Meet Me in St. Louis (album) explained

Meet Me In St. Louis
Type:studio
Artist:Judy Garland
Cover:St._Louis_Judy.jpg
Released:November 2, 1944
Recorded:April 20–21, 1944
Studio:Decca Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Genre:Traditional pop
Label:Decca
Prev Title:Girl Crazy
Prev Year:1944
Next Title:The Harvey Girls
Next Year:1945

Meet Me In St. Louis is a studio album of phonograph records by Judy Garland with Georgie Stoll's Orchestra, released by Decca Records in 1944 featuring songs presented in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer eponymous motion picture.[1]

Reception

Released less than 10 days before Columbia and Victor Records formally ended the 1942-44 recording ban, the album peaked at number two on the April 7, 1945 Billboard Best-Selling Popular Record Albums chart.[2] In their Record Possibilities column, the magazine praised "The Trolley Song":

... There's plenty of bounce and the platter is actually given movie treatment, with everything on wax but the kitchen sink... You have to play this three times to take in everything... Even if you have another version get this, too.[3]

"The Trolley Song" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards, but lost to "Swinging on a Star" by Bing Crosby from Paramount's Going My Way. Additionally, the album was the debut of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", now a perennial holiday standard.

Track listing

With all selections featuring Georgie Stoll's Orchestra and Chorus, these newly issued songs were featured on a 3-disc, 78 rpm album set, Decca A-380.

Disc 1: (23360)

Disc 2: (23361)

Disc 3: (23662)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Popular Record Releases . 11 November 1944 . American Radio History . The Billboard . 29 June 2019.
  2. Web site: Best Selling Popular Record Albums . 7 April 1945 . . The Billboard . 29 June 2019.
  3. Web site: Record Possibilities . 7 April 1945 . . The Billboard . 29 June 2019.