This 18-song compilation is the showbiz-encased, Vegas-ized school of late-'50s and early-'60s pop vocals. The emphasis is certainly more on the "cool" than the wild and swinging; if it ever breaks out a sweat, there will be a martini-dipped silk handkerchief on hand to wipe it away. You get selections from Rat Packers (
Dean Martin,
Sammy Davis, Jr.), African-American mainstream pop (
Nat King Cole,
Lou Rawls), adult pop stars (
Bobby Darin,
Peggy Lee,
Julie London), adult pop with a dash of vaudevillian slapstick (
Louis Prima and
Keely Smith), and those for whom Vegas was always the prize (a teenaged
Wayne Newton). Targeted toward the nuevo cocktail crowd.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi