Search - Marilyn Monroe :: Great American Legends: Marilyn Monroe

Catchy and Collectible --Marilyn is always a classic!

K. Strong | Northern VA USA | 12/07/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent collection of Marilyn's surprising talent for song. I brought this into my office and curdled all my male officemates' hormones with her sweet, breathy tones. This is definately a fun CD and a neat item to own. I've used it as a gift item myself and received thank yous from people who were quite surprised at how much they liked it."

Forget daddy--MY heart belongs to Marilyn !!!

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 02/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"People were always so busy gawking at Marilyn Monroe that they failed to pay attention to the fact that she actually sang rather well. In fact, Marilyn was a talented singer. Her voice on this CD is warm, vibrant and full of a very special romantic intimacy that I have rarely heard. Moreover, Marilyn never sang a superfluous note. This CD proves it.



The CD opens strong with one of Marilyn's best known hits, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." The music by Jule Styne shines as Marilyn delivers a strong performance. This song is from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; and another song from the same movie follows, "A Little Girl From Little Rock." Marilyn and Jane Russell harmonize perfectly and together their voices call out to men everywhere to attract them. "I'm Gonna File My Claim" uses a piano to give this number a honky-tonk quality as Marilyn sings about her desire to claim her man.



Other great numbers on this CD include another duet between Marilyn and Jane Russell entitled "When Love Goes Wrong-Nothing Goes Right;" a very hot and spicy rendition of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy;" "A Fine Romance" with its big band type of arrangement and the very romantic "Do It Again." Awesome!



"She Acts Like A Woman Should" reflects values some people would consider dated; but Marilyn sings this so beautifully you just might enjoy it anyway.



The CD ends just as strong as it began with "Bye Bye Baby." The chorus complements Marilyn's vocals perfectly.



Unfortunately, there are several tracks on this CD that have much too much surface noise. The digital remastering is nothing special. "I'm Gonna File My Claim;" "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" and "One Silver Dollar" need superior digital remastering. Surface noise in the digital age disappoints me; and for that I must take off one star to make this a four star review.



The liner notes include a rather brief essay about Marilyn's rise to stardom; and the striking artwork includes a beautiful picture of Marilyn while literally giving her a star for being a memorable singer.



I highly recommend this CD for Marilyn Monroe fans; and people who enjoy classic pop vocals will enjoy this CD, too. If you like this CD I also recommend the CD entitled The Very Best of Marilyn Monroe and other Marilyn Monroe CDs.



Enjoy!

"

One of the more impressive Marilyn CDs available

Daniel Jolley | Shelby, North Carolina USA | 09/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are a good many Marilyn Monroe collections out there containing most of the same songs (there are only about three dozen Marilyn songs in all), and this is one of the more impressive ones, containing almost 38 minutes of music. Half of these 12 tracks are taken from two movies. You get all the great tracks from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, A Little Girl from Little Rock and When Love Goes Wrong, Nothing Goes Right with Jane Russell, and Bye Bye Baby. This version of Bye Bye Baby is not the version featured in the film, which makes it notable. In the movie, Marilyn only sings the final portion of the song, but here Marilyn alone sings the entire song, making it all her own. River of No Return gives us I'm Gonna File My Claim, one of my favorite Marilyn songs, as well as the less familiar but haunting One Silver Dollar - this song, despite its slightly airy sound quality, really expresses the passion and emotion that Marilyn could bring to a song.A Fine Romance, She Acts Like a Woman Should, and the Gershwin classic Do It Again all sound wonderful against a big band backdrop, and two notable recordings from the movie Let's Make Love complete the bill. Specialization is a little-known duet Marilyn performed with Frankie Vaughan, but the real gem is Marilyn's complete 5:00 version of the Cole Porter classic My Heart Belongs to Daddy. The inclusion of One Silver Dollar, Specialization, and the complete My Heart Belongs to Daddy makes this album one of the more impressive Marilyn CDs out there."