[.ca] Silk Stockings

The Most Beautiful of the MGM Scores:
"Silk Stockings" was a minor Broadway show that became an excellent movie, and, thanks to the geniuses at Rhino (honestly, those people deserve awards for what they do), the most beautiful MGM score. From its opening bars to the fabulous Silk Stockings ballet to the closing, this soundtrack is chock-full of the orchestral bridges and instrumentals that make this movie great. If you're a fan of lyrics, though, don't despair. As always, the great Cole Porter comes through. Stereophonic Sound is hilarious, as is Josephine and Satin and Silk. Fred's singing is better than it usually is (even though it's always great); the only downfall is that they dubbed Cyd Charisse. Of course, the woman singing is excellent, but it would have been nice to hear Cyd's real voice. However, that is where the people at Rhino come through, to a degree. In one of the bonus tracks, there's an early recording of Cyd singing one of the songs. Bottom Line: This soundtrack is worth the full retail price, let alone the Get It Used cost. Get it used, get it new--just get it now! You'll be thanking yourself. The only downfall is you'll be wanting the DVD for Cyd's gorgeous Silk Stockings dance.

Rhino Record's Does It Again!!!:
Rhino Record's deserves a round of applause for continuing it's release of Hollywood's historical musical soundtracks and film scores. SILK STOCKINGS may not be the best from Cole Porters catalog - but it provides a pleasant reminder of 1950's film entertainment. The orchestration's have the lush, detailed sparkling arrangements that only the film studio knew how to produce. And yes, the CD is mastered completely in glorious "Stereophonic Sound" Bravo.

One of M-G-M' best in spectacular STEREOPHONIC SOUND!:
The incredible series of Turner/Rhino soundtrack releases from their library of incomparable MGM musicals just added another winner to their line. Fred Astaire's last big Metro musical, the Cole Porter classic SILK STOCKINGS has gotten the deluxe treatment from Turner and Rhino, and fans of these great films should rejoice. The songs are terrific, the perforrmances sensational, and the sound quality is nothing short of AMAZING. You can hardly believe what you're hearing is 45 years old. Not only do you get the great songs from the picture such as ALL OF YOU and PARIS LOVES LOVERS, but there are also many previously unreleased instrumental tracks with luscious performances by the MGM orchestra. A special treat are some outtakes, including Cyd Charisse's own vocal of "IT'S A CHEMICAL REACTION, THAT'S ALL". This is a MUST-HAVE. Highly recommended!

Inferior Cole Porter score? No such thing!:
On Broadway SILK STOCKINGS was a minor hit, running a little over a year. Then M-g-M turned it into movie and actually improved it in the translation. They staretd off on the right track by retaining most of the original score. Two minor songs ("Hail Bibinski" and "As on Through the Seasons We Sail") were dropped and Porter wrote two new songs for the picture: "Fated to be Mated" and "The Ritz Roll and Rock." The title song was changed from a solo for the male lead into a beautiful, sensual dance for female lead Cyd Charisse. The tightening of the script to pare the film's running time to under two hours worked also helped improve the piece. The only (minor) disappointment is that some of Porter's saucy lyrics had to be altered. The original M-g-M Records release contained only 14 tracks. This new CD restores the entire score and allows the listener to sample the wonderful underscoring. As usual Rhino has done wonders to make the sound quality very good indeed. As for complaints that Porter was "not up to his usual standard" - well, it isn't ANYTHING GOES or KISS ME KATE, but it's still Porter and as both a composer and lyricist he was in fine form on this, his final Broadway score.

• Fred's Feet - The M-G-M Studio Orchestra
• Too Bad
• Paris Loves Lovers
• Paris Loves Lovers (instrumental)
• It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All
• Medley: Love Of My Life/You Can Do No Wrong
• Silk Stockings
• I Feel Better Now
• Medley: Fated To Be Mated (extended version)/All Of You
• Josephine (extended version)
• Cyd Leaves Paris
• High Heeled Shoes
• The Red Blues
• Oatmeal/Cyd Returns To Paris
• All Of You (Vielli Russio)
• The Ritz Roll And Rock
• We Are Getting Married
• Too Bad (reprise)/Finale
• It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All (unused demo)
• It's A Chemical Reaction, That's All (unused alternate orchestration)
• In The Still Of The Night (Poodle Cafe) (outtake)
• Red Blues - Bill Lee, , MGM Studio Chorus, Jules Munshin, Wim Sonneveld
• Oatmeal/Cyd Returns to Paris - MGM Studio Orchestra
• All of You (Vielli Russio) - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Ritz Roll and Rock - MGM Studio Chorus
• We Are Getting Married - MGM Studio Orchestra
• Too Bad (Reprise)/Finale - Joseph Buloff, Peter Lorre, Jules Munshin
• It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All \oUnused Demo\c - Cyd Charisse, André Previn,
• It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All \oUnused Alternate Orchestration\c - Carole Richards
• In the Still of the Night (Poodle Cafe) \oOuttake\c