Track 3: Lichtenburg (Cosmo's Opening) - Gordon Jenkins, Chorus
- Track 4: Can You Use Any Money Today? - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman
- Track 5: Marrying for Love - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman, Chorus
- Track 6: Ocarina - Gordon Jenkins, Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman
- Track 7: It's a Lovely Day Today - Dick Haymes, The Orchestra, Eileen Wilson
- Track 8: Best Thing for You - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman, Chorus
- Track 9: Something to Dance About - Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman, Chorus
- Track 10: Once Upon a Time Today - Dick Haymes, The Orchestra, Eileen Wilson
- Track 11: They Like Ike - Gordon Jenkins, Chorus
- Track 12: You're Just in Love - Dick Haymes, Gordon Jenkins, Ethel Merman, Chorus
- Track 13: My Mother Would Love You (Panama Hattie) - Ethel Merman, Harry Sosnik
- Track 14: I've Still Got My Health (Panama Hattie) - Ethel Merman, Harry Sosnik
- Track 15: Let's Be Buddies [From Panama Hattie] - Joan Carroll, Ethel Merman, Harry Sosnik
- Track 16: Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please - Ethel Merman, Harry Sosnik
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 2 reviews)
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Merman at her best by William S. Oser (Florida, USA)  4 Stars
February 27, 2009
As noted in another review, there was a serious glitch with the cast album of Call Me Madam, Merman recorded for Decca and RCA thought they had the rights to the cast album, so when the show seemed to be a smash, there was a war on. Like most wars, no one really won. The original orchestrations are quite wonderful and fit both the story and Merman's style, but Decca couldn't use them. RCA had to find someone to cover Merman's role, but honestly who could possibly fill Merman's shoes? So, here we get what is essentially Merman's great stage performance, with the second best broadway score Irving Berlin wrote, just behind Annie Get Your Gun. The Annie Get Your Gun cast album is kind of a mess, albeit one with a great performance from La Merman, but this cast album is a little better. When Merman did revisit Annie in the revival 20 years later, the voice wasn't all that steady any more. This is simply one of the best recordings, along with Happy Hunting that Merman did. For all the faults, this is the Call Me Madam to have. If you want to hear the original orchestrations, may I suggest the Encores concert cast with Tyne Daly in the Merman role. She may not be Merman but she acquits herself with bravura style. The selections from Panama Hattie are wonderful, the transfers only so so. I have not heard better transfers, and I have 3 of the four tracks on a comprehensive Cole Porter career survey. The problem was Decca was VERY LATE coming to using tape. Even as late as the first Annie Get Your Gun cast album, Decca was recording onto wax. Therefore the selections here exist only as Wax Masters. The same problem occurs with much of Bing Crosby's recorded output, its almost impossible to get the quality of transfer that he so richly deserves because there are no studio tapes. Get this album for the great Merman singing a heck of a Berlin score.
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Ethel Deserved Better Than This by Geoffrey Mark Fidelman (Sherman Oaks, CA United States)  3 Stars
June 22, 2001
There may indeed be no business like show business. RCA was a major backer of this musical, and fully expected to record the original cast album. Decca, Merman's recording label, wouldn't allow her to appear. The solution the two compnaies decided on was an original cast album on RCA featuring Dinah Shore doing Merman's numbers, and this mediocre studio album.Decca was never a winner when it came to modern recording techniques. Merman's voice has no echo or reverb to enhance her performance. The arrangements are by Gordon Jenkins, which fit Ethel's style like it was a dress bought in a bargain basement. It is a shame that in the later years of her life, Ethel didn't choose to revisit this score and re-record it, as she did with Annie Get Your Gun twice.The selections from Panama Hattie are a nice rarity, but they are taken from scratchy shellac originals. There are several compilations that include these numbers with no annoying extraneous noise.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Annie Get Your Gun (1946 Original Broadway Cast)
Irving Berlin (Composer), Ethel Merman (Composer), Ray Middleton (Composer)
With all due respect to Bernadette Peters's wonderful, Tony-winning portrayal in the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun, the role of sharpshooting Annie Oakley belongs to Ethel Merman. Her bold, brassy performance of Irving Berlin's best score is legendary, as are the songs themselves, including "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun," "They Say It's Wonderful," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," "Anything You Can Do," and, of course, the classic industry anthem "There's No...
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| Call Me Madam
Starring: Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders, Billy De Wolfe
Directed By: Walter Lang
Also With: Leon Shamroy (Cinematographer), Robert L. Simpson (Editor), Sol C. Siegel (Producer), Arthur Sheekman (Writer), Howard Lindsay (Writer), Russel Crouse (Writer)
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Rating: Nr
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| Call Me Madam Soundtrack
Irving Berlin (Composer), Ethel Merman (Composer), Donald O'Connor (Composer), George Sanders (Composer)
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| Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949 Original Broadway Cast)
by Jule Styne, Leo Robin
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| Annie Get Your Gun: An Original Cast Album (1966 Lincoln Center Cast)
by Irving Berlin
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