Because Judy Garland was so popular - and continues
to be popular - the output of her recordings is incredibly
immense. Most people think of Judy Garland as a film star,
not realizing that she had a long recording career as well.
In fact, she was one of the youngest artists (at age 13) ever
to be signed by a major record label (Decca
Records). Garland spent over 10 years with Decca. She later
spent another 10+ years under contract to Capitol
Records. In between the
two, she recorded four sides for Columbia Records in 1953,
and in 1946 M-G-M Records began officially releasing
many of her film soundtrack recordings. As if that isn't enough,
much of her immense work on radio and television has also
been released on record and CD.
To say that Judy Garland had one of the most prolific recording
careers in the history of American music would be an understatement.
Over the years, literally hundreds of records and CDs have
been released, and yet there is still a huge amount of recordings
that have yet to be officially released.
Most of this unreleased material is Judy's radio work, a very
forgotten yet still important facet of her recording history.
Even an album as big as the document of her historic 1964
concert with daughter Liza Minnelli, titled "Judy
Garland And Liza Minnelli Live At The London Palladium" has
yet to be officially remastered and released on CD. So as you
see, there are still many releases waiting "in the wings".
Even so, what has been released is an amazing output of work.
As you browse these pages, keep in mind that what is represented
here is approximately 3/4 of Judy Garland's recorded work,
this might give you an idea of just how immense Judy Garland's
vocal output really was. As more of her undiscovered and unreleased
work is presented to the public, we here at
The Judy Garland Online Discography will
continue to bring you the most up-to-date and current news
and information on all Judy Garland recordings.
Garland's official recording career began in 1935 at the age
of 13, and lasted right up to her death in 1969. Technically
her recording career began in 1929 when she made her first
short subject film. These early sound-era films recorded everything
live on-set onto discs. Although the film for several of these
shorts has been lost, the discs remain and give us peek at
Garland's preciociousness at a mere 7 years-old. Click
here
for detailed information about these shorts. Garland recorded
singles and albums for Decca Records, Columbia Records, Capitol
Records, and ABC Records. Many other labels also released Garland
recordings, whether officially or unofficially, of various
performances that ran the gamut from radio air-checks, to studio
playback discs of outtakes from her films. The other major
labels to release Garland performances were: M-G-M Records
(Judy's soundtrack recordings for the studio), Warner Brothers,
United Artists, Colpix, and EMI.
The Judy Garland Online Discography strives
to document as many of these major Garland record and CD
releases as possible. We also spotlight rare and hard-to-find
releases you might not see anywhere else, as well as releases
that might not be rare or have anything new but have great
cover art or other items of interest!
A
few notes about the pages:
* This discography does not contain a complete listing of Judy
Garland CD releases. Instead, we concentrate mainly on the
original vinyl releases, while highlighting the major or historical
CD releases. For example, all of Judy's original Decca albums
are documented here, whereas only the "major" and/or
"unusual" Decca CDs are represented. This is because
the wonderful Judy
Garland Database has the most complete Garland CD listing
in existence, so it would be redundant to duplicate that work
here. We also include some LPs and CDs based on what we call
"the unusual factor", for example a compilation (see
example) or international release
(see example)
that may not be anything new, but is unusual due to a variety
of reasons such as cover art, choice of songs, an example of
the time period, or just plain fun!
* Track listing information is taken from the albums themselves.
Some inconsistencies, especially in the foreign releases, are
noticeable. You may notice discrepancies in titles, years,
times, even liner notes. Most of these have not been corrected
in order to maintain complete accuracy in the details of each
album as they were released. A few obvious corrections have
been made. For the rest, errors in spelling and other information
are noted in brackets "[ ]" or in footnotes.
* Additions and changes will constantly be made
as we catalog more and more of Judy's records and CDs. If you
see that we are missing an important record or CD, please email the
webmaster the information (and a scan of the cover art)
and we'll be glad to add it. Likewise, if you see any errors,
please let us know.
Source Materials:
All information and details about the records has been gathered
from the records and CDs themselves, their accompanying booklets
and "jackets", our own personal knowledge, and the
following:
"Judy
Garland: The Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Legend" - Author: Scott Schechter
(Highly recommended!!)
"The
Judy Garland Collector's Guide" - Author: Edward R. Pardella (A great
book with great info about all types of Garland collectibles)
"The
World's Greatest Entertainer" - Author: John Fricke (Out of print
but still available)
"Little Girl Lost" - Author: Al DiOrio (Out of print but still available
via eBay or private collectors)
"The
Complete Judy Garland" - Author: Emily R. Coleman (Outdated, but some
of the information is still pertinent)
The amazing website "Both Sides Now Publications" which
houses the "MGM
Album Discography" - compiled by Mike Callahan, David
Edwards, and Patrice Eyries.
The equally amazing site "The
Online 78rpm Discographical Project" (where we have
been able to locate information on rare Decca albums and singles
as well as get more information on the MGM recordings) - compiled
by Tyrone Settlemier & Steven Abrams. Thanks to Rutcherd
B. for pointing out this great resource to us!
A fantastic Capitol Records information and history blog:
"popculturefanboy" -
especially great for historical data and info about the label.
And the wonderful Judy
Garland Database - Webmaster: Jim Johnson
Please also note: If you have a record or
CD that is not listed here and you think it should be, or if
you have more details about a record or CD already listed,
please email the
webmaster. You'll receive full credit of course! High resolution
images (200 to 300dpi) are preferred.
All images on this page are from the collections of Scott Brogan and Eric Hemphill.
NOTE: All original writings in this
discography (reviews, comments, and opinions), unless otherwise
noted, are those of the webmaster: Scott Brogan. Likewise, all
original graphics and website layout and design are also the
creation of Scott Brogan and are for use only here in The
Judy Room and The Judy Garland Online
Discography. Please see the copyright
page for further clarification.
