Various artists
Movie goddesses of the '50s and '60s fill this two-record celebration, including 24 tunes more or less sung by the likes of Jane Russell, Rhonda Fleming, Ann-Margret, Jayne Mansfield, Diana Dors and Marilyn Monroe. So what if most of them couldn't sing? Most of them couldn't act either. But they were something. They were stars, larger-than-life glamazons in Cinemascope, and hearing these vixens vinylized is a camp treat. The music itself vacillates from the inane (Sophia Loren warbling a monotonous Bing Bang Bong—"Presto, presto, do your very besto") to the incandescent (Monroe, a singer of substance at times, exhibiting aurally in Lazy and You'd Be Surprised' why she was the sex siren nonpareil). Who cares that Elke Sommer sounds as if she's drowning in an echo chamber. The discs are shocking pink, there's a foldout booklet with tidbits on the stars and Mansfield sings, seriously, Little Things Mean a Lot. It's all a paean to peroxide and pulchritude. Hubba hubba. (Rhino)
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