Oklahoma! (1955 Film OST) (Vinyl) FLAC + VBR MP3

Oklahoma! was the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical collaboration, and subsequently was their first stage musical to be adapted to film. Its soundtrack album, originally released by Capitol Records only in mono, went on to become a best-seller, and in 1958, the year Capitol reissued it in true stereo, the album also made history by becoming the first album to receive a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association Of America. At the time, a Gold album meant that it had achieved $1M in sales at the wholesale level – at the time, this could be around 250,000-300,000 albums. In 1992, the album was given a 2X platinum certification by the RIAA for sales of 2 million copies in the US.

The original soundtrack, like most of its time, only presents the main musical numbers, with much of the reprises, underscoring, and extended dance material left out of the album. In addition, also like many musical film soundtracks of its time, the opening overture is not the one from the film, but a specially recorded overture for the album. Angel Records released an expanded edition in 2001 featuring virtually all of the music from the film, including the extended dance music from "Kansas City" and "Out Of My Dreams," as well as the film’s true Todd-AO overture and opening credits music. That expanded release is essential for any fan of the film, but imho, so is this more compact LP version.

This copy is ripped from my own vinyl copy of the soundtrack. The record is in pretty good shape and sounds quite wonderful. There’s occasional issues – a bit of distortion here and there, an occasional light pop or click, etc. But in general, this one sounds VERY good. I ran a light pop/click removal filter, fixed the speed as this record runs about 34-35 RPM instead of 33.3 on my turntable, reduced the peaks a bit, and increased the volume. That’s about it. Although I’ve had to do it twice – wasn’t light enough on the pop/click removal filter before and it introduced some nasty digital artifacts. I’ve gone back to the raw WAV file and done everything the same, except I used a less aggressive setting on the pop/click removal and it still removed most of them, but without adding any nasty artifacts like froggy throat. I also previously forgot to cut out what sounds like a partial play of "People Will Say We’re In Love" that abruptly stopped and then restarted – I’ve not forgotten that this time. Another reason I need to start listening to my rips BEFORE sharing. I’ve also included scans of the front, back, and gatefold artwork. I know this edition of the soundtrack has been issued on CD, but I’m currently having fun with my new turntable AND trying to learn all the tricks I can do with the software I have to get the best possible quality out of my vinyl rips, and since I’m doing them anyway, why shouldn’t I share them with you good people in the process? 😉

1. Orchestra – Overture (4:52)
2. Gordon MacRae – Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’ (2:37)
3. Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Charlotte Greenwood – The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (4:54)
4. Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Chorus – Kansas City (2:36)
5. Gloria Grahame – I Cain’t Say No (3:11)
6. Shirley Jones, Chorus – Many A New Day (3:09)
7. Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones – People Will Say We’re In Love (4:21)
8. Gordon MacRae, Rod Steiger – Pore Jud Is Daid (4:16)
9. Shirley Jones, Chorus – Out Of My Dreams (2:25)
10. Gordon MacRae, Charlotte Greenwood, Gene Nelson, Jay C. Flippen, James Whitmore, Gloria Grahame, Chorus – The Farmer And The Cowman (2:58)
11. Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson – All Er Nothin’ (3:00)
12. Gordon MacRae, Charlotte Greenwood, James Whitmore, Shirley Jones, Jay C. Flippen, Chorus – Oklahoma (3:19)

FLAC:

https://mega.co.nz/#!4Agy2LLa!JLiwAEt2gd7gY37QmFvjd6h_pjmFa-0Ncr0DptUMYcI
password: yourfaveswillnever

VBR MP3:

https://mega.co.nz/#!dIhATDZR!UHzY26hWixDqDh0rjOjepxbYjPrFXhGHJEREPNv l6fs
password: yourfaveswillnever