Julie London's first and third albums (I think) re-issued here on CD. This one's getting hard to find, so buy it quick. She was sexy, sophisticated, intimate and artistic. Now they call this type of thing "lounge music." Back when it was fresh, in 1955 and 1958, some called it jazz, some called it "pop" and some called it "mood music." I think the last phrase is the most accurate. Julie's warm vocals and the excellent but unobtrusive accompaniment of guitar and bass are great for background sound, but equally great for a headphone experience of deliberate listening. If your heart is broken, half the songs in the collection will feed your need for pity briefly, then begin to heal you. If you are new-fallen into love, the other half of the tunes give you hope and sunshine. While her Capitol collection, "Wild, Cool and Swingin'" is also good, that one lacks "Cry Me a River" her first hit and forever signature song. This one kicks off the disc with it. My personal other favorites include "It Never Entered My Mind" and "No Mood at All" from the debut album, "Julie is Her Name." From the 1958 record, "Julie is Her Name Vol. 2" I like especially "Blue Moon" and "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else" and "I Got Lost in His Arms." However, all 25 are enjoyable. None are overly long, there is no novelty filler here either. This collection is just under an hour of excellently crafted love songs rendered by an excellently crafted singer, inside and out. Can't go wrong buying it.This sounded good 45 years ago, and will be worth playing 45 years from now, if you can find a machine then to reproduce it. Well-written songs, seemingly sung by a woman who wants to fill your head with her body and soul, while guitar and bass keep both of you in the mood---who can ask for anything more?

Julie is Her Name is one of the two best Julie London albums. London is accompanied by guitar player, Barney Kessel. In most of her later albums, Julie is accompanied by a full orchestra. These orchestras tended to over-shadow her beautiful voice. She sounds better with just a guitar. Her next album, 'Lonely Girl,' (she sings with guitarist Al Viola) is as good or better.

When Julie started singing in clubs in the fifties, she used only a guitarist and a bassist for a warm and intimate feel. Then when she started planning her first record, Liberty Records encouraged her to use a combo with drums, piano, etc. but Julie chose to stick to her club formula...lucky us! The result is one of the most romantic and moving jazz albums ever, "Julie is Her Name." Containing her #1 hit "Cry Me a River" (Julie was the first artist to record this now-classic tune), this album is chock full of gorgeous ballads, including "I'm Glad There is You," "Can't Help Lovin That Man," "Easy Street" and "Laura." There's also plenty of swing, however, on uptempo outings like "I Love You" and "No Moon at All." Julie ended up recording with combos and full orchestras in her career, but in 1958 returned to the bass-guitar-vocal setup for "Julie is Her Name, Volume Two." "How Long Has This Been Going On" and "I Got Lost in His Arms" are surely among Julie's finest ballad recordings, and "Too Good to Be True" and "Goody Goody" find the perfect midtempo to gently swing. Of course, twenty-five songs with the same bass-guitar-vocal lineup can get a little similar-sounding around track 18 or so...before you know the songs inside out (and you'll definitely want to), listening to one album at a time is recommended. But having these two albums on one CD is a pure delight, especially considering the excellent digital remastering. Add to that the great arrangements and guitar playing over Julie's smoky vocals and you have one of the most enjoyable finds in jazz reissues.

I remember Julie London as nurse Dixie McCall from the TV show "Emergency" when I was a kid in the 70's. WHen I started listening to jazz my mom told me about Julie singing "Cry Me a River" in the movie "The Girl Can't Help It." I bought this CD. Wow!!! I don't believe that there has EVER been a more sultry voice than Julie's. She is only accompanied by guitar and standup bass, but the musicians on the record are top notch, guitars are played by Barney Kessel and Howard Roberts. Every song on the CD is great, esp. 'Cry Me...", "No Moon at All", "Too Good to be True." I could go on, like I said--they're all good. It's worth noting that Ella Fitzgerald, herself, after recording a version of "Cry Me a River" said that it was Julie London's song and nobody did it better than her. That's a pretty high recommendation.

Since I saw Julie London singing Cry me a river in 'The girl can't help it', I've wanted to be like her. I managed to grow my red hair long, but otherwise... Well, we can't have everything, right? But with this record you can at least have her voice at your home.

Of course the collection includes Cry me a river. Since then it has been done so many times in so many ways, but this really is the best one: just her voice, guitar and base. Who can forget this voice? Who can resist it?

The collection includes many good ones. Can't help lovin' that man is really made for her voice and songs like Easy Street, Laura, How long has this been going on, Laura, I'm in the mood for love and so on suit her slow, low voice. No moon at all is sometimes only little stronger than whisper - very effective. And Goody, goody... Oh yes, she can sound really teasing.

Julie London was a really sensual singer, and maybe the only fault of this collection is, that there aren't any surprises. You either love her or get bored with her, the songs are rather predictable and so is her singing, as lovely as it is. So: you get what you want if you know what you want - or you get this based on one song (propably Cry me a river) and you might get a bit bored or disappointed.