A Bounty for Fans Hungry for the Sound of Musicals

The compact disc has been a gold mine for the record industry--and for certain record collectors. Among those benefiting most are fans of sound-track and original-cast recordings. CDs containing this material are coming out in droves--some of them special CD-only packages that make available recordings that have been out of circulation for years.

The hunger for such CDs among upper-scale customers able to afford buying several compact discs a month (or a week) has particularly been a plus for two labels--RCA and Columbia Records. They have the longest traditions in this area--especially when it comes to recordings from Broadway musicals.

RCA’s most recent CD releases of this kind have ranged from a 65-minute disc of the newest Stephen Sondheim success, “Into the Woods” (with a special booklet included in a partition of its own), to a reissue of the “Hair” Broadway-cast recording that contains six tracks (four of them CD/cassette-only) not included on the original 1968 album. The label has also just put out several budget-priced sound-track CDs of albums not available on LP or cassette, including “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Carmen Jones” and “Peter Gunn.”

Columbia, however, may have the most impressive Broadway/Hollywood-music multi-release of the year.

On Oct. 17, the company put out 17 original-cast and sound-track recordings--many of them classics--on compact disc and cassette.

The most innovative of the new Columbia CDs is a previously unreleased version of the film sound track from the 1954 version of “A Star Is Born,” starring Judy Garland. A studio album was recorded in conjunction with the picture, but it is in monophonic sound (and not available on CD). For its CD, Columbia went directly to the film’s sound track (which, despite publicists’ claims to the contrary, was not the first to have ever been recorded in stereo). Also included on the CD is the never-before-released overture.

The other new CDs include the original Broadway cast recordings of “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Bells Are Ringing,” “Peter Pan” (the version starring Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff, with songs by Leonard Bernstein), Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me, Kate,” plus the original Broadway cast version of “My Fair Lady” (the previously released “My Fair Lady” CD is the London production).

The compact disc of Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle,” starring Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, will have an extended version of the “Cookie Chase” ballet that wasn’t on the LP.

The movie sound-track recordings include “The Film Music of John Barry” and “The Film Music of Dimitri Tiomkin.” The latter will include 10 minutes of music never before released.

Two other CDs spotlight Julie Andrews and Doris Day. “A Day at the Movies” features selections from Day’s early films such as “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” while “Julie Andrews: A Little Bit of Broadway” includes selections from the original cast recordings of “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot.”

All of the new Columbia discs come with detailed booklets containing original liner notes and photographs, plus additional material.