Customer Reviews

Rca: The Very Best of Ann-Margret

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The Very Best of Ann-Margret is an excellent Ann-Margret CD that gives us a great sampling of some songs she sang so well. The sound quality is excellent and the artwork is especially nice--now if only this album weren't out of print!

"I Just Don't Understand" starts the CD with Ann-Margret singing her very best; and the chorus adds to the number. Make no mistake about it, though--Ann-Margret owns this song when she sings it; the chorus merely adds a bit to the number. The harmonica is used quite well; and Ann-Margret never misses a beat! I'm amazed at how well she does "I Just Don't Understand." "You're The Boos" has a jazzier melody and Ann-Margret sings this to perfection--she gets vocal support but again this tune is hers and hers alone. The arrangement is very nicely done, too. Similarly, there's also "Slowly." "Slowly" is a most romantic ballad that Ann-Margret performs with a certain amount of romantic innuendo but it's never crude--she does this one right!

"What Am I Supposed To Do?" gives us a great torch song as Ann-Margret sings this with great sensitivity. You can really hear just how deeply Ann-Margret delved into this song in order to sing it with a great deal of heartfelt passion. I'm amazed! I wish she could do a concert for me tonight!

"Gimme Love" is a bouncy, upbeat tune as Ann-Margret sings of how her character wants her man to be her one true love; and the music works wonders for this tune. "He's My Man" also showcases Ann-Margret's ability to deliver a song with heart and soul; "He's My Man" is a major highlight of this album. "You Sure Know How To Hurt Someone" puts Ann-Margret squarely in the spotlight and she does a great job on this song. The soft rock melody makes "You Sure Know How To Hurt Someone" a very solid number.

"I Wanna Be Loved" is a stunning ballad that Ann-Margret sings to perfection--and beyond! The lush musical arrangement makes this ballad even prettier and I'm sure you'll enjoy "I Wanna Be Loved." The CD ends strong with Ann-Margret performing "The Lady Loves Him." This take of "The Lady Loves Him" sounds great--it also makes the perfect ending to this fine album by Ann-Margret.

Ann-Margret was never really taken seriously as a singer even during her period of true fame in the 1960s; but this CD will demonstrate to you that she had quite a fine set of pipes! I highly recommend this album for people who like classic vocals with that awesome `60s sound.

I have listened and listened and listened to this RCA 100 Years of Music Collection, "The Very Best Of Ann-Margret" -- and it's a truly appropriate album title! I would have been about 12 or thirteen years old when she put down these tracks. . . and had I heard any of them on the radio (which I always had screwed into my ear- japanese transistor "el-dorado") I'm positive I would have been the proud owner of the world's largest Ann-Margret record collection. But they never did get the radio air-wave play Ann-Margret and her talent rightfully deserved.
But, I have this album now and I've fallen in love as if I were thirteen years old all over again. There's a magic in her voice that no one else recording will ever duplicate. . . There's not a single track on this collection that you would skip-over or program out. Now I know why she became the "star" she did and still remains. Were I to single out tracks I'd have to mention every one. But her rendition of Helen Carter's "What Am I Supposed To Do" is just perfect! Anyone, teenaged or now older who has ever loved and lost will take her version of this song into his or her own heart. And her rendering of "It Do Me So Good" will melt the paint off your walls. . . if the walls are painted. . . she will certainly melt you! Her duets with Elvis are totally unique and classics!
Ms Ann-Margret, you're the best! Sorry it took this many years for much of your music and recordings to receive the accolades you deserve. . . but whoever buys and listens to this collection will hear, "The Very best Of Ann-Margret" and they will fall in love with you for the first time. . . or all over again.

The "Very Best of Ann-Margret" is a fine collection of some of her songs. I especially like "Slowly" which was written by Otis Blackwell who wrote some of Elvis Presley's greatest hits such as "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up" and "Return to Sender". Speaking of Elvis, the two duets with Elvis: "You're The Boss" and "The Lady Loves Me" are alternate takes and different from the takes of these songs found on Elvis' releases. All in all this is a very good CD. I would have liked to have seen the songs "Appreciation" and "My Rival" from the movie "Viva Las Vegas", but still a very good selection is found here. Bill, Topeka, Kansas

Funny how the senses can fool us. Until searching for this artist on Amazon, I thought Ann-Margret's given name was "Ann-Margaret." Whoops. More significantly, until listening to this CD, I thought Ann-Margret was a lightweight vocalist from the same school of barely-passable celebrity vocalizing that gave us Jane Russell, Patty Duke, and Marilyn Monroe. But the young Ann-Margret was an outstanding and remarkably versatile singer. I can live without some of this material, but nothing here is less than expertly arranged and produced, and Chet Atkins' 1961 fuzz-tone guitar is the best kind of aberration. Nancy Sinatra practically owes her style to Ann-Margret, and there are hints of mid-`60s Barbra Streisand in a few of the earlier tracks, as well. This CD is a delightful surprise, and highly recommended.

