Time for Julie London

I never heard of Julie London until a few years ago when my friend Doug would send me a series of homemade mix CDs of various artists. In between songs from obscure, modern day acts like The Stills, Incredible Moses Leroy, Nellie McKay and the like, he would toss in an old Julie London tune. Sandwiching disparate musical styles was Doug's way of recontextualizing old-fashioned music from his parents' era and imparting an ironic sensibility to them. Songs like "I'll Remember April", "November Twilight" and "Our Day Will Come", sounded new again, different in some way, and it definitely piqued my interest in hearing more songs from Julie London.

Maybe it's my gay sensibility, but without knowing anything about London, I was immediately drawn to her crooning, sultry voice; a voice that harked back to a bygone era of hoop skirts and smoky, after-hours jazz clubs. Julie London doesn't scream at you, there's no chest pounding a la Celine Dion or other such melismatic grandstanding. It's just her unwavering, pellucid voice caressing and phrasing each word like a specially made kiss.

After some time, I went to Amazon.com and came across a somewhat campy CD cover: it was an illustration of a clock face printed around London's body, her gams in skintight leggings keeping time and pointing to midnight. The title of the CD? Time for Love, of course. It was innocently naughty, instantly nostalgic, and for $12, I thought it the perfect starting point for a Julie London tyro like me.

Apparently, I made the right choice because the cover folds out to reveal a lengthy bio. In brief, Julie London was born Julie Peck in Santa Rosa, California in 1926. Her parents were in show business and London actually started out as an actress. Eventually, her voice was discovered after she stopped by a club to watch musician Bobby Troup perform at a nightclub in Hollywood. Troup and London later married and remained together until Troup's death in 1999. London died a year later.

With a prolific catalogue spanning many years, the 18 tunes featured in Time For Love were culled from London's early works with Troup, focusing on songs accompanied by a four piece combo or bass and guitar.

Not coming from the times in which these songs were produced, it's my own displaced perspective, or, perhaps more accurately, my own delusional romanticizing of this era, that I find certain songs a bit disturbing in their sexual allure, however subtle and understated. Tracks like "Daddy" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" are tinged with an eerily incestuous wink. It only takes London's vampy turn of an innocent phrase like My heart belongs to daddy and my daddy he treats me so well, to give me the shivers. Faring better is "Go Slow", a simmering brew of Jazz and breathy innuendo. Sensual, hypnotizing, and slyly suggestive, it's a naughty little romp that leaves you with the strange urge to get a shot of penicillin.

Fortunately, my faith in the deluded notion of more innocent times is reflected in the rest of the songs. "Cry me a River" is a plangent, gin-soaked number about, you guessed it, lost love. The fading echo towards the end as London repeats I Cried a River Over you, is a haunting closer.

Throughout the entire collection, spare arrangements lightly accent London's velvety, close-to-the-mic voice. London got her break and performed in very intimate nightclubs, so cuts like "'Round Midnight", "No Moon at All", "I Surrender, Dear" and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" feel as if they're being sung only for the listener. The lack of background or harmonizing vocals intensifies this effect.

Music can bind the listener to a specific time and place, like a childhood memory or favorite vacation getaway. It can go so far as to invoke all the senses to create another world within the listener's fantasy. Really good music can do that. For me, Julie London and the songs from her era will always remind me of quiet antique stores and small seaside shops in New England, vibrant autumns, lazy white sand beaches and other calls to the simple life. When I come home stressed from a nasty day with the world at large, you can never underestimate the wonders a glass of red wine and a woman - already six years gone - singing gently through your home can do.

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I'm not a fan of listing songs, but for compilations and greatest hits, I make an exception so that the more knowledgeable fan of the artist can decide if it's worth picking up. Here they are:

1.Cry Me A River
2.In the Middle of a Kiss
3.You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
4.No Moon At All
5.June in January
6.'Round Midnight
7.In the Still of The Night
8.My Heart Belongs To Daddy
9.Invitation to the Blues
10.Easy Street
11.Go Slow
12.The Thrill is Gone
13.I Surrender, Dear
14.Two Sleepy People
15.A Cottage for Sale
16.Daddy
17.Gone With the Wind
18.I'm in The Mood For Love