Julie Is Her Name
(Liberty: LRP-3006/LST-7037)

Released: December 1955. Billboard peak: #2 (1/28/56).

Producer: Bobby Troup. With Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Leatherwood on bass.

Notes: The Liberty Records site says that this album "almost singlehandedly started the 'torch singer' popularity in the late '50s." Originally issued in mono, the rechanneled stereo version of this album was issued 5/25/60.

CD Availability: 1992 EMI two-fer, with "Julie Is Her Name, Volume 2."

Liner notes by Bill Ballance:

Julie London might best be described as the girl with the "come hither" voice. In this, her first album, Julie's molten mezzo is handsomely set off by Barney Kessel's guitar and Ray Leatherwood's bass - a blending of three skills that adds up to an intimate, sleek, and sultry production. A performer who radiates charm and friendliness, Julie is a beautiful, piquant yet unassuming young woman who has flaxen hair, and eyes that are blue. These qualities are vocally evident in her furry singing style. Her choice of numbers is exactly right - ranging from I LOVE YOU to CRY ME A RIVER, the latter being a lush, lachrymose item written especially for Julie by her chilhood friend, Arthur Hamilton. CRY ME A RIVER, when heard by fellow members of the radio and music fraternity, created an instantaneous and enthusiastic reaction. As a result of this uniform response, LIBERTY released "CRY" as a single record, catapulting Julie to fame overnight. You've seen Julie in some fine motion pictures. Some of the more recent ones include "The Great Man," "Voice In The Mirror," "Saddle The Wind," "A Question Of Adultery," "Wonderful Country," "The Third Voice," and "Night Of The Quarter Moon." Let me put it this way - if Julie London doesn't remain at the singer's summit for years to come, then my name isn't - Bill Ballance

All Music Guide review by Scott Yanow:

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Lonely Girl  (Liberty: LRP-3012/LST-7029)

Released: 1956. Billboard peak: #16.

Producer: Bobby Troup. With Al Viola on guitar.

Notes: Recorded in Hollywood in April 1955. Originally issued in mono, the rechanneled stereo version was issued in 1959.

CD Availability: 2002 EMI two-fer, with "Make Love to Me."

Liner notes (author unknown):

Julie London is one of those wonderful rarities of show business -- a genuine combination of beauty and talent. Too often about the most one can say of a strikingly beautiful woman is that she is strikingly beautiful. That's why it's so refreshing when someone like Julie comes along. There's so much more to talk about when you've run the gamut of her physical attractiveness. She's unquestionably an excellent actress. You've only to see her in the motion picture "The Red House," which she made when she was only eighteen, or the soon-to-be-released "The Great Man," to substantiate any proof of this.

But let's dwell more on her singing, because this is her newest venture. What is most intriguing about Julie's singing is her musicianly phrasing, her amazingly true intonation, and the simplicity and complete naturalness of her style. So many vocalists today have the annoying habit of becoming vastly different individuals when they begin to sing. Their enunciation becomes irritatingly pretentious; they begin inventing a new language -- "know" becomes "nayow" and "love" oddly sounds like "laulve." It becomes a cause for rejoicing when someone with taste comes along and sings honestly without the benefit of affectations and histrionics. Sincerity of approach has had much to do with Julie's rapid and widespread acceptance. People like her, because they believe her.

It's remarkable when you realize that Julie has such a paradoxical appeal. She seems to capture everyone from the housewife to the severest jazz critic; from the rock-and-roll-loving teen ager to the modern-sound-craving college student. And this is the girl who sang professionally for the first time only a scant seven months ago! It's undeniable that Julie's voice is not a big voice. And she may have vocal coaches throwing their hands in the air as she defies many of their precious fundamentals. But the end result is something no vocal coach could ever teach. Warmth and heart and sensitivity are not to be learned from teachers.

"Lonely Girl" is an especially apt title for Julie's newest album -- not only for the nostalgia of the lyric lines of the songs; not only for the subtle sadness of her singing style; but even more for Julie herself. There's an appealing loneliness in Julie. She has a way of getting out on a plane all by herself where no one can reach her. She is probably everything you would not expect of a girl in this business. She's quiet and shy and undemonstrative. There's none of the extrovert about her. Were she not so exceptionally pretty, she'd undoubtedly go unnoticed at a party; because she's never striving to impress anyone. All of this is reflected in her singing. She has a faculty of being able to detach herself completely and live the story she's telling. You seem to sense that she means every word that she's saying; and it's understandable, because she does.

