Plenty has been written about Julie London's terrifically sexy and understated voice, but this is where it all began. These two albums ("Julie Is Her Name" was her debut) best capture the sound associated with her- a soft voice with just guitar and bass (Barney Kessel and Ray Leatherwood on "JIHN"; Howard Roberts and Red Mitchell on "Volume II"). Julie's definitive classic, "Cry Me A River", is the first track here and sets the tone for what follows. The catch: these two concept albums, recorded in 1955 and 1958, respectively, were not meant to be heard as one continuous piece, and the combined length may diffuse some of the energy here. You may want to play tracks 1-13 and come back later for 14-25. And if you're only going to buy one Julie London disc (or, rather, think you're only going to buy one) I'd go for Rhino's "Time For Love" first- these are classics, but that one's a better overview.