In shops this Wednesday.
New Pop Culture Books: Scott Lang Bio, Stephen King, 'The Man Who Created Nancy,' Doctor Who and More!
Our picks this month. Click the links to order from Amazon:
This is the incredible story of an ex-con turned world-saving Super Hero.
In Look Out for the Little Guy, Scott Lang shares with the world a bracingly honest account of his struggles and triumphs, from serving time to being a divorced dad to becoming Ant-Man and joining The Avengers. These are stories of epic battles won and lost, as this everyman turned Super Hero finally tells all—from the official account of what really happened between The Avengers and Thanos to how shrinking down to ant-size really feels to the challenges of balancing the roles of hero and dad.
Across his many adventures big and small, Scott has gathered the wisdom of countless amazing experiences into this, the first memoir from a real-life Avenger. Once you learn the unforgettable details of his epic journey, you won't need to be reminded . . . to look out for the little guy.
“Introduces the man behind the hero, and the hero I call friend.” —Bruce Banner, fellow Avenger
Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
The girl group sound, made famous and unforgettable by acts like The Ronettes, The Shirelles, The Supremes, and The Vandellas, took over the airwaves by capturing the mixture of innocence and rebellion emblematic of America in the 1960s.
As songs like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "Then He Kissed Me," and "Be My Baby" rose to the top of the charts, girl groups cornered the burgeoning post-war market of teenage rock and roll fans, indelibly shaping the trajectory of pop music in the process. While the songs are essential to the American canon, many of the artists remain all but anonymous to most listeners.
With more than 100 subjects that made the music, from the singers to the songwriters, to their agents, managers, and sound engineers—and even to the present-day celebrities inspired by their lasting influence–But Will You Love Me Tomorrow: An Oral History of 60s Girl Groups tells a national coming-of-age story that gives particular insight into the experiences of the female singers and songwriters who created the movement.
Los Angeles, August 4, 1962. The city broils through a midsummer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker’s looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a moneymaker. He calls in Freddy Otash.
The freewheeling Freddy O: tainted ex-cop, defrocked private eye, dope fiend, and freelance extortionist. A man who lives by the maxim “Opportunity is love.” Freddy gets to work. He dimly perceives Marilyn Monroe’s death and the kidnapped starlet to be a poisonous riddle that only he has the guts and the brains to untangle. We are with him as he tears through all those who block his path to the truth. We are with him as he penetrates the faux-sunshine of Jack and Bobby Kennedy and the shuck of Camelot. We are with him as he falters, and grasps for love beyond opportunity. We are with him as he tracks Marilyn Monroe’s horrific last charade through a nightmare L.A. that he served to create — and as he confronts his complicity and his own raging madness.
It’s the Summer of ’62, baby. Freddy O’s got a hot date with history. The savage Sixties are ready to pop. It’s just a shot away.
The Enchanters is a transcendent work of American popular fiction. It is James Ellroy at his most crazed, brilliant, provocative, profanely hilarious, and stop-your-heart tender. It is a luminous psychological drama and an unparalleled thrill ride. It is, resoundingly, the great American crime novel.
From Bill Griffith, creator of Zippy the Pinhead and Nobody’s Fool, comes Three Rocks, a biography of cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the iconic comic strip Nancy. But this graphic novel is about more than a single comic book artist. It is the story of this American art form, tracing its inception to 1895 with the Yellow Kid, the creation of Nancy in 1933, and all the strips that followed, including Peanuts and The Far Side. When Bushmiller died in 1982, Nancy was running in almost 900 daily newspapers—a number few syndicated cartoonists ever achieve.
Nancy is hailed as the “perfect” comic strip by fans and cartoonists alike. The title Three Rocks refers to the trope of three hemispherical rocks often seen in a Bushmiller landscape—just enough to communicate environment to the reader. This distillation is exemplary of the iconic, diagrammatic look of Nancy, a comic strip about the nature of what it means to be a comic strip—the perfect avatar for Griffith to expand upon his philosophy of creating comics.
