Additional information
Personnel: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jimmie Thompson, Betty Noyes, The M-G-M Studio Chorus, Arthur Freed (vocals); Gene Buck (spoken vocals); Lennie Hayton (piano); Jeff Alexander (vocal arranger); The M-G-M Studio Orchestra. The Girl Friends: Norma Zimmer, Betty Allan, Dorothy McCarty, Sue Allen (vocals). Compilation producers: Marilee Bradford, Bradley Flanagan. Recorded at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Culver City, California between May 22, 1951 and January 17, 1952 and in Los Angeles, California on February 25, 1941. Includes liner notes by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Marilee Bradford and Bradley Flanagan. Tracks 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-14, 17, 19, 21-24, 26-30 are monaural. Tracks 3, 7, 10, 15-16, 18, 20, 25 are in stereo. Original score composed by Nacio Herb Brown. Recorded between 1928 & 1952. Includes liner notes by George Feltenstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green. All tracks have been digitally remastered. The movie Singin' in the Rain was one of old Hollywood's rare successful looks at its own history, artistically as well as commercially, and the Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown score was every bit as impressive as a look back on the history of the musical. Drawing on Freed and Brown's output from the 1920s and 1930s, the music provides a vivid portrait of what popular songs were like during the period in which sound came to motion pictures. Beyond the title track and numbers like "Wedding of the Painted Doll," there are burlesques of styles that were in vogue at the time, although the soundtrack's really popular numbers are done in a straight popular vein, including one of Gene Kelly's most effective singing performances, "All I Do Is Dream of You." ~ Bruce Eder
