The languid, smoldering Marlene Dietrich was a Hollywood legend, a fabulous creation who lived life primarily on her own terms. Her singing, too, is not the stuff of voice teachers or swing bands. She sang a song almost as a monologue, and knew how to put over a story.

Love Songs is a good selection of songs that display her unusual style very well. She didn't carry a tune every time, but she always got her point across.

The tracks here are a mixture of old Berlin cabaret, Hollywood film, and Las Vegas. "Fallin' In Love Again" is wonderful, and the song that has long been associated with Dietrich, as she sang it on screen in The Blue Angel in 1930.

Some songs, of course, are more appealing than others. The lonely "No Love, No Nothing" sounded better from Alice Faye, and "Come Rain Or Come Shine" also sounds a trifle peculiar. Marlene Dietrich simply is a bit too exotic for such homely songs.

Her "La Vie en Rose" is very good, and "Lili Marlene"is likewise. The plaintive "One For My Baby" sounds like the real thing—she's got the same quality Frank Sinatra put into it—you can see her propping up the bar, dreading her trip back out into the real world.

The German language tunes are really her best (or, the ones where she switches back and forth from German to English and back again). The sultry insinuations of the decadent Berlin of the late 20s and early 30s seem to shine right through.

All in all, this recording is a nice compilation of good late-night or cocktail party songs. It would make a particularly nice gift for anyone who's a fan of the movie music of the early 1930s, or any Dietrich fan.