Broadway Masterworks are certainly giving us a wide selection of recordings of late. I am not sure what drives their release policy in this series, as their latest release took me by surprise - a re-issue of the 1963 Film Soundtrack Bye Bye Birdie. This is not a first-time on CD release - it's been issues twice by RCA previously, and many tracks are
also on the Ann-Margaret Bear CD box set. However, this release does include a couple of different bonus tracks.

I have to admit I have never seen the film, although listening to this soundtrack has certainly made me want to dig out my DVD of it. It's a strong score from Charles Strouse (Annie) and Lee Adams (Golden Boy, All American) and with a book by Michael Stewart, it certainly was a hit at the time. The film is based on the Broadway hit of 1960, where
it starred Chita Rivera and Dick Van Dyke. In the film, we find Dick Van Dyke reprising his role, along with Janet Leigh.

Taking a cue straight out of recent headlines, the new musical centred around one of the era’s most striking phenomena - the emergence in the mid-’50s of Elvis Presley, and the hysteria that swept the nation’s youth when it was announced that the singer would be drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958, in itself a rather unlikely topic for a musical. To protect the innocent, the writers had cleverly avoided any direct reference to Elvis himself, and substituted instead another rock’n’roll figure of their own confection, Conrad Birdie.

It's a score full of hits, and as it was one of the first 'pop' musicals, they are all relatively well known. 'A Lot of Livin' to Do' is probably the most famous, and probably the best number in the show, although 'Put on a Happy Face' gives it a run for it's money. it's a great sounding score, and here in its remastered form, it's never sounded
better. But that's not to say it's sounded bad before, and which is why I question its reissue. Granted, it's the 50th Anniversary of the film this year, but there are much more needy re-issues needed - indeed we are still waiting for some to even make an appearance on CD.

It's a good package (as ever) from Broadway Masterworks, and a good companion to the film. Now, if only we could get a wider release of the 2012 Blu-ray issue...

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Ian Gude