We’ve Been Thinking a Lot Today About Folds’ Retrospective (UPDATED)

“Soon.” That’s what a Legacy representative told The Second Disc as to when the label’s upcoming Ben Folds retrospective package would be announced. Naturally, such a revelation is nothing short of exciting. Everyone at Second Disc HQ is a major fan of the singer/songwriter/pianist’s recorded works over the past 15-plus years, from the perfect punch of Ben Folds Five‘s three studio LPs to Folds’ increasingly prolific solo career, which has seen him collaborate with such luminaries as Joe Jackson, William Shatner, Amanda Palmer and author Nick Hornby.

We’ve been so excited, in fact, that we decided to put together a post using our powers of research (and our love for educated guesses) priming readers on what to expect when the set is finally announced. Intense Folds-related geekery follows after the jump.

Judy Garland at Decca: Track Listing Revealed For JSP Box Set

When you think of Judy Garland, do you think of the awestruck young girl who, transported to the Land of Oz, finds there’s no place like home?  The soul-baring actress of A Star is Born?  Or the electrifying performer who could keep 3,165 people in the palm of her hand at Carnegie Hall?  Whichever aspect of Garland’s great legacy has most affected you, there’s no denying that many enduring accomplishments came between 1936 and 1947, the period when she was a Decca recording artist.  This was the time of The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis and The Harvey Girls, when Garland was one of the brightest stars in MGM’s constellation.  And this is the period being compiled by the U.K.’s JSP Records label as a new 4-CD box set, Smilin’ Through: The Singles Collection 1936-1947.

Smilin’ Through collects Garland’s entire singles output for Decca Records, including all master takes and known alternates.  Seven of those alternate tracks are making their CD debut here.  This box, of course, owes a great debt to MCA’s indispensable 1994 The Complete Decca Masters Plus, which contained all 79 master takes plus a number of alternates and one outtake (“Falling in Love with Love”) in a lavish box containing a 52-page book with essays and complete discography.  Smilin’ Through adds nine tracks to the 90 already presented on the 1994 box, for a total of 99 tracks on the new set.

Over the course of four discs and nearly five hours of music, you’ll hear many of Garland’s signature songs, some of which were Billboard chart hits: “(Dear Mr. Gable) You Made Me Love You,” “Over the Rainbow” (No. 5), “For Me and My Gal” (No. 5), “The Boy Next Door,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Trolley Song” (No. 3), “Meet Me In St. Louis” and “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” (No. 10).  Duets are performed with Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby, Dick Haymes, Virginia O’Brien and Andy Hardy himself, Mickey Rooney.

Garland’s career at Decca ended in 1947.  One major reason was the founding of MGM Records by the film studio, meaning that Garland didn’t need to record studio versions of her film songs for release on Decca.  (Till the Clouds Roll By, with Garland, was released on 78 RPM in 1947 as MGM-1, and one of the very first albums to resemble what we consider a “soundtrack.”  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 is generally recognized as the only musical film to have previously been preserved, on some 78s.  MGM and Walt Disney again led the way with to the “complete” soundtrack album, with 1958’s Gigi on MGM adding the overture, and Disney’s 1959 Sleeping Beauty including score.)  Garland wouldn’t record any studio tracks until after her departure from MGM in 1950.  A 1953 alliance with Columbia produced four singles,  and in 1955, she signed with Capitol where the next chapter in her remarkable musical history was written.

Hit the jump for more details on this extensive new set, including the track listing with complete discographical information and pre-order link!