by Scott Yanow
For a time, Julie London was as famous for her sexy album covers as for her singing. Her debut is her best, a set of fairly basic interpretations of standards in which she is accompanied tastefully by guitarist Barney Kessel and bassist Ray Leatherwood. "Cry Me a River" from this album, was her biggest hit, and her breathy versions of such numbers as "I Should Care," "Say It Isn't So," "Easy Street," and "Gone with the Wind" are quite haunting. [Julie Is Her Name, Vol. 1 was reissued on CD by the Rev-Ola label in 2006 and can also be found paired with Julie Is Her Name, Vol. 2 as a two-fer released by EMI in 1992.]