MovieChat Forums > Porgy and Bess (1959) Discussion > Soundtrack CD?

Soundtrack CD?

posted 16 years ago by ErichSage
7 replies | jump to latest

I have in my possession--and have had for a number of years now--what purports to be 'Performances from the Soundtrack, Porgy & Bess' music supervised and conducted by Andre Previn, composed by George Gershwin' on the front cover. On the back credit is given to Dubose Heyward and Ira Gershwin for the libretto.

The number of tracks seems to be correct as laid out for us in 'justoldbill''s posting here in 2006, which, by the way, should be printed out by any fan of the movel. The label of the CD is BackBiter, BB61046, 'printed in Germany'. There is a copyright of 1995 and even a barcode on the printed CD back cover.

Otherwise, there is mention of the 1959 movie, no other credits, no actors mentioned and even the layout of the printed matter, which is very minimal, bears no resemblance to the 1959 movie. There are photos of actors on the front and back covers and inside on the the track listing. These people bear no resemblance to anyone I've seen in the film. And of course the film logo, which can be seen if you punch in the 1959 Porgy in Bess on Amazon is suspiciously absent.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is this simply a European 'bootleg' of the movie's original soundtrack album--without any rights to the original cast recording, so it 'disguised' itself or is this simply just another recording of Porgy and Bess, with the word 'soundtrack' misused once again?

If anyone can shed any light on this, I'd be so grateful. If so, please contact me directly at [email protected] and just tell me you've left a posting on IMDB. I so often forget I've left postings, questions and comments on so many websites.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Erich Schrader
[email protected]

[–] ErichSage 16 years ago

A number of you have contacted me directly to let me know that the information I was looking for was on Amazon.com under Music, Porgy and Bess. So I did that search and went through 548 listings just to make sure.

Unfortunately, to this day the terms 'Soundtrack' and 'Original Cast Album' are still used interchangably. Soundtrack refers to a film while Original Cast, the recording of stage production. In this case, the Amazon iistings that used the word Soundtrack referred to the first stage productions.

Even though there were a few recordings labeled Imports, none resembled the one I have, nor did they call themselves Soundtracks.

The only Original Cast Soundtracks I did find under this subject on Amazon were used (and mostly quite expensive) used copies of the LP of the Original Soundtrack, out of print for decades.

I could be very wrong, but the fact that out of 548 listings, I couldn't find one CD cover photo that resembled mine, leads me to consider more and more that what I own in indeed a bootleg. This doesn't concern me of course. I'd just like to know if these are the people singing on the film and taken off the film's soundtrack (many people thing I'm a bit off anyway, considering the fact that so many of the cast members were dubbed, but 'the heart wants what it wants' is the cliche that comes to mind.

I thank everyone for their replies. My search continues. I was thinking of contacting the label in Germany, but I wouldn't know where to start and even if they still exist.

Does anyone out there have this recording? I didn't think of asking that question. It was sold at Footlight Records, not quite out of business, and known for selling bootleg recordings in many areas--they just hid them in the bad, god bless 'em.

[–] justoldbill 16 years ago

The BackBiter label recording IS the soundtrack album originally issued by Columbia Records in 1959. I don't know if it's legal or not. In any case, it appears they weren't granted any licensing to use the soundtrack album image or crediting as had appeared on previous European and Japanese Sony CD releases, now out of print. The images on the front are from the 50's Breen-Davis tour.

Although this pressing indeed sounds like a decent bootleg taken off a decent LP copy, it is worth having as it is all that is currently available. Look for it on ebay as well- it shows up quite often at a decent price. Enjoy.

[–] bradford-1 16 years ago

Wouldn't the official soundtrack recording have Cab Calloway performing Sportin' Life's songs in place of Sammy Davis? Even without photos it should be quite easy to tell the difference in voices (unless you're very young). Is there a way to post the cover? Folks may be able to identify the singers/actors. Could be anyone from Leontyne Price to Avon Long.

[–] justoldbill 16 years ago

The recording in question here is the 1959 soundtrack release with the Cab Calloway tracks. The image can be seen at Amazon.com and occasionally on ebay. While the Porgy and Bess on the cover are unidentifiable, I believe the Sportin' Life is Lorenzo Fuller.

[–] Yxklyx 16 years ago

Somewhat in the same vein. I just picked up (for $1) on 33' Vinyl:

"Performances from the Sound Track of The Samuel Goldwyn Motion Picture Production of Porgy and Bess"

from Columbia Masterworks

Tracks are:

Overture
Summertime
A Woman is a Sometime Thing
The Wake: Gone, Gone, Gone; Porgy's Prayer
My Man's Gone Now
I Got Plenty o' Nothin'
Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Morning; Catfish Row
Oh, I Can't Sit Down
It Ain't Necessarily So
I Ain't Got No Shame
What You Want with Bess?
Street Cries: Strawberry Woman; Crab Man
I Loves You, Porgy
A Red Headed Woman
Clara, Clara
There's a Boat That's Leavin' Soon for New York
Oh, Where's My Bess?
I'm on My Way

[–] joyce-miller3-1 12 years ago

I have found several copies of the movie soundtrack (with Cab Calloway as Sportin' Life) LP at garage sales. I made my own CD copies.

[–] joyce-miller3-1 12 years ago

Portier and Dandridge is the cover art for the official movie soundtrack album. Cab Calloway was Sportin' Life because Davis was under his own recording contract, and could not do the soundtract recording. I prefer Calloway's SL, so it works out fine for me. He is fabulous.