Marlene

La Femme Dietrich's career lasted several decades, and when she inked a deal with Decca Records in 1939, her first recording assignment was to produce an album of her "greatest hits," so already pervasive was her fame. This 16-track collection rounds up selections recorded over a 25-year period between her signing to Decca and her later recordings for Dot and Kapp, all of which parent company MCA-Universal now owns. Besides the definitive, elegant orchestral reading of 'Falling In Love Again', Marlene also puts her pipes and personality to other hits like "The Boys in the Backroom" and "You've Got That Look (That Makes Me Weak)" from the movie Destry Rides Again, as well as a batch of classy readings of "You Do Something to Me," "You Go to My Head," and uncharacteristic, almost surreal 1957 rock & roll stabs at "Near You," and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" and the campy spins of her final single in 1965, "If He Swing By the String" and "Such Trying Times." All in all, a great little career overview to add to the pop vocal side of the collection.

This great-value 51-track 2-CD selects a representative range of her recordings, encompassing her film performances, commercial studio recordings (some of which were of her movie songs) and live recordings, which combine to showcase the breadth of her talent and repertoire. It includes her duet recordings with Rosemary Clooney, which gave a her her only chart hit with Too Old To Cut The Mustard, selected tracks from her albums Marlene Dietrich Overseas, Live at the Café de Paris, Live In Rio and Wiedersehen Mit Marlene and from her collaboration with Burt Bacharach in the late 50s and early 60s which added another dimension to her oeuvre. It features songs or recordings from the films The Blue Angel, Morocco, Blonde Venus, Desire, Seven Sinners, Destry Rides Again, Manpower, A Foreign Affair, Rancho Notorious, I Am A Camera, Monte Carlo Story, Witness For The Prosecution. Its a fascinating and enjoyable celebration of unique and distinctive star.