Customer Reviews

The Diamond Collection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this CD stunning and a joy to listen to from beginning to end.
First of all, the remastering of the sound is incredible ( MGM take note of your disasterous "Some Like It Hot" soundtrack release on CD ), the vocals are upfront and clearly audible, with the backup orchestra and chorus so clear that you can pick out individual instruments with unbelievable clarity giving the familiar songs a "newness" to it.
The "incidental" music, hidden for years in the vaults, are a fantastic surprise - from the jazzy Gershwin-like sound of "Streetscene" to the seductivly beautiful "A Dream" and "The Girl Upstairs".
Many of the vocal songs are extended and complete with Marilyn's solo on "Bye Bye Baby" sung acappella with the backup orchestra leaking through her headphones giving it a very eerie quality. The vocals are so clear that it sounds like she is in the same room singing to the sounds of a radio being heard from an apartment next door. The first time I heard this it gave me a chill.
The vocals from the other performers ( Jane Russell, Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire ) seem to fit into the theme of the CD very well, and when Fred Astaire sings his beautiful rendition of "Somethigs Got TO Give", you get the feeling he is singing about and to Marilyn herself.
The CD end with Marilyn and Jane Russell singing "Two Girls From Little Rock", again acappella. It works, with each vocalist singing separatly from each speaker - no frills, no orchesra, no chorus, just the two voices harmonizing perfectly - a hauntingly beautiful end to a beautiful CD.
This is a great CD and a must for every Marilyn fan or anyone who in interested in the sounds of the musical comedies of the fifties.
I can hardly wait for "The Diamond Collection II" to see what other "gems" they will find in the vaults.

This is a welcome surprise for fans of Marilyn Monroe. It's presented as a companion CD to the recent "Diamond Collection" DVD set of her films, and includes all the songs she performed in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "There's No Business Like Show Business". It also features the original theme music from "Bus Stop", "How to Marry a Millionaire", and "The Seven Year Itch." Songs sung by Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman that have connections to Monroe films are tacked on, but they are perfectly enjoyable enough as to not detract.
Most appreciated are the tracks that are extended or that vary from the versions that have been available on many records and CDs over the years. Almost every song from "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is different in some way than I've heard before - The producers of this collection found unedited versions with longer orchestral intros, and Jane Russell's solo song "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love" has an extra verse with unidentified female singers that isn't in the movie at all! It's great to have these previously unreleased versions on cd.
The sound quality of the vocal tracks is generally very good, considering their age, and the instrumentals are excellent. These are the original recordings from the films and not newer versions. Hopefully Fox will release Monroe's other musical films for the studio on DVD and another CD with her performances from "River of No Return" and "Let's Make Love".

This CD is interesting because it has songs by Marilyn Monroe or
associated with her films. The most fascinating film of the Diamond Collection is called THE FINAL DAYS and includes a
reconstruction of 40 minutes of Marilyn's final uncompleted film
SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE. The Theme song in the movie is superbly
sung by Frank Sinatra. To my great disappointment, the version
included in the CD is sung by FRED ASTAIRE, which is good but not
as great as the Frank Sinatra version.

This Collection of movie soundtracks tie-in with the 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe "Diamond" Collection series of movies she made from circa 1953 - 1956; inclusive in this soundtrack collection are "Diamonds", "How to Marry A Millionaire", "The Seven Year Itch", "Bus Stop", also two versions of "Something's Gotta Give",(Monroe's last and unfinished film, 1962);(one instrumental version that was to originally be used in Monroe's famous "nude" swimming scene), and the second version being taken from the 1955 film "Funny Face", starring "Fred Astaire" & "Audrey Hepburn". Astaire lending his singing talents in this version. Also inclusive is the "Street Scene" musical introduction to the 1953 film, "How to Marry A Millionaire", which musical composer "Newman" lends a respectful homage to "Gershwin" in its style and overture. This collection is really arranged beautifully. For those who enjoyed the title and background music of the "Diamonds", "Seven Year Itch", "Bus Stop", "How to Marry A Millionaire" you'll be surprized at the professional restoration and sound quality of this CD. ...hopefully there will be a companion version of this CD that will include Monroe's other screen performances such as the "River of No Return" and "Let's Make Love". All-in all - this CD is a "must-have" for Marilyn Monroe afficionados and also for those you would like to take a long step back in time in an era when movies were movies!

