Star Spangled Rhythm [Smithsonian] (1997)

About this title: This four-CD set covers more than 80 years of American musical theater and Hollywood musicals, interspersed with a comedy bit or two. That's necessary for a collection like this, which starts with George M. Cohan and Bert Williams in the middle of the first decade of the 20th century and ends with the mid-1990s revival of Showboat. Anyone likely to be interested in it is just as likely to own at least some of what's here. Most, though not all, of the major bases are covered -- the works of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, ... read more

Tracks:

1. I Want to Hear a Yankee Doodle Tune [Cohan]
2. Nobody [Williams/Rogers]
3. The Contract Scene [Weber/Fields]
4. Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? [Murphy/Letters/McKe]
5. That Haunting Melody [Cohan]
6. I've Gotta Go Back to Texas [Berlin]
7. Sweethearts [Herbert/Smith]
8. Napoleon [Kern/Wodehouse]
9. You'd Be Surprised [Berlin]
10. Second Hand Rose [Hanley/Clarke]
11. Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean [Gallagher/Shean]
12. Say It With Music [Berlin]
13. Love Will Find a Way [Blake/Sissle]
14. Song of the Vagabonds [Friml/Hooker]
15. Sometimes I'm Happy [Youmans/Caesar]
16. Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man [Kern/Hammerstein]
17. Lover, Come Back to Me [Romberg/Hammerstein]
18. My Mammy [Donaldson/Lewis/You]
19. I'm the Last of the Red Hot Mammas [Ager/Yellen]
20. Broadway Melody [Brown/Freed]
21. You're Always in My Arms [Tierney/McCarthy]
22. Look for the Silver Lining [Kern/DeSylva]
23. Thanks/Buckin' the Wind [Johnston/Coslow]
24. By a Waterfall [Fain/Kahal]
25. I Love Louisa [Schwartz/Dietz]
26. Porgy's Lament and Finale [Gershwin/Heyward/Ge]
27. Red, Hot and Blue [Porter]
28. Let's Face the Music and Dance [Berlin]
29. I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin' [Brown/Freed]
30. Indian Love Call [Friml/Harbach/Hamme]
31. Animal Crackers in My Soup [Henderson/Koehler]
32. Texas Tornado [Mitchell/Pollack]
33. It's Love I'm After [Pollack/Mitchell]
34. Someday My Prince Will Come [Churchill/Morey]
35. My Ship [Weill/Gershwin]
36. Just One of Those Things [Porter]
37. To Keep My Love Alive [Rodgers/Hart]
38. Oh, What a Beautiful Morning [Rodgers/Hammerstein]
39. The Trolley Song [Martin/Blaine]
40. I Can Cook Too [Bernstein/Comden/Gr]
41. If I Loved You [Rodgers/Hammerstein]
42. Doin' What Comes Natur'lly [Berlin]
43. The Heather on the Hill [Loewe/Lerner]
44. Allegro [Rodgers/Hammerstein]
45. Papa, Won't You Dance With Me? [Styne/Cahn]
46. Wish You Were Here [Rome]
47. Singin' in the Rain [Brown/Freed]
48. Never Never Land [Styne/Comden/Green]
49. Gesticulate [Wright/Forrest]
50. Windfloweres [Moross/Latouche]
51. Wouldn't It Be Loverly? [Loewe/Lerner]
52. America [Bernstein/Sondheim]
53. Ya Got Trouble [Willson]
54. A Little Brains, a Little Talent [Adler/Ross]
55. Some People [Styne/Sondheim]
56. The Night They Invented Champagne [Loewe/Lerner]
57. If I Were a Rich Man [Bock/Harnick]
58. All I Need Is One Good Break [Kander/Ebb]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.