To me the songs in this compilation remind me of nobody else but Ann-Margret. For all of her successes, she still has never received the promotion that she deserved. This lady has talent to burn. If you want to hear the best of Ann-Margret, this is the one to buy.

I love the sultry way she sings. She is so cute. Some of the songs I had never heard before.

Listening to the sexy undercurrent in many of her songs, evoking memories of a young Eartha Kitt, you have to think that, if Ann-Margret Olsson had WANTED to pursue a career as a recording artist she would easily have had more than the three hits she put into the Billboard Pop Hot 100.

Her first - and best - was the haunting lament I Just Don't Understand which climbed into the Top 20 in summer 1961, topping out at # 17 b/w I Don't Hurt Anymore [not in this set]. And although she didn't fare nearly as well with her second and third charters [It Do Me So Good - # 97 in November 1961 b/w Gimme Love, and What Am I Supposed To Do? - # 19 Adult Contemporary/# 82 Hot 100 in April 1962 b/w Let's Stop Kidding Each Other, also omitted], this was probably due more to the weak material than her performance.

In addition to the hits, you also get two songs from the Elvis Presley film Viva Las Vegas - The Lady Moves Me (previously unreleased) and You're The Boss (cut from the film and previously unreleased) - both duets with The King.

Also highly enjoyable are the old Kitt and Andrews Sisters songs Lovin' Spree and I Wanna Be Loved. All in all, a very enjoyable album.

THIS CD TRULY LIVES UP TO EXPECTATIONS AS A BEST OF ANN-MARGRET SERIES-- NEXT TO OTHER ANN-MARGRET COMPILATION ALBUMS THAT ARE SURFACING ALL OVER THE WORLD IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES THIS GIVES US YET ANOTHER TASTE OF THE THE MANY MOODS OF ANN-MARGRET...FOR ANY FAN THAT HAS PURCHASED EVERY IMPORT AVAILABLE TO GET EVERY AM SONG PRODUCED-- RCA HAS DONE A FINE JOB IN LIMITING IT TO A VERY ENJOYABLE ENSEMBLE OF OTH EARLY ROCK AND TEARY EYE BALLADS.. NOW THAT AM SEEMS TO HAVE RESURFACED WITH HER CURRENT BROADWAY TOUR OF BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS AND HER SOON TO BE RELEASED GOSPEL ALBUM"GOD IS LOVE "--IT IS ALWAYS NICE TO HEAR RCAS EARLY DISCOVERY OF THE ALLURING ANN-MARGRET ALL AROUND ENTERTAINER EXTRADOINAIRE...MUST HAVE FOR ANY ANN-MARGRET COLLECTION..

EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN CONCEPT OF WHAT AN ENTERTAINER'S "GEATEST HITS" END UP BEING. DON'T GET ME WRONG, THIS IS A GREAT C.D. BUT I WAS HOPING IT WOULD INCLUDE "JIM DANDY". ANN DOES A GREAT ENERGETIC VERSION OF THE LAVERN BAKER HIT. "I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND" WAS ANN-MARGET'S FIRST BIG HIT. SHE EVEN APPEARED ON "AMERICAN BANDSTAND" AND EVERYONE WAS IMPRESSED WITH HER SEXY MOVEMENTS, EVEN MARILYN MONROE COMMENTED THAT THIS GIRL WAS GOING PLACES.WHEN ANN APPEARED IN VEGAS FOR THE 1ST TIME, SHE DEVOTED A SPECIAL SONG TO MONROE "DOESN'T ANYBODY HERE WANT ME?" PROBABLY IN GRATITUDE. YOU'LL LOVE ANN'S SULTRY SINGING AND DON'T MISS OUT ON HER OTHER "BACHELOR IN PARADISE" C.D. I RECOMMEND THEM!!

EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN CONCEPT OF WHAT AN ENTERTAINER'S "GEATEST HITS" END UP BEING. DON'T GET ME WRONG, THIS IS A GREAT C.D. BUT I WAS HOPING IT WOULD INCLUDE "JIM DANDY". ANN DOES A GREAT ENERGETIC VERSION OF THE LAVERN BAKER HIT. "I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND" WAS ANN-MARGET'S FIRST BIG HIT. SHE EVEN APPEARED ON "AMERICAN BANDSTAND" AND EVERYONE WAS IMPRESSED WITH HER SEXY MOVEMENTS, EVEN MARILYN MONROE COMMENTED THAT THIS GIRL WAS GOING PLACES.WHEN ANN APPEARED IN VEGAS FOR THE 1ST TIME, SHE DEVOTED A SPECIAL SONG TO MONROE "DOESN'T ANYBODY HERE WANT ME?" PROBABLY IN GRATITUDE. YOU'LL LOVE ANN'S SULTRY SINGING AND DON'T MISS OUT ON HER OTHER "BACHELOR IN PARADISE" C.D. I RECOMMEND THEM!!