many songs are filler tracks

Roughly half of the CD are either instrumental tracks or sung by someone else. I doubt most people realize this before they buy.

WOW! Marilyn's voice on this CD will give you shivers!

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In my seemingly endless search for Marilyn Monroe CD's of high quality with remastered sound, I finally discovered this gem!

All of the tracks are remastered from the original sources, and they did an incredible job of it!

The most amazing tracks on this CD are the 2 tracks that appear a capella. Marilyn singing her verses of "Bye Bye Baby" are gorgeous! Her voice is quite astonishing. The sound quality makes it seem as though Marilyn were alive and singing this to you in person today. You can barely hear the background music track coming from her headphones and escaping into the microphone as she sings. I can actually imagine Marilyn alone in the soundbooth, eyes closed, as she puts everything she has into her vocal rendition of this song. The result is astonishing!

The other a capella track is "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" sung as a duet with Jane Russell. Each woman is heard through a different speaker. The harmonies are interesting, but again it is Marilyn's pure unadorned voice on this track that will truly make you shiver. (Except for the very last note, which will make you shiver for another reason; YIKES!)

Marilyn Monroe was a very good singer. With more training, she could have been an excellent singer. I only wish she had lived longer and recorded more songs. I think that had she lived, she may have eventually put together a show in Las Vegas. With her wonderful voice and her enchanting personality, her shows would have been sold out nightly!

But since she didn't live long enough to make that dream a reality, the best we have to remember her vocal talents by are the musical films she appeared in, and the CD's that have been produced from her limited musical catalog.

This CD is the best of the best. You will be very impressed with the sound quality on this one! I sure was!

This is mmarvelous Marilyn at her best!

stunning

I found this CD stunning and a joy to listen to from beginning to end.
First of all, the remastering of the sound is incredible ( MGM take note of your disasterous "Some Like It Hot" soundtrack release on CD ), the vocals are upfront and clearly audible, with the backup orchestra and chorus so clear that you can pick out individual instruments with unbelievable clarity giving the familiar songs a "newness" to it.
The "incidental" music, hidden for years in the vaults, are a fantastic surprise - from the jazzy Gershwin-like sound of "Streetscene" to the seductivly beautiful "A Dream" and "The Girl Upstairs".
Many of the vocal songs are extended and complete with Marilyn's solo on "Bye Bye Baby" sung acappella with the backup orchestra leaking through her headphones giving it a very eerie quality. The vocals are so clear that it sounds like she is in the same room singing to the sounds of a radio being heard from an apartment next door. The first time I heard this it gave me a chill.
The vocals from the other performers ( Jane Russell, Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire ) seem to fit into the theme of the CD very well, and when Fred Astaire sings his beautiful rendition of "Somethigs Got TO Give", you get the feeling he is singing about and to Marilyn herself.
The CD end with Marilyn and Jane Russell singing "Two Girls From Little Rock", again acappella. It works, with each vocalist singing separatly from each speaker - no frills, no orchesra, no chorus, just the two voices harmonizing perfectly - a hauntingly beautiful end to a beautiful CD.
This is a great CD and a must for every Marilyn fan or anyone who in interested in the sounds of the musical comedies of the fifties.
I can hardly wait for "The Diamond Collection II" to see what other "gems" they will find in the vaults.