i love the movie so naturally i love the soundtrack. all the music is on here as well as the songs. i'd reccomend buying the movie first and if you like that, definitely purchase the soundtrack.

EASTER PARADE was one of the biggest-grossing musicals ever made at M-G-M, with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in their only big-screen pairing. Ann Miller also puts in a fabulous performance.

Irving Berlin's score includes the classic Title Song as well as the infectious "Drum Crazy", wistful "I Want to Go Back to Michigan", the romantic plea "It Only Happens When I Dance with You" and the showstopping "Shakin' the Blues Away".

Judy Garland, at the zenith of her film career, is luminous and Fred Astaire is charmingly comedic. Ann Miller belts out "Shakin' the Blues Away" in the film's tapdancing showstopper. Peter Lawford also gets to sing a fine little ditty called "A Fella with an Umbrella".

Sound quality is very impressive for a soundtrack of late-40's vintage. Another winner from TCM/Rhino soundtracks!

Made me want to see the video again for the up-teenth time.

Reservations about the recording quality are inevitable, and of course when Astaire was involved the songs are always better when you can watch him dance and hear his tapping, but that said, there is no greater American musical in my opinion than this one. The title song, simple as it is, is so evocative of New York and the 40s and the hope of a new season that I almost cry every time I hear it. To me, it is the best song Berlin ever wrote and one of the very few best American songs ever written. The rest of the disc is one great number after another, with Judy Garland in top form and Fred Astaire constantly revealing that it is phrasing and timing more than a great voice that make a great singer, which he undoubtedly is. Indispensible music.

This is one of the first MGM films to receive the full soundtrack treatment from Turner/Rhino. All of the songs and underscoring are included, plus two outtakes and an extended version of one track. The results are wonderful and with the exception of a couple of tracks the sound is very good. Unfortunately the original multi-miked recordings did not survive, resulting in the inablility to mix the music to true stereo as has been done with so many of the subsequent MGM soundtrack releases. The only surviving recordings are the monaural mix down tracks of the orchestral parts and a separate vocal track. Fortunately these tracks do not include the dialogue, tapping, and foley of the final film soundtrack elements. There is a noticable lack of fidelity on "A Couple of Swells" due to the fact that a recording disc was all that survived. No version of "I Want to Go Back to Michigan" could be found, so the version heard here is straight from the film soundtrack and includes the applause at the end of the song. No dialogue or other distractions were used in the sequence, thank goodness, so the result is fine. "Mr. Monotony" and the extended "Better Luck Next Time" will thrill the Garland fans out there.