I love this CD, it's not only a tribute to Marilyn but also to Lionel and Alfred Newman who composed or arranged and conducted many of the scores for her films. Alfred also composed the 20th Century Fox fanfare which is the introduction to this recording. His beautiful "Street Scene" was a demonstration of stereophonic sound and the prelude to "How To Marry A Millionaire".

We also get a treat with orchestrations and a vocal by Fred Astaire from "Daddy Long Legs" singing and dancing to "Somethings Gotta Give" which was the title of her last, unfinished film.

Some have complained about the instrumentals but I love them! The Rachmaninoff, Concerto In C Minor dream sequence from "The Seven Year Itch" is a wonderful bonus as well as the sexy instrumental, "The Girl Upstairs" from the same film. That melody personifies Marilyn to me!
Listening to Marilyn sing a capella "Bye Bye Baby", and with Jane Russell on " Two Little Girls From Little Rock" From "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" makes you wish that she had recorded more non soundtrack albums.
If this CD contained her songs from "Some Like It Hot" and "Let's Make Love", I would rate this recording 6 Stars!!!

One final note: The sound quality is excellent considering the age of these recordings!

I was a huge Monroe obsessive in my youth, but I couldn't call myself that anymore and am often quite dismissive of her presence in many of her films. I mention this to give some perspective to my review. I think this is a pretty excellent collection of music and other reviewers are right to praise the restoration work. I bought this mainly to obtain the wonderful selections from the film 'Daddy Long legs', the full six-plus minutes of the 'Somethings Gotta Give' dance-athon. It seems the decision for inclusion on this album was that it had to be composed, arranged or conducted by Alfred Newman. So while It's great to get the Bus Stop song' I would have loved to hear the rousing male vocal title track version of 'River of No Return'. The track 'New York' from 'How to Marry a Millionaire' never sounded better, you can really hear the excitement of those male & female choruses. Hearing Marylin sing virtually A Capella makes you appreciate how tuneful and expressive her voice could be. Unfortunately (and only a Monroe obsessive would understand) the version of 'Heat Wave' presented here is the same one on every Monroe compilation, with the same drag queen-ish overly breathy little girl voice and not the more warmer womanly vocal she used in the actual movie (I am not referring to the singer used on the official soundtrack album of 'No Business Like Show Business' but to what was obviously Monroe's voice in a superior take). That recording is obviously lost forever. Because it's an inferior take that isn't in the film, I would have preferred that they chose Marilyn's version of 'You'd Be Surprised' to 'Heat Wave' as it was recorded for the same movie as a possible alternative for the number 'After You Get What You Want' and I think would have been much sexier (which is the likely reason it WASN'T chosen). HMMMM mabey I'm STILL a Monroe obsessive.
One more thing, even though Marilyn totally OWNED Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Jane Russel rules and I'm so glad she's included here.

This Collection of movie soundtracks tie-in with the 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe "Diamond" Collection series of movies she made from circa 1953 - 1956; inclusive in this soundtrack collection are "Diamonds", "How to Marry A Millionaire", "The Seven Year Itch", "Bus Stop", also two versions of "Something's Gotta Give",(Monroe's last and unfinished film, 1962);(one instrumental version that was to be originally used in Monroe's famous "nude" swimming scene), and the second version being taken from the 1955 film "Funny Face", starring "Fred Astaire" & "Audrey Hepburn". Astaire lending his singing talents in this version. Also inclusive is the "Street Scene" musical introduction to the 1953 film, "How to Marry A Millionaire", which musical composer "Newman" lends a respectful homage to "Gershwin" in its style and overture. This collection is really arranged beautifully. For those who enjoyed the title and background music of the "Diamonds", "Seven Year Itch", "Bus Stop", "How to Marry A Millionaire", you'll be surprized at the professional restoration and sound quality of this CD. As the previous reviewer commented, hopefully there will be a companion version of this CD that will include Monroe's other screen performances such as the "River of No Return" and "Let's Make Love". All-in all - this CD is a "must-have" for Marilyn Monroe afficionados and also for those you would like to take a long step back in time in an era when movies were movies!

Roughly half of the CD are either instrumental tracks or sung by someone else. I doubt most people realize this before they buy.