Mamie Van Doren
Van Doren is, of course, on Va-Va-Voom. But she deserved a record of her own. She was always the Blonde Gone Bad. Garbed in her bullet bra, she snarled through such '50s teen exploitation flicks as Untamed Youth and High School Confidential. For some reason she always sang in these jukebox jungle epics, and those screeches are preserved here in the original sound track recordings. Mamie had that platinum hair, with a lot of tin in her voice to go with it. Still, her voice was as innocent sounding as her screen image was hard-boiled. You've got to root for her as she gamely twangs through a time capsule of sorts, bringing back the banana-boat days in Go Go Calypso and providing an ode to angst in The Beat Generation ("Now your lives don't have a meaning/ Though you're living up a storm/ You'll do anything at all, but conform"). There are fun studio stills and liner notes on Mamie. ("Academy Award no, but at least you look great!") The only thing missing is Mamie's new 12-inch dance single, Young Dudes, where she tries to bring back disco, and her youth: "I want young dudes/ Don't care if they're dumb dudes." (Rhino)
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