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In the 1960s a number of gifted writers—some at the peak of their careers, others newcomers—reimagined American crime fiction. Here are nine novels of astonishing variety and inventiveness that pulse with the energies of that turbulent, transformative decade:
Fredric Brown’s The Murderers (1961), a darkly comic look at a murderous plot hatched on the hip fringes of Hollywood.
Dan J. Marlowe’s terrifying The Name of the Game Is Death (1962), about a nihilistic career criminal on the run
Charles Williams’s Dead Calm (1963), a masterful novel of natural peril and human evil on the high seas.
Dorothy B. Hughes’s The Expendable Man (1963), an unsettling tale of racism and wrongful accusation in the American Southwest.
Richard Stark’s taut The Score (1964), in which the master thief Parker plots the looting of an entire city with the cool precision of an expert mechanic.
The Fiend (1964), in which Margaret Millar maps the interlocking anxieties of a seemingly tranquil California suburb through the rippling effects of a child’s disappearance.
Ed McBain’s classic police procedural Doll (1965), a breakneck story that mixes murder, drugs, fashion models, and psychotherapy with the everyday professionalism of the 87th Precinct.
Run Man Run (1966), Chester Himes’s nightmarish tale of racism and police violence that follows a desperate young man seeking safe haven in New York City while being hunted by the law.
Patricia Highsmith’s ultimate meta-thriller, The Tremor of Forgery (1969), a novel in which a displaced traveler finds his own personality collapsing as he attempts to write a novel about a man coming undone.
Each volume features an introduction by editor Geoffrey O'Brien (Hardboiled America), newly researched biographies of the writers and helpful notes, and an essay on textual selection.
He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, had a front-row seat to a young Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, was admired by Susan Sontag, and was one of the first artists funded by Guggenheim Foundation. He was always broke, generally intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, “the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.”
In Cosmic Scholar, the Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century’s most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to his life in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society, or keep himself healthy or sober.
Exhaustively researched, energetically told, and complete with a trove of images, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue canonization of an American icon.
From Abomination to Venom, all your favorite Marvel Comics super villains are featured in this exclusive collection of painted portraits by Alex Ross—one of the most respected and influential artists working in comics. This eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Alex Ross Marvel Comics Poster Book is the first-ever collection of these stunning and dynamic portraits and comes with 37 ready-to-frame, removable art prints as well as an all-new introduction and commentary by Ross, preparatory sketches and ancillary illustrations, and a bonus four-page gatefold of all 37 iconic portraits. These villainous posters showcase Marvel’s rogue’s gallery as you’ve never seen them before, painted in the award-winning, breathtaking style that has made Ross famous.
At the end of the 1960s, the mysterious Tom Forçade suddenly appeared, insinuating himself into the top echelons of countercultural politics and assuming control of the Underground Press Syndicate, a coalition of newspapers across the country. Weathering government surveillance and harassment, he embarked on a landmark court battle to obtain White House press credentials. But his audacious exploits—pieing Congressional panelists, stealing presidential portraits, and picking fights with other activists—led to accusations that he was an agent provocateur.
As the era of protest faded and the dark shadows of Watergate spread, Forçade hoped that marijuana could be the path to cultural and economic revolution. Bankrolled by drug-dealing profits, High Times would be the Playboy of pot, dragging a once-taboo subject into the mainstream. The magazine was a travelogue of globe-trotting adventure, a wellspring of news about “the business,” and an overnight success. But High Times soon threatened to become nothing more than the “hip capitalism” Forçade had railed against for so long, and he felt his enemies closing in.
Assembled from exclusive interviews, archived correspondences, and declassified documents, Agents of Chaos is a tale of attacks on journalism, disinformation campaigns, governmental secrecy, corporatism, and political factionalism. Its triumphs and tragedies mirror the cultural transformations of 1970s America, wrought by forces that continue to clash in the spaces between activism and power.
In David Bowie Rainbowman, Jérôme Soligny tells the story of David Bowie the musician with the help of those intimately involved with the creation of his music.
This uniquely exhaustive work on Bowie's 1967-1980 albums draws on over 150 interviews with the musicians, producers and friends who knew Bowie best, including Robert Fripp, Hermione Farthingale, Lou Reed, George Underwood, Mick Ronson, Carlos Alomar, Trevor Bolder, Mike Garson, Woody Woodmansey and many, many others. With an essay by Soligny on each album followed by oral histories from the most trusted and influential figures in Bowie's musical life, David Bowie Rainbowman is the definitive guide to a singular and mercurial genius - the Rainbowman himself.
