On this work the original album cover art design was extended on both sides by adding portions of the fabrics on each side. The width required was enough not to touch on the body of the artist although
their sizes and positions were adjusted in order to fill the added space up to the corners. Indeed the resulting work dazzles like a frenesi, ushers the eyes of the beholder to the elegance of the pose
at centre, the satin feel is enhanced.
The fabric doesn't seem to float in the air; Julie London's voice is husky and heavy. I was only eight years old at the time this album was released and I now think that maybe I've been familiar
with these tunes, and Latin music in general, from the blaring trumpets I've heard around the neighbourhood during those days. It was both moody and danceable, a favourite fare
in city night clubs frequented by music-loving customers who were older than the clubs themselves.
Julie London's style is bland and easy to emulate. Filipinos, with their own Hispanic heritage had a traditional penchant for Latin music. Relatively few may have been aware of
setting up a satin mood, but surely, long before the days of minus one machines and karaoke, it would have been Julie London's voice that they might have chosen to copy.
After all, even a bamboo flute can play "Besame Mucho".
This is the original album cover art design.
Julie famously once said that her sexy cover images took longer to shoot than the recordings took to put down. No doubting the form here then.
Now considered one of her most attractive and sought-after sessions, Sings Latin in a Satin Mood features a dozen classic Latin-American songs
with dreamy arrangements by Tommy Snuff Garrrett. This really is the stuff of the wee small hours, when Julie sings just for you.
Liberty 1963.
(A) Frenesi - Be Mine Tonight - Yours - Besame Mucho - Adios - Sway
(B) Perfidia - Come Closer to Me - Amor - Magic is the Moonlight - You Belong to My Heart - Vaya con Dios
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