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Critic's Review
JT Griffith, All Music Guide
Sings and Plays Music from "Some Like It Hot" is Jack Lemmon's second album and was released just a few months later in 1959. If Lemmon was cautious and looking to impress with Twist of Lemmon then he was confident and adventurous with his follow-up. Sings and Plays Music from "Some Like It Hot" is colored by the Roaring '20s, as was the film. Also like the Billy Wilder classic, Lemmon's performance of this material is hilarious and skillful. The album mixes humor, romance, and thankfully a lot of vocals into a genre often too serious and weepy. The album starts with a swinging version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and continues with a solid "Try a Little Tenderness," a fun "Down With the Sheltering Palms" (with a great piano solo), and a smooth take on Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind." The standout on this album is Lemmon's version of Marilyn Monroe's perennial "I Wanna Be Loved by You." Sings and Plays Music from "Some Like It Hot" is better and more fun than its predecessor, though sadly missing are any Lemmon originals. The Collector's Choice Music release of the Twist of Lemmon/Some Like It Hot CD is a good pick up because it includes all the tracks on the original LP. However, collectors may want the original vinyl for its fun cover of Lemmon in a tuxedo looking at the camera while Lemmon as Daphne from Some Like It Hot looks knowingly back at the musician from a backstage mirror.
