Jane Powell's First Album

Jane Powell was a delightful presence in films of the 40s and 50s, making quite a few recordings for M-G-M, where she was a star attraction. But before she appeared on M-G-M records, her first discs were issued by Columbia - in its Masterworks series, no less.

Columbia later gathered some of these records in the 10-inch LP Date with Jane Powell, which appeared on my other blog in 2013, and is still available. Two of the songs were from Powell's first M-G-M musical, Holiday in Mexico, and had originally appeared as part of a two-record 78 album in 1946 with four of Jane's songs from that film. The album was descriptively titled, Songs by Jane Powell, M-G-M Star, as Sung in the Picture "Holiday in Mexico." Which about covers things.

Today I'm posting the complete set, adding "I Think of You" (purloined from Rachmaninoff) and Victor Herbert's "Italian Street Song" to the two songs on the LP - Delibes' "Les Filles de Cadix" and the inescapable Schubert "Ave Maria." The two new items and the associated graphics were snared from Internet Archive during my recent spelunking into its caverns. All remastered and restored to like new, or as new I can get get them.

Columbia didn't do an especially good job recording the songs, but I've done my darndest to compensate. Carmen Dragon's accompaniments seem to be coming from some distance, however. (Hellooo, Carmen!) Moreover, it's my theory that both the record company and M-G-M increased the speed of Powell's recordings to make her sound younger and her voice higher. She sounds better and more natural in a lower key, so I have dropped these numbers down a half step in all cases.

I will admit that I love Jane, so I hope you like this small addition to the Powell catalog to be found on my sites.