You'll like this album. Julie has never sung better or more provocatively. As she gains confidence and assurance her voice gains stature; and yet she never loses that contagious wistful quality that has trademarked her. Why don't you just sit back and start the record from the beginning? Julie can be more convincing in four bars of music than anyone could possibly be in forty pages of words.

Al Viola is responsible for the imaginative guitar accompaniment you hear behind Julie's voice. Just as Barney Kessel and Ray Leatherwood were such an important part of her first album, "Julie Is Her Name"; Al is certainly an integral part of the exciting mood created in "Lonely Girl." This may be one of the first times a gut-stringed Spanish guitar has been used in this way, and I think it makes for a tremendously interesting blend of voice and background. Al came to California via Brooklyn ten years ago and has progressed rapidly from his Page Cavanaugh Trio days to one of the most sought-after guitarists in Hollywood. There's no need to say more of his musicianship. Just listen. Al can be convincing too.

All Music Guide review by Nick Dedina:

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Calendar Girl  (Liberty: SL-9002)

Released: 1956.  Billboard peak: #18.

Producer: Bobby Troup. Conductor/Arranger: Pete King.

Notes: Recorded in Hollywood in May 1956.

CD Availability: 1997 EMI two-fer, with "Your Number Please..."

Liner notes by screenwriter Richard Breen:

This essay on Julie London won't plead the apparent. It won't cite her good looks, nor argue that she is structurally sound. And it's unnecessary to comment on her voice. A lot of people have heard it and reported kindly. So, these notes will deal mainly with the album.

The selection of tunes is broad and demanding. It presumes that Julie will show greater versatility. She does. She takes on a variety of tunes; she treats them with skill.

There are thirteen numbers in the album...one for every month of the year. It's never divulged who goofed; but whether it was Tin Pan Alley or Augustus Caesar, we can all be grateful. About half of the tunes are standards. The others are new and unused.

Julie is ably aided by a group of top-flight professionals. Some pleasant male voices move in and out with the seasons. The band itself is split into three or four different combinations. They finish in pretty much a dead heat. The arrangements are by Pete King.

JANUARY: "June in January"  This is a highgaited treatment of the Robin-Rainger standard. Except for Christmas bills, Julie manages to make everything that happens in January seem somewhat wonderful.

FEBRUARY: "February Brings the Rain"  A new tune by Bobby Troup. It's a quiet blues number which proves that 28 days don't always make the shortest month. Julie does it with a suitable feeling of loneliness. She also makes it clear that she's sick and tired of the rain.

MARCH: "Melancholy March" is a composition by Herman Saunders and Dory Langdon. It was done especially for this album. A very shrewd commission indeed.

APRIL: "I'll Remember April" is one of the standards in the album. Properly executed, this song should carry the idea that lost love is actually a bonus for the early wear-and-tear. Julie neatly palms it off.

MAY: "People Who Are Born in May"  This is a new tune by Earl Brent and is far-and-away the merriest exercise in the album. The lyric is especially optimistic if you happen to have been born in May. It's nicely accented with strings.

JUNE: "Memphis in June"  A rural remembrance, done with grace and style. Julie makes your heart leap at the thought of Boss Crump and sweet oleanders.

JULY:  "Sleigh Ride in July"  It's sad to report that no month seems safe for a girl. The girl in this tune got hers right in the middle of July. But the weather was good.

AUGUST:  "Time for August"  A new number by Arthur Hamilton which sponsors the demure notion that a girl should have a new boy friend every month. At the end of the year, she's twelve times as happy. Mr. Hamilton does not say if an occasional repeat is permissible. Novel and tuneful enough to be a hit; Julie does not prejudice the cause.

SEPTEMBER: "September in the Rain"  A Warren and Dublin standard. Julie does it on the up side and it's pleasing enough to make you go out and buy your own rain cloud.

OCTOBER:  "This October"   A bouncy entry which would have made Larry Hart proud; Bobby Troup wrote it. Julie sings it with suspicious conviction...enough to make us all happy she "caught him in the autumn."

NOVEMBER: "November Twilight"  By the arranger and Paul Francis Webster. Julie doing this kind of number is really stuffing the ballot box.

DECEMBER:  "Warm December" by Bob Russell. This tune explains how to take off the chill in mid-winter. As you might suspect, it's not done with a pot-bellied stove. Strings and trombone dominate.

13th MONTH:  This extravagant hope is outlined in a second tune by Arthur Hamilton. You'll be glad to know that the man who wrote "Cry Me a River" has not run out of tears. In fact, he seems to have the western distributorship. The tune is done with a nice use of echo.

All Music Guide review by Nick Dedina:

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