Includes a foreword by Tony Visconti, an introduction by Mike Garson and cover photo by Mick Rock.
Take a deep dive into the fascinating history of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. From their earth-shattering formation and cataclysmic lineup changes to the introduction of fan-favorite characters like the Vision and Black Widow, this unique volume provides a comprehensive look at the origin and evolution of Marvel's premiere Super Hero team.
This meticulously researched biography reveals unparalleled insights into the characters, backstories and motivations of Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Black Panther, and more.
The Avengers’ story has been told many times – but never like this…
Crosby, Holiday, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland, and Streisand were the major interpreters of the American songbook, and this is the interlocking story of their lives and careers.
Here is the epic tale of how these artists dominated American popular music over a fifty-year period, a roller coaster ride that gains momentum through the 1930s and ’40s, reaches a crest of magical creativity in the 1950s and early '60s, and then crashes down by the early 1970s, a half century when the great American songbook dominated the airwaves and the fight for racial equality came to the forefront.
Ella was beloved in her time, and she is still beloved. Frank is still the king of the songbook, but Bing’s legacy is just as vital once you start listening to his unprecedented 1930s output. The best songs from Judy’s greatest triumph, her 1963–64 TV series, are shared endlessly online. The legend of Billie grows by the year, and the basis of this should be appreciation and wonder for her own great artistry in the 1930s. Barbra is a living legend and still a commercial force to be reckoned with, the last exemplar of the songbook and its glories. All six of these singers reach out to us and show us new ways of expression and new ways to dream.
Their song is largely ended but the melody lingers on.
The first of its sort, I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School provides readers with a detailed production history of this beloved film that draws upon extensive interviews the author has conducted with many of the people who contributed to the movie’s creation, including lead actress P. J. Soles, director Allan Arkush, second-unit director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, the Ramones’ tour manager Monte A. Melnick, and Roger Corman.
Charles M. Schulz was arguably the most influential and popular cartoonist of the 20th century, and he poured many of his own emotions and experiences into the world of Peanuts over its iconic 50-year run. Now, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi pay tribute to the master by telling the story of Schulz’s life in the medium that made him immortal: the comic strip. Every strip provides a laugh as well as a piece of insight into his remarkable life story. Starting with the last days of his monumental career, Funny Things jumps back and forth in time to narrate both Schulz’s artistic achievements and the personal episodes that formed him as an author and human being, ultimately shaping him into the most beloved cartoonist on the planet. Filled with affection, charm, and poignant insight, Funny Things imagines Schulz through the lens of the very world he created, inviting us all to meet the man behind the blanket.
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Collects Fantastic Four #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 48, 49, 50, 51, and Fantastic Four Annual #6. It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.
Throughout the 1960s, the Fantastic Four doubled as the flagship title and the creative laboratory of the Marvel Universe. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced dozens of new characters and concepts in its pages, while expanding the emotional bandwidth and visual vocabulary of the Super Hero genre with every issue. This collection gathers some key tales from Lee and Kirby’s lengthy tenure—from their first experiments in generic hybridity to the remarkable fusion of the cosmic and the quotidian that is the “The Galactus Trilogy.”
A foreword by Jerry Craft and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of the Fantastic Four and classic Marvel comics.
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Collects The Avengers #1-4, 9, 16, 26, 28, 44, 57, 58, 71, 74, and 83. It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.
Starting in 1961, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and their collaborators transformed the Super Hero genre with a series of new creations, including the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and the Invincible Iron Man. In 1963, Lee and Kirby brought these characters together for the first time in a new magazine called The Avengers—adding a resurrected Captain America shortly after. Over time the Avengers’ roster would frequently change, mirroring transformations in the Marvel Universe and the society that it reflected. This unique collection gathers key issues from the first few years of the series.
A foreword by Leigh Bardugo, a scholarly introduction and apparatus by José Alaniz, and a general series introduction by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of The Avengers and classic Marvel comics.
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Collects X-Men #1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 38, 41, 42, 44, 45, and 46.It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.
The seeds of a pop-cultural phenomenon were sown with the launch of the first X-Men comic in 1963, at the height of “the Marvel Revolution,” under the creative team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The title was bookended by some of the best Super Hero comics of that era; the first issue established a creative formula that continues to inspire contemporary creators, while the final issues remain acclaimed for the groundbreaking artwork of Neal Adams. This collection gathers several key tales from the original run of the classic X-Men series.
A foreword by Rainbow Rowell and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of the X-Men and classic Marvel comics.
During his thirty year career, Lester Dent created several outstanding characters, starting with the immortal Doc Savage, but also including Black Mask's Oscar Sail, Genius Jones, and others. One of the most successful was the Gadget Man, who appeared exclusively in the pages of Street & Smith's Crime Busters magazine between 1937 and 1939. After Doc Savage, the Gadget Man was the longest running Lester Dent series. And, like Doc Savage, it was a mixture of gadgets, mystery and screwball shenanigans.
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In this new-to-print, expanded novelisation of the classic 1981 adventure, the TARDIS is caught in a collapsing void between two different universes - and the 4th Doctor, Romana and Adric must enter into a dangerous alliance with the Tharils - a race of enslaved, time-sensitive aliens. The consequences are explored in two further short stories...
The Kairos Ring
Now allies of the enslaved across all creation, Romana and the Tharil Laszlo ride the time winds in search of the sinister Sluagh - aliens who retool the dead as deadly warriors.
The Little Book of Fate
Searching for the source of a scream across time, the Eighth Doctor investigates a most unusual carnival freak show in the north of England - where a figure from his past awaits him.
Not one story but three, from one of classic Doctor Who's most original voices - Stephen Gallagher, author of the original screenplay for Warriors' Gate.
Pop Culture Roundup: Captain America Musical Soundtrack, Rolling Stones Documentary, Slayers
ITEM! You can now hear the complete score to "Rogers," the Captain America musical.
ITEM! A documentary about the new Rolling Stones album is on the way.
ITEM! "Buffy" star Charisma Carpenter says a new audio drama based on the shows characters bring justice to Cordelia.
Hot Trax '73: See/Hear Songs from Art Garfunkel, Marie Osmond, 10 cc and More!
New songs on the charts 50 years ago this week.
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Picture Sleeve Parade
New Pics Highlight David Tennant's Return on 'Doctor Who'
A few pics from the upcoming "Doctor Who" 60th anniversary specials featuring David Tennant as the Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, Neil Patrick as a new mystery villain and Beep the Meep.
The shows are set to debut in November.
Watch an Unboxing Video of the Who's New 'Who's Next | LifeHouse' Box Set
Order the box now on Amazon.
New Music Releases: The Who - Who's Next/Lifehouse, Willie Nelson - Bluegrass, Blue Note Classics, More
Our picks this week. Click the links to order from Amazon.
WHO’S NEXT / LIFE HOUSE Super Deluxe Edition contains 10-CDs all remastered from original tapes by long time Who engineer Jon Astley as well as a Blu-ray Audio disc with newly made Atmos & 5.1 surround mixes of the original album and 14 additional tracks by Steven Wilson. The set features 155 total tracks with 89 unreleased tracks/mixes & another 57 previously released tracks with a fresh remix. Included are demos, singles, studio sessions, 2 complete concerts, 100-pg hard back book with new liner notes & imagery & a 172-pg Life House graphic novel. Extras: 2 gig posters, 2 concert programs, 4 buttons & a band photo with printed autographs.
