Released to celebrate her centenary, here is the perfect 2-CD compendium of all the most famous songs of the charismatic star who radiated the very soul of show business. Frances Gumm (1922-1969) was as electrifying a performer as ever sang on a concert stage or cinema screen. As “Judy Garland” she shot to teenage stardom in The Wizard of Oz, then starred in a series of hit movie musicals and remained, despite a stormy private life and erratic health, a revered concert attraction until her early death. She always sang with moving intensity and was utterly convincing in her handling of words and melodies.

Garland herself said: “The history of my life is in my songs”, and Retrospective’s new double album of her 55 most celebrated recordings is a veritable audio autobiography that takes the listener Over The Rainbow, through Always Chasing Rainbows to Can This Be The End Of The Rainbow?. It includes her first release, recorded two days after her 14th birthday, the 1936 Stompin’ At The Savoy with Bob Crosby, her celebrated serenading of Clark Gable’s picture You Made Me Love You, then of course her ‘Oz’ triumph. The rest is showbiz history. Memories of her film successes feature strongly throughout: songs from Babes In Arms, For Me And My Gal, Meet Me In St Louis, Easter Parade and others. Along the way she duets with co-stars Johnny Mercer (Friendship), Gene Kelly (When You Wore A Tulip ...), Bing Crosby (Yah-Ta-Ta, Yah-Ta-Ta), Dick Haymes (For You, For Me, Forevermore) and Fred Astaire (A Couple Of Swells).

Tracklisting:

CD 1 (1936-1942)
1. Over The Rainbow
2. Stompin’ At The Savoy
3. Swing, Mister Charlie
4. Everybody Sing
5. You Made Me Love You
6. All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm
7. You Can’t Have Everything
8. Cry, Baby, Cry
9. In Between
10. Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart
11. I’m Just Wild About Harry
12. Fascinating Rhythm
13. Oceans Apart
14. Embraceable You
15. Swanee
16. I’m Nobody’s Baby
17. Buds Won’t Bud
18. Friendship (with Johnny Mercer)
19. I’m Always Chasing Rainbows
20. Our Love Affair
21. It's A Great Day For The Irish
22. How About You?
23. F.D.R. Jones
24. Blues In The Night
25. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
26. For Me And My Gal (with Gene Kelly)
27. When You Wore A Tulip (with Gene Kelly)
28. That Old Black Magic

CD 2 (1943-1953)
1. But Not For Me
2. I Got Rhythm
3. The Boy Next Door
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis
6. The Trolley Song
7. You’ve Got Me Where You Want Me (with Bing Crosby)
8. Mine (with Bing Crosby)
9. Yah-Ta-Ta, Yah-Ta-Ta, Talk, Talk, Talk (with Bing Crosby)
10. Love
11. You’ll Never Walk Alone
12. On The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fé
13. Aren’t You Kind Of Glad We Did? (with Dick Haymes)
14. For You, For Me, Forevermore (with Dick Haymes)
15. Look For The Silver Lining
16. Who?
17. Liza
18. I Wish I Were In Love Again
19. Johnny One Note
20. A Couple Of Swells (with Fred Astaire)
21. Easter Parade (with Fred Astaire)
22. Play That Barbershop Chord
23. Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey
24. If You Feel Like Singing, Sing
25. Get Happy!
26. The Man That Got Away
27. Can This Be The End Of The Rainbow?