The title's pretty self-explanatory: these 18 songs from the 1950s and 1960s were intended to help provide a suitably suave and swinging ambience for light entertainment vehicles that were brought to the screen by M-G-M. Even relative to other space age bachelor pad compilations, it's largely trifling stuff. This was intended for background music, after all, to films that, should you care to look at them again, will remind you just why you tried so hard to escape suburbia. There's some hipness to be had, though, in the form of
Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl From Ipanema" (a different performance than the famous hit version),
Ann-Margret's growling striptease take on "Appreciation,"
Carmen McRae's "Coffee Time," and
Esquivel's "Dancing in the Dark." Other highlights include the manic faux classical of
Ferrante & Teicher's "I Got Rhythm" and
Mel Torme's "Sunday in New York," a performance that is emblematic of bachelor pad crooning at its apex.
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Richie Unterberger, Rovi