Various Artists - Jackpot! The Las Vegas Story (CD)

All Music Guide

Designed to cash-in on the lounge music fad of the mid-'90s, Jackpot: The Las Vegas Story is a swinging collection of 18 tracks from the city's glory days of the '50s and '60s. Many of the biggest names that ever played in Las Vegas are included on the album, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Wayne Newton, Robert Goulet, Engelbert Humperdinck, Mel Torme, Liberace, Jerry Vale, Louis Prima Keely Smith, Jack Jones, Paul Anka and Tom Jones. With their big, brassy arrangements and off-hand humor (which is occasionally unintentional), this music was almost always bordered on kitsch, which actually makes the album more entertaining, because kitsch and camp is the essence of Las Vegas. And with classics like "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Danke Schoen," "That Old Black Magic," "Delilah," "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)," and "My Way," Jackpot truly does capture the sound and feeling of Las Vegas.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide