The Garland Touch is the final studio album by Judy Garland, released on August 6, 1962, by Capitol Records. The album compiles recordings from different periods, including six previously unreleased tracks recorded in London in August 1960 and four songs drawn from earlier releases, two from Judy in Love (1958) and two from a 1961 single.
The album was well received by contemporary critics, who praised Garland's vocal performance and regarded it as a strong and appealing release, though later reviews described it as a "patchwork collection" that nonetheless "contains some winning performances". Commercially, it peaked at No. 38 (monaural) and No. 19 (stereo) on the Cash Box charts, and at No. 33 (monaural) and No. 35 (stereo) on the Billboard charts, while also contributing to a rise in pop album sales for Capitol Records in late 1962.
The album assembles recordings made for other projects: six previously unissued selections had been cut in London in early August 1960, while four songs had been previously releasedâÂÂtwo on the 1958 album Judy in Love ("Do I Love You?" and "More Than You Know") and two from her recent 1961 single ("Comes Once in a Lifetime" and "Sweet Danger").
This was Garland's last studio album released during her lifetime. Later in London, Garland cut a 1964 EP for EMI Records: Judy Garland Sings Lionel Bart's Maggie May, which Capitol Records did not release in the United States until 2002 (on the compilation CD '). The rest of Garland's releases prior to her death in 1969 came from various concerts and soundtracks: recordings for the films Gay Purr-ee (1962) and I Could Go On Singing (1963); from her 1963âÂÂ1964 CBS Television series, The Judy Garland Show; from 1964 concert performances at the London Palladium (featuring solos and duets with her daughter Liza Minnelli); and from Garland's last engagement at the Palace Theatre in 1967.
Billboard described the album as "a solid sequel to" Judy at Carnegie Hall that "still found" Garland "in fine voice, as good vocally as she has been at any time in her revived career", and called it a "strong entry for jocks and stores". Cash Box stated that Garland "equally superb on either ballads or up-tempo items", they described the album as a "delightful Capitol package" and concluded that the "disk should score heavily in the coin department".
Jimmy Watson of New Record Mirror called it as "a collector's item", praised that "she's the world's number one trouper" who "sings from deep inside" and "uses her songs afresh each time she performs them", and concluded writing that "this one's going into my special corner reserved for top favourite discs".
In a retrospective review William Ruhlmann of AllMusic noted that the album is "a patchwork collection" that is "not a worthy successor to Judy at Carnegie Hall" though it "contains some winning performances" and finds Garland "certainly in good voice".
The album debuted on August 18, 1962, on the Cash Box chart, reaching a peak of No. 38 on the monaural albums chart, where it spent 11 weeks, and No. 19 on the stereo chart, where it spent 12 weeks. According to an October 27, 1962 report by the magazine, The Garland Touch was one of the releases that contributed to the significant increase in pop album sales for Capitol Records in the company's first fiscal quarter.
On 22 September 1962, the album peaked at No. 33 (monaural) and No. 35 (stereo) on the Billboard Top LP's charts.