High Society

At least three clones of Capitol's soundtrack album are floating through the marketplace, with three suitably chintzy covers, this one boldly pirating its art from the LP. We can guess how we got here: the album's entered the public domain in Europe, allowing unprincipled replicators to rip and sell at full line. It isn't worth it. To be sure this second-string Cole Porter gets a first-string rendition by an amazing cast, but its "engineering" was as crippled as Porter; though MGM recorded the music in multitrack the folks at Hollywood and Vine reduced it to a "stereophonic" wheeze in 1961, everything in a sonic fog, which migrated without change to the CD format three decades later, on an album that went quickly and justifiably out of print (Capitol CDP 0777 7 93787 2 2), no doubt migrating still further to these PD robberies. How good it could be was tantalizingly suggested in 1997 on Rhino's Satch soundtrack anthology "Now You Has Jazz", whose five tracks from the movie are fresh and clear, albeit marred by a few inept edits (strange for a TCM album). And even here the buyer faces a quandary because where "I Love You, Samantha" opens on the Capitol album with that creamy trombone choir redolent of chrome and tail fins (no arranger credited), on the Rhino album it's Satch tootling a few notes before Der Bingle and the MGM orchestra join in. While we can dream of a better treatment this appears to be another case of "Billy Rose's Jumbo", where the rights owners are two or more different entities, thus preventing the kind of first-rate issue it deserves. So we're stuck with PD, and ripping, and stealing.

A POSTSCRIPT: Information on this release is hard to find, but here's what I've gathered: Blue Moon is issued by one Absolute Distribution, a Barcelona firm that has released other PD soundtracks, including a few of MGM musicals already on Rhino/TCM, like "Singing in the Rain" [SIC]. This "High Society" has a supposed running time of 50'41 (per one French Web retailer, which also claims this as "ADD mono") with some "interviews" (promos?) and several song variants, compared to 32'19 on Capitol's CD. Lacking sound clips from any source I'd bet this is a hodgepodge combining the Capitol LP and a video or film copy, and maybe some stuff from private collectors. Because this is clearly PD in Europe I feel no compulsion to change what I've said, other than through this description.

I have been waiting for this great movie music to come out on cd. Classic songs from Cole Porter with Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. For sure a keeper you could never go wrong with this combination. I have this playing in my car everyday and it gets me in a great mood. A++++++. Be ware though that this hasn't been digitally remasterd which could've been nicer but love this just the same.