Once Upon a Time | Julie Andrews

Once Upon a Time | Julie Andrews | What a wonderful treat

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Once Upon a Time

	Once Upon a Time Julie Andrews Sepia Recordings, 2007 average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This eighteen-track CD contains Julie Andrews' earliest recordings, many appearing on CD for the first time. The award-winning singer had a healthy career even before filming Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Includes selections from the The Boyfriend, High Tor, and My Fair Lady, as well as Andrews' debut LP Tell It Again, heard here in full.

It's about time!

Those of us who are die-hard Julie Andrews fans have been waiting for this sort of CD for years. Now we have a near-complete collection of the earliest recordings of Julie Andrews.

The earliest recordings in this collection are five songs recorded by Julie Andrews on 78 rpm records in 1948 amd 1949. The sound quality of the transfers varies a bit, with the best-sounding being the first, the "Plolnaise from Mignon." "Je Veux Vivre" and "Come to the Fair" are also quite good-sounding. "Ah! Vous Dirai - Je Mama" and "The Wren" aren't quite as good in terms of sound quality, which is probably due to their having been transferred from commercial 78 rpm records and not from the original masters.

"Jack and the Beanstalk" is a longer recording made in 1951. It was a pantomime, which is a stage show featuring dialogue and music. Julie sings a solo titled "When We Grow Up" as part of the performance. The sound quality of this track is fairly good, but not fantastic.

Following "Jack and the Beanstalk" are two selections from THE BOYFRIEND, Julie's first Broadway musical. These appear to be just copies of the tracks from THE BOYFRIEND's cast album on CD.

Next are more of the rare unreleased-on-CD tracks from early in Julie's career, taken from the original television soundtrack album for HIGH TOR, in which Julie starred with Bing Crosby. The three songs here represent all of the sung performances by Julie from the album. It's hard to tell if these recordings are transfers from an original LP, or made from the master tapes -- the quality is sort of in-between. It sounds either like a really nice LP or a somewhat-deteriorated master tape.

Next are two songs from the original Broadway cast album for MY FAIR LADY. Nothing new or unusual about these.

The final five tracks are an entire children's record made by Julie in 1957. The LP was called TELL IT AGAIN, and consists of nursery rhymes, children's songs and lullabies. Julie performs with Martyn Green, and they trade off the singing and storytelling. This appears to have been transferred from a master tape, as you can hear some print-through in the recording, which happens to tapes that are stored undisturbed for many years. Even with the print-through, the audio quality is a lot better than my old scratchy LP of this one.

The only reason this collection isn't "complete" is that it leaves out the songs Julie recorded for THE SINGING PRINCESS in 1954. This was an animated film that featured a handful of songs sung by Julie. The film is available on DVD, but the audio quality of the songs is so poor that it probaby didn't warrent inclusion in this collection.

This leaves a smaller collection of Julie Andrews recordings that still haven't seen the light of day on CD -- the studio cast recording of ROSE-MARIE from 1958, a pair of 45 rpm singles from the early '60s ("He Loves Me"/"Dear Friend" and "Tom Pillibi"/"Lazy Afternoon"), three Christmas songs from a Firestone Christmas LP (including "The Christmas Song"), and two LPs (AN EVENING WITH JULIE ANDREWS and LOVE ME TENDER). Hopefully the rest of Julie's recorded work will surface on CD sometime soon.

So for the Julie Andrews fanatic, this CD is a must. Even the casual listener will find this CD enjoyable, if a little odd in its assortment of classical music, children's songs and Broadway showtunes.

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What a wonderful treat

I've never heard the complete versions of the songs Julie Andrews recorded when she was a child star in England. It's hard to fathom these are done by a 12-year-old--an absolutely beautifully toned voice! The childrens' songs she recorded in her 20s are here too and all done with primarily percussion accompaniment. Really very interesting and fun to listen to. This is a wonderful collection.

Awesome!

I just love this CD (received it today). Julie Andrews is one my childhood idols. I am so glad some songs from High Tor and Tell it Again were included, I have these LPs but I wondered if I would ever listen to it on a digital recording... Also the small biography and some photos from her childhood, as well as the old songs she sang when she was twelve (though I missed Blue Danube, which I listened to on tape once, from Educating Archie show), make this CD a wonderful companion to the upcoming biography she wrote (and I am eagerly waiting to read).

This CD is a must for every Julie Andrews fan.

Now: I want Love Me Tender, the japanese version, with 16 songs, released on CD :D

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Lovely Lilting Music

Starting with Julie Andrew's earliest recordings, "Once Upon a Time," includes a lovely selection of art songs and show tunes. This charming collection features Julie Andrew's incomparable lilting soprano.

Amazing Voice

This collection of recordings introduced me to the sound of Julie Andrew's voice as a young girl. I had read that it was amazing in the number of octaves it could reach but I needed to hear it for myself. Anyone would enjoy this. I only wish that she sang more solo songs of different variety. At an early age she went into singing musicals and show tunes, and in most cases she is singing with a partner. I would like her to sing alone and songs of different styles. I highly recommend this.

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