Ben Bagley's 'Revisited' Series

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:19pm

Ben Bagley's 'Revisited' Series is perhaps the best compilation of recordings that exist. However, they are so scarce that I'm thiking it is impossible to find them. I personally have the 'Alan Jay Lerner Revisited' recording, but I'd love to find the rest on CD. I know they were printed on LP originally, and the CD's are nearly impossible to find, but does anyone know where I could look to find them?

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:28pm

I've seen several of them at Virgin -- the Cole Porter one is glaumed with Decline and Fall as Seen Through the Eyes of Cole Porter, one of the most fun shows I've ever encoutered.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:33pm

Decline and Fall was the first Ben Bagley LP I bought as a teenager.

It taught me how to appreciate theater, how to appreciate camp and how to be gay in the 70s.

Someone should release the entire series in its entirety.

Updated On: 4/4/08 at 08:33 PM

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 4/3/08 at 8:45pm

Thanks for the tip Ed!

And PalJoey, I completely agree. The entire series should be re-released, as (and just judging from the Alan Jay Lerner recording), they all must be fantastic. There's probably no chance of it being re-released though, right?

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 12:38am

I have a few of them that I got on Ebay, but they are getting pricey. The past few that I bid on have gone over forty dollars and I didn't get them.

Why doesn't DRG put them out?!?!

They were one of the bvestr series becasue they weren't just a collection of songs. Bagley treated each album as if it were a revue.

And, if it weren't for him, "The Grass Harp" would have gone unrecorded.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:13pm

Was the whole series issued on CD or just a few choice cuts?

I inherited a couple of the LPs (Bernstein and Contemporary Broadway) and both are full of gems delivered brilliantly by names familiar and unknown. Chita Rivera does a very subtle Big Stuff on the former that made a big impression when I was a teenager.

The liner notes are also very funny with their (now) obviously gay humour. The Bernstein cover is a Harvey Schmidt creation called "Lenny and the Girls" but wouldn't "Lenny and the Boys" have been more appropriate?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:56pm

The whole series--here was the offering when they went out of print.

I wish I had bought them all.
Painted Smiles Records CD CATALOG

[BkCollector]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:57pm

Who is/was Ben Bagley? I cherish the Bernstein recording, especially for Nell Carter's incredible rendition of 'Bright and Black'

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 3:59pm

BEN BAGLEY (1933-1998 ),

was one of the true innovators of American Musical Theatre in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Vermont during the Great Depression, Bagley's grandmother introduced him to the theatre with annual treks to Broadway.

In 1955 at age 22 he produced his first hit, SHOESTRING REVUE, featuring the songs of Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Sheldon Harnick and June Carroll. The following year he produced THE LITTLEST REVUE, written by the same team along with Ogden Nash and Vernon Duke. In 1957 Bagley presented SHOESTRING '57 with a score by Strouse and Adams, Carolyn Leigh and the pre-FANTASTICKS team of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, among others.

In 1965 Bagley turned to the lesser known songs of Cole Porter to create one of the most successful revues of all time, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF COLE PORTER. The show ran for 15 months in New York, and toured thereafter.

n his own record label, Painted Smile Records, Ben Bagley produced an astounding 48 albums including his legendary "Revisited" series featuring the songs of Rodgers & Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, Harold Rome, Dietz & Schwartz and many others.

[BkCollector]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:02pm

Thank you, Joey. Wow, it seems like he was a great personality, a man after my own heart.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:06pm

You're welcome, Fenchurch.

[BkCollector]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:07pm

I wish I could get that name back.

[Tom148502]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:11pm

I have the entire series on CD. Ben Bagley, before he died, even contatced Bart Howard to get the last CD thatI needed.

[Eloise]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:37pm

I was listening to the Gershwin Revisited one this morning, with Elaine Stritch, Bobby Short, Barbara Cook and Anthony Perkins...in honor of the anniversary of Mr. Perkins' birth!

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/4/08 at 4:38pm

Yes - thanks for posting that Pal Joey.

Updated On: 4/6/08 at 04:38 PM

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 5:14pm

Tom, you are very lucky!

Thanks for that insight PalJoey! I was wondering about the link that you provided. Do they still sell the CD's through that site. If I were to print it out and mail it in, would I be able to purchase the recordings? Or is it discontinued?

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 5:45pm

They are historically very important - far more than they have been given credit for - but I find them uneven musical experiences.

Someometimes you will get wonderful renditions of very rare material...but often one wishes the songs had better interpreters. While this rule is true of any compilation guest recording, it's especially true of the Ben Bagley series.

[nmartin]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 5:53pm

I seem to remember one that included Elaine Stritch singing Totem Tom Tom. Is that right?

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 5:54pm

Oh no, I understand TulitaPepsi. On the Alan Jay Lerner Revisited recording Dorothy Loudon's rendition of 'Sur Les Quais De Ramsdale, Vermont' is fantastic, but I can't help but think how much better it would be if it was slower and included more orchestrations. It's fantastic, and a treat to hear, but it had so much potential.

Also, were any new numbers recorded when the LP was being converted to CD?

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 6:22pm

Sodheimgeek, remember that Bagley's budgets were very variable from disc to disc. "Noel Coward Revisted" has a remarkably lush sound and terrific singers. But some of them sound like had a budget of twenty bucks.

The arrangements can drive me nuts too. OIn the Arthur Schwartz album, Gloria deHaven (whom I love) sings "Love Isn't Born, It's Made" in a bump-and-grind arrangement that slaughters the song, topped by her growling "They'll cream in their jeans!" But the Barbara Cook arrangements for one of the Gershwin albums are flawless (I assume they were done by Wally Harper).

As far as I now, the CDs have no extra material (I only have the LPs)

Updated On: 4/6/08 at 06:22 PM

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 6:27pm

I wish I could say that I've heard how different they sound, but Alan Jay Lerner Revisited is the only one I have. I'd love to find the CD's of all of the others except I really can't afford to spend $40+ per CD. Alan Jay Lerner Revisted sounds like it has a nightclub theme going for it. I don't know if it was completely intentional, but I bet that was one of the lower budget recordings. I just wish "Sur Les Quais..." was longer and slower. The recording is incredible, and I'd love to hear the rest of them!

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 6:46pm

I have two of them and treasure them dearly.

Cole Porter revisited and Contemporary Broadway revisited.

Fabulous stuff!

[Jon]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 7:04pm

No one has mentioned the great album cover art by composer Harvey Schmidt.

[elmore3003]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 7:56pm

I worked with Ben Bagley on a couple of the later albums. When Ben first began with RODGERS & HART REVISITED, he had a good label and a good budget for an actual orchestra. Some of the early ones: Iriving Berlin, Noel Coward, maybe the alan Lerner, were on MGM. At some point Ben started the Painted Smiles label and gradually bought the masters from the original companies. When CDs began, Ben would bring singersin and add songs to the original recordings to lengthen them: this is why the "Sur Les Quais de Ramsdale Vermont" sounds different. It was not on the original LP. Ben at the end was quite cheap and let a lot of badly played notes slide by and he started charging young singers to be on the albums.

I have to say, though, that Ben was socially a wonderful host, a great raconteur, and a lot of fun to hang out with. I miss him.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/6/08 at 8:33pm

I have most of the CD'S.