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The 14 tracks are: 1. I Just Don't Understand (2:36); 2. You're The Boss (2:43); 3. Slowly (2:08); 4. Someday Soon (2:13); 5. What Am I Supposed To Do? (2:46); 6. My Last Date (With You) (2:35); 7. Gimme Love (2:16); 8. He's My Man (2:52); 9. Lovin' Spree (2:56); 10. You Sure Know How To Hurt Someone (2:19); 11. It Do Me So Good (2:17); 12. Bachelor In Paradise (2:33); 13. I Wanna Be Loved (2:47); 14. The Lady Loves Me (take 9) (3:42).
Listening to the sexy undercurrent in many of her songs evokes comparisons to a young Eartha Kitt and leaves you wondering why Ann-Margret (born Ann-Margret Olsson in Valsjöbyn, Jämtland in Sweden on April 28, 1941) never had more than the three nationally-charting sides she put onto the Billboard Pop Hot 100 in 1961/62 for RCA Victor, especially on the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts, introduced in 1961 and seemingly tailor-made for her style of delivery. After attending Northwestern University and later discovered while performing in a nightclub by non-other than the venerable George Burns, she landed a contract with one of the giants of the industry, RCA Victor, where her initial single in late 1960, I Ain't Got Nobody b/w Lost Love as RCA Victor 47-7857, with orchestra and chorus conducted by H.B. Barnum, failed to dent the Billboard Pop Hot 100 (neither side is included).
That changed with the follow-up, the haunting lament I Just Don't Understand which, with orchestra and chorus conducted by Don Robertson, climbed into the Top 20 in summer 1961, topping out at # 17 Hot 100 in August as RCA Victor 47-7894 b/w an up-tempo cover of the Hank Snow 1954 Country smash I Don't Hurt Anymore (unfortunately left out of this set). Later that year, in November, the fantastic (and very Country-sounding) It Do Me So Good inexplicably struggled to a # 97 Hot 100 b/w Gimme Love as RCA Victor 47-7952 (both here), and in April 1962 her final nationally-charting single, the Helen Carter-penned What Am I Supposed To Do? finally gave her an Adult Contemporary hit when it peaked at # 19 but again, inexplicably to these ears, it could only manage a # 82 Hot 100 b/w Let's Stop Kidding Each Other (another omission here) as RCA Victor 47-7986.
As for the rest of the 14 tracks, you get the 1964 failed side He's My Man (RCA Victor 47-8446) but not the B-side (her cover of the Judy Collins 1969 hit Someday Soon) while tracks 3 and 6 are from her 1962 LP "On The Way Up" (RCA Victor LSP-2453) and tracks 9, 12 and 13 are from her 1963 LP "Bachelor's Paradise" (RCA Victor LSP-2659). Previously unreleased were You Sure Know How To Hurt Someone, The Lady Moves Me and You're The Boss, the last two duets with Elvis Presley intended for, but never used, in the 1964 film Viva Las Vegas. Nice selections all and certainly appealing to Ann-Margret fans. But who decided - and on what basis - that these were to be included in such a volume while choosing to omit two of the three B-sides to her charted singles? Such figurative nose-thumbing to completist hits collectors loses it 2 stars in my estimation despite the excellent sound reproduction and interesting liner notes written by Michael Hill.
She did make a comeback of sorts on record during the Disco years by placing 3 sides on the short-lived Dance (Disco) charts: Love Rush (3:58) - # 9 in 1979 b/w For You (4:50) as MCA MCAN-41186; Midnight Message (6:53) - # 12 in 1980 as MCA 41223 b/w What I Do To Men (6:07); and A1. Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes Part 1 (3:48) - A2. Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes Part 2 (6:36) - # 22 in 1981 as First American 1207 b/w Hold Me, Squeeze Me (5:30). Finding these or any of her failed RCA Victor singles from her earlier period (see the Comments below) in a quality CD setting is so far impossible.
