ANN-MARGRET 1961 / 1962

Original released on LP RCA Victor LSP 2399

(US, 1961)

Original released on LP RCA Victor LSP 2551

(US, 1962)

On The Way Up With Ann

Original released on LP RCA Victor LPM 2453 (mono)

(US, 1962)

Ann-Margret's RCA Victor debut album, "And Here She Is...", didn't get much attention in 1961, but she did better with her bluesy single "I Just Don't Understand," which peaked in the Top 20 in September. That set up this, her second solo LP, which featured "I Just Don't Understand," and like it was recorded partially in Nashville under the aegis of Chet Atkins and Dick Pierce. The two naturally brought a slight country feel to some of the tracks, notably the remakes of Don Gibson's 1958 hit "Oh, Lonesome Me" and the 1960-1961 hit "My Last Date (With You)" (aka "Last Date"). But the closest approximation of the sound was the kind of country-inflected pop/rock being pursued by Elvis Presley around the same time, which made a rendition of Presley's first major hit, "Heartbreak Hotel," an appropriate choice. At 20, Ann-Margret was an effective singer, if something of a chameleon, seeming to adopt a different persona for each number. She was at her most seductive singing Otis Blackwell's "Slowly," and she came on like a Latin fireball on "Fever," but was demure on the singles-chart entry "What Am I Supposed to Do" and ingenuously winning on "Moon River." RCA Victor appears to have been hoping it had found a distaff Presley, and it's possible Ann-Margret might have justified such a hope if her film acting career hadn't quickly outpaced her recording career; by the time this album was released, her movie debut, "Pocketful of Miracles", had been out for several months and "State Fair", which would establish her as a redheaded bombshell, was just getting into theaters. (She was still a mousy brunette on the album cover.) "On the Way Up" was an appropriate title, but records would soon take a back seat to other career goals. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

Original released on LP RCA-Victor LPM/LSP 2659

(US, 1963)

On April 9, 1962, 20-year-old Ann-Margret earned a standing ovation for her performance of the Oscar-nominated title song to the Bob Hope comedy "Bachelor in Paradise" at the annual Academy Awards ceremony, another stepping stone on her way to stardom. Perhaps because it was still promoting her as a pop/rock singer, RCA Victor Records, her record label, which was just releasing its second Ann-Margret LP, "On the Way Up", took a while to retool her image as more of a middle-of-the-road traditional pop singer, and it wasn't until her fourth album, released the year following the Oscar show, that a recording intended to capitalize on the "Bachelor in Paradise" triumph appeared. The Ann-Margret of "Bachelors' Paradise" was very different from the one who had hit the Top 20 with the bluesy "I Just Don't Understand" less than two years earlier. This was no distaff Elvis Presley, with Chet Atkins behind the glass and the Jordanaires on background vocals; this was a nightclub chanteuse working with an orchestra and performing a bunch of pop standards written by the likes of Rodgers & Hart ("You Took Advantage of Me" from the 1928 musical "Present Arms2) and Styne and Sondheim ("Let Me Entertain You" from the 1959 musical "Gypsy" and its just-released film version). The point of consistency between the younger Ann-Margret and the mature 21-year-old who made "Bachelors' Paradise" was her kittenish sexuality, which was even more accentuated by this lush ballad approach. One of the LP's songs was "Lovin' Spree", a 1954 hit for Eartha Kitt, and Ann-Margret displayed Kitt's strong influence, though without the older singer's predatory bite. This new direction might have led to recording success if Ann-Margret had pursued it; instead, she continued to focus on movies, in particular her latest vehicle, the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie.