Julie London - Julie...At Home (WOW!)

Mislabeled copies of Julie Is Her Name seem to be pretty common-both the version with the original back cover, and the later one without the little photo and listing a few more Liberty releases at the bottom. I have a few. I've see them on ebay a lot.

 

Thanks and happy Julie listening.

 

Ha. You reminded me of this item, which came out a few years ago, and does include one track by Julie:




Virtual Fireplace DVD with over 60 minutes of classic Christmas hits by your favorite artists. Features treasured Christmas classics by: Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, plus many more!
Continuous play feature for an endless fire that never burns out.
Choose from 3 different fireplace scenes with music and/or authentic fireplace "crackle".

 

I did not see this one posted. The gold foil in the letters and pants do not photograph well, much better in person.

I'm thunkin' - what if it was 02:45?

 

It might not be the only album that she recorded at home. You would never guess it from listening to her records or watching her TV specials, but Julie was extremely nervous and insecure about her singing. To get her to do anything in the studio, she had to be plied with lots of alcohol — according to musicians who played at the dates, and other folks who were around.

The idea of having Julie record at her home was probably part of a strategy to get her to loosen up ... Of course, she probably wasn’t the only one loosening up in such home gatherings. If you check that album’s liner notes, I think this line is telling: "Every once in a while we'd stop for refreshments, shoot the breeze a little and then go back to work ... This is work?!” Refreshments, um hum. Yeah, I bet everybody was quite refreshed.

But there's another dimension to the decision of recording this album at home. Julie and Bobby got married on December 31, 1959. In January of 1960, there were news reports about the brand new house that they were now occupying, and which they had had designed specifically to their taste. Located in Sherman Oaks and overlooking the San Fernando Valley, the 7,000 square feet residence was prized at $225,00 back then; earlier this century, after the couple's passing, it went on to sell for 1.9 million.



At the time (January 1960), Julie was quoted at saying: “I’ve always wanted a place of my own. The other houses completely reflected Jack’s (former husband Jack Webb) tastes. There was nothing of me in them.” So, she had a strong connection to (or identification with) this house, and must have naturally felt very much at ease in that little dream castle of them. Guess what else came out in 1960? A baby. Not a human one, though. I'm referring to the album.

So, the LP can be seen as part of the official marriage celebrations and the "house initiation."

In any case, I agree with all of you about this one being among Julie's better albums. I especially appreciate the decision to include the rarely heard verse of "The Thrill Is Gone." I would have preferred for the vibes to be a bit less prominent in some of the tracks, though.

 

OK newbie here...in other words I only knew Julie London from when I was a kid and she was Dixie on my fave TV show Emergency. So now that I am oldr and into music bigtime, I discover her as a singer. So my question is; where does one start? I want to know which recording of hers to get first that will blow me away and make me a fan for life? What is the album that I will want and need to listen to on those lonely nights with a bottle of wine? Thanks....

 

I honestly think that getting the Rhino "Time For Love" comp is a great starting point. Not only is it well mastered, but it's a fairly broad sampling from her many albums. You can then decide from there which tracks tickle your fancy most and seek out the albums on which those cuts originally appeared. Or, if you're like me, you'll love every track on the cd and want to seek out every album.

 

Let's see. By 1960 she was a successful singer, married to a very successful composer, and divorced from a big time Hollywood actor and producer. I imagine "at home" was up in the Hollywood Hills, and quite quiet indeed! I don't have much trouble imagining Capitol's mobile equipment traipsing up to a mansion.

 

Very interesting! And a beautiful home - thanks for the sharing the photo. One of my initial thoughts concerning the logistics of cutting an album at home is that the neighbors would complain about the noise. But that looks like a big lot that's somewhat secluded.

 

Julie was beautiful. Jack Webb was a lucky man. Of course what about Jack's album?

 

Thank you I just wrote it down....Time For Love....onto the hunt.

 

I may pick this up too, if it's an excellent cross-sampling of Julie's album sides. I only have about a third of her albums so far. It might alert me to which others I would like (although I'm sure I'd more or less enjoy them all, except for the one I don't, but it's not Julie's fault).

Ha, I just realized she's got me babbling like a lovesick fool.

 

The reason Time For Love is so good is that it shows Julie doing both the more intimate/small scale recordings and those with fuller orchestration. Listening to that comp will give you an idea as to the style of a given album. The only thing the Time For Love comp doesn't include is any example of Julie at her most kitschy -- such as her cover of "Yummy Yummy Yummy." I think it was wise on Rhino's part to avoid stuff like that, even though I personally enjoy listening to Julie turn Yummy into a lounge song.

 

I haven't heard Julie's "Yummy" the whole way through but that's from her last album. I'd like to find a copy.

As long as "Time For Love" isn't heavy on the Send For Me selections, I'm sure I will enjoy it.

 

I just ordered that one this week on amazon for $4.24 after shipping. I am looking forward to getting it. I have listened to Julie on Spotify and youtube, but this one will be my first CD from her.

Point is, it's a plenty cheap price to pay for what is the recommended starting point.

 

I'm new to Spotify as it just came to Canada recently. But that would be a good way for me to sample Julie's other offerings to see which I'd like to get for my library.

 

I love that she produced records so spare and intimate...for me, gives it the same type of quality a lot of the Sinatra I dig has. No dopey background stingers or syrupy strings.

 

Imho , forget Dianna krall, and more of them ,listen to Julie london she is really one of the best .
I have many albums of her and i always enjoy them.
And, inho, a very beautiful woman and a great singer

 

London definitely holds influence over Krall's style and delivery of singing. But while Diana Krall is of the same "less is more" school, I find her pleasant but she doesn't hold a candle to Julie London.

 

So I'm happy to say my first Spotify experience is Julie's Yummy Yummy Yummy album. The first "suggested track" it inserted was from Send For Me.

 

Also, a big fan of Julie London. I first discovered her music on the Sirius Radio channel, Siriusly Sinatra. My favorite album is Around Midnight, but At Home is another top contender, too.

I recently saw her on an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

 

Right after I read your post, I checked out that compilation online, and said to myself something along the lines of "good track listing, but not fully representative, because her tongue-in-cheek/sensuous remakes of silly songs are missing. I'm going to post that." Then I came back here, read this second post of yours, and found out that you had beat me to it.

I'd rather not see "Yummy Yummy" in a Best Of anthology, either. It is perhaps the most mocked and derided track in Julie's entire discography. By the same token, "Yummy Yummy" has been deemed her best-known number after "Cry Me a River," but in truth those two tunes (sort of bookmarks in her discographical career) became known for entirely different reasons.

When it comes to her sexy remakes of silly songs, my choice would be "Come on-a-ma House." To be fully honest, I'm just a mild fan of Julie (I enjoy her best in small doses), but I think of "Come on-a-ma House" as a masterpiece of its kind. Admittedly, the arrangement is derivative, but who else could have possibly morphed such a moronic lyric into that much of a sexual teaser?

 

First time I really gave Julie an extended listen was this album. Love it!

 

Your comments reminded me of something else -- a somewhat curious, minor detail, perhaps only of interest to collectors of her vinyl.

In 1963, Liberty released its own Best of Julie:



The curious detail is that, unlike so many other hits packages, this one contains one song from each of her previous albums, up to 1961. So, it supplies you with one "representative" per LP. Perhaps, the picked songs were the ones that were considered the best by the record company people and/or Bobby & Julie, but I have no confirmation on that possibility. (I mean, some of the songs could have been picked not because they were considered the very best, but because they were more suitable to the producer's notion of an album sequence.)