Also available: 2-CD Deluxe Edition, Who's Next / San Francisco 1971 4-LP Edition, Remastered Original Album)[Half-Speed LP]
Arriving with the impulsiveness and attitude that at once defines the band’s eternal spirit, RELENTLESS is a clearly defined snapshot of where The Pretenders are in 2023. RELENTLESS is the second consecutive Pretenders album to be written as a collaboration between Chrissie Hynde and the band’s resident guitar hero, James Walbourne. Especially sought after in his own right, having recorded with Dave Gahan, Jerry Lee Lewis, and The Rails amongst many more. Produced by David Wrench and recorded at Battery Studios in West London, the album’s 12 tracks feature what Chrissie describes as “The Pretenders Collective.” This extended band features James Walbourne (guitars), Kris Sonne (drums), Chris Hill (double bass), Dave Page (bass) and Carwyn Ellis (keyboards and guitars). RELENTLESS also features a long hoped-for collaboration with the esteemed composer Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead, The Smile), who provides the string arrangement and conducted the 12 Ensemble for the album’s beautiful closing track, "I Think About You Daily."
Bluegrass is a brand new studio album that captures a dozen classic Willie Nelson compositions--including "On the Road Again," "Yesterday's Wine," "Still is Still Moving to Me," "Good Hearted Woman" and more--freshly interpreted by Willie and an ensemble of crack players. In a seven decade career that has seen him explore genres from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, this is his first full album dedicated to genre. Willie and longtime producer Buddy Cannon, picked personal and fan favorite compositions from across his career to perform anew for this salute to the Appalachian old-time string band music which profoundly influenced Willie's songwriting sensibilities and the direction of American country music in general. Using his own catalog as source material, Willie chose songs combining the kind of strong melodies, memorable storylines and tight ensemble-interplay found in traditional bluegrass interpretations of the roots of American folk songs. With Bluegrass, Willie uncovers new truths in his own songs.
2023 release from the acclaimed British singer, songwriter and producer Corinne Bailey Rae.
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It's a testament to Jimmy Smith's volcanic creativity that the Hammond B3 organ firebrand recorded not one but two soul jazz classics-Midnight Special and Back at the Chicken Shack-in a single day when he entered Van Gelder Studio on April 25, 1960 with Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Donald Bailey on drums. Smith had been a self-taught pianist before abandoning the instrument in 1954 in favor of the organ, renting a Philadelphia warehouse, and woodshedding for a year until he emerged with a revolutionary style that immediately caught the ear Alfred Lion. The Blue Note boss dubbed him The Incredible Jimmy Smith and recorded the B3 innovator as frequently as he could between 1956-1963. Midnight Special opens with the soulful title track which chugs along at a laid-back pace giving ample space for Smith, Turrentine, and Burrell to state their case. Other highlights of the set include the up-tempo burner "Jumpin' the Blues" and a deeply felt ballad performance of the standard "Why Was I Born?" This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
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The Horace Silver Quintet of 1959 was a hard bop juggernaut featuring the pianist with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Louis Hayes. Timeless originals like "Sister Sadie," "Peace," and the blustery title track make Blowin' The Blues Away one of the finest entries in Silver's formidable discography. Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series features stereo, all-analog mastering by Kevin Gray from the original tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal. Musicians: Blue Mitchell-trumpet / Junior Cook-saxophone / Horace Silver-piano / Gene Taylor-bass / Louis Hayes-drums
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Released as part of the Acoustic Sounds Series celebrating 70 years of Contemporary Records, Shelly Manne & Friends "My Fair Lady" is the first album to ever consist of jazz versions of songs from just a single Broadway musical. First released in 1956 and recorded by legendary engineer Roy DuNann this new edition features ALL-ANALOG mastering from the original analog tapes by Bernie Grundman. The record is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP and is presented in a tip-on jacket.
Two of TV's most legendary crime series, "The Untouchables" and "The Naked City," both inspired unusual concept albums to help promote their popularity and both are combined on CD for the first time in this new Jasmine Records release-and in their rare stereo versions. For "The Naked City," composer George Duning and lyricist Ned Washington came up with a story idea set to original songs, similar to Gordon Jenkins' "Manhattan Tower" and Judy Garland's "The Letter," performed here by James Darren and Jo Ann Greer as two young lovers who meet in New York City. John McIntire narrates the story, with music conducted by Morris Stoloff. Columnist Walter Winchell, who narrated all episodes of "The Untouchables" in his distinctive, clipped speech pattern, recorded "The Story of Murder, Inc. " as if it were an episode of the show. Also included as bonus tracks are five additional Jo Ann Greer vocals, all on CD for the first time. Nearly 80 minutes in all.
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