Judy Garland established herself as a contemporary recording artist with the release of her debut Capitol Records LP Miss Show Business in 1955, which was a Top Five hit. For the follow-up, Capitol brought in its top arranger/conductor, Nelson Riddle, who designed typically imaginative backdrops for a group of songs that were mostly new to Garland's repertoire, though none were actually new, ranging from the traditional "I Will Come Back" (a favorite of the singer's father) to two numbers from the 1946 Broadway musical St. Louis Woman, "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," which opened and closed the record. Both of the latter were by Harold Arlen, an important songwriter for Garland who was also represented by "Last Night When We Were Young." Four other songs had been written by some combination of the team of Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson, whose film biography, The Best Things in Life Are Free, opened less than two weeks before the album's release. "April Showers" and "Dirty Hands Dirty Face" were associated with Al Jolson, but Garland made them her own in ballad treatments. Garland and Riddle often took liberties with the melodies, especially in their bravura treatment of "Come Rain or Come Shine," but the singer's exuberance and the arranger's drive overcame any resistance. Garland had actually recorded "I Feel a Song Coming On" earlier, for the 1949 film In the Good Old Summertime, but the performance had been deleted from the final cut. Like Miss Show Business, Judy was tied into a TV special but, in this instance, the timing was off. The half-hour program, The Judy Garland Show, was broadcast in April 1956, six months before the album came out, thus eliminating any real cross-promotion. Nevertheless, Judy deservedly climbed into the Top 20. ~ William Ruhlmann