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Julie London Albums

1961

Send For Me Whatever Julie Wants

Send For Me (LRP-3171/LST-7171)

Released: 1961

CD Availability: Not available.

All Music Guide review by Stephen Cook :

One of the more unique Julie London recordings, Send For Me finds the ultra-lounge chanteuse mixing it up on 12 blues-based swingers. Far afield of the guitar and bass minimalism of the deservedly famous Julie is Her Name recordings, Send For Me goes wide screen with full band and chorus charts by pianist Jimmy Rowles. While certainly no Dinah Washington, London manages well enough on these bluesy swingers with her mix of "come hither" sultriness and "he's done me wrong" swagger. For his part, Rowles provides top-drawer arrangements featuring equal parts of after-hours smokiness and big-band sophistication. Some may find the blues and gleeful choir combination a bit much, but Send For Me still succeeds with especially strong cuts like "Tain't What You Do," "Baby Come Home," "Evenin'," and "Cheatin' On Me." Another in a long line of fine albums London made for Liberty between the mid-‘50s and early ‘60s.

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Tracks

Evenin'	Parish - White
What's Your Story, Morning Glory	Williams - Webster - Lawton
Get on the Right Track	T. Turner
I Must Have That Man	McHugh - Fields
Tain't What You Do	Oliver - Young
Baby Come Home	Troup - Rowles
Everyday (I Have the Blues)	Chatman - York
Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You	Redman - Razaf
Cheatin' On Me	Polland - Yellen
Trav'lin' Light	Mercer - Mundy - Young
Send For Me	O. Jones

Whatever Julie Wants (LRP-3192/LST-7192)

Released: 1961

CD Availability: This absolute classic is not available as a complete entity... But there's still a 1988 EMI CD called "The Best of Julie London: The Liberty Years" that contains every track from the album but the last.

All Music Guide review by Nick Dedina :

Julie London was equally famous for her cool vocal style and her rather cold beauty. She normally specialized in torch songs, singing bleak songs of lost love, but on Whatever Julie Wants, London plays the part of a vampish sexpot who treats love as a commodity to trade with wealthy men. Sure, it's a sexist album that's more famous for its cheesecake sleeve photo of London naked under fur, diamonds, money, and a strategically placed champagne bottle, but it is a fun album and one that can be enjoyed for its individual songs or its narrative thrust. While most concept albums featuring popular standards don't really follow a strict story line, Whatever Julie Wants does. It begins with the protagonist uttering an innocent lover's plea before mistreatment turns her into a jaded gold digger ("Daddy" and a host of other tracks), then a prostitute ("Love for Sale"), and a step up to kept woman ("Always True to You in My Fashion"). Just as things are looking bad, London finally realizes that you can live without a man and his money with "There'll Be Some Changes Made," because the onetime temptress is just too darn "Tired." This may not be Julie London's finest musical hour, but the album is undeniably entertaining and it offers a Technicolor sex comedy break from her usual world of shadowy film noir.

Our Reviews

If you'd like to share your own review of Whatever Julie Wants here, please e-mail me.

Tracks

Why Don't You Do Right	Joe McCoy
My Heart Belongs To Daddy	Cole Porter
Hard-Hearted Hannah	Yellen - Ager - Bigelow
Do It Again	DeSylva - G. Gershwin
Take Back Your Mink	Frank Loesser
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend	Styne - Robin
Daddy	Bobby Troup
An Occasional Man	Martin - Blane
Love For Sale	Cole Porter
Always True to You In My Fashion	Cole Porter
There'll Be Some Changes Made	Higgins - Overstreet
Tired	Roberts - Fisher

1960 1961 1962