Julie Is Her Name Vol 1 & 2
Although she's now in her senior citizen years, listen to Julie London's  stunning 1955 debut, and you'll still think she's one of the hottest creatures on two legs.  "The girl with the come hither voice" is how the original liner notes described it, and  London's sultry vocals simply oozed it. With the first track--which became her first  single--London's legend was etched in stone. "Cry Me a River" became one of the  greatest torch songs of all-time, and while it's been reinterpreted over the last 40 years by  everyone fromStreisandtoJoe Cocker, the song forever  belongs to London. The other standards here--from the likes of Irving Berlin, Kern &  Hammerstein, and the Gershwins--are nothing to slouch at, and one listen to her version  of "I'm in the Mood for Love," and you just may be, too. She's semi-famous for being the  ex-Mrs. Jack (Dragnet) Webb and, later, Mrs.  Bobby ("Route 66") Troup--but genuinely forever famous for this LP. Female lounge singers have been trying to  sound just like her ever since.--Bill Holdship