Review Summary: A breakout album for "this nice dude from Canada, who sings like Sinatra"(that's not a quote, I made that up for the sake of review).
Jazz has been a significant part of my not-so-long life since its first years. My granddad used to be a drummer in a band and his desire was to strike a chord with this genre in my case as well. However, if it hadn't been for my parents with a noticable support from Mr Bublé, I wouldn't have probably been willing to discover newer and newer artists . Most of his albums were constantly present during our trips and at some point I pretty much knew all the lyrics by heart. In fact, in many cases I had listened to his performance long before the original one. This record consists only of covers, but it doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
The major label debut from ‘the new Sinatra' was released in 2003 and quickly made a name for himself in the industry. His warm, distinctive voice enabled him to become a new big, traditional jazz artist for the masses and he took advantage of it. The aim of this release was to gather some of the jazz classics and add less obvious choices in order to create a record, which will stand not only as a cover album, but simply as quality music itself.
It opens with ‘Fever', an all-time classic, which had been interpreted by numerous artists before. This performance mixes big-band splendour with quiet sensuality, accompanied mostly by electric guitar and the singer's vocals. It's definitely one of the highlights and remains one of my favourite Buble's songs. Next comes ‘Moondance’ from Van Morrison, rearranged into a Sinatra-like tune, with heavily accented brass section and therefore quite different character from the original. And while we're at the legendary singer, there are 3 of his songs on the tracklist. All of them show Buble's vocal ability and are a joy to listen to, yet each one of them lacks the charm of their inspirations.
As I have already started out, it's time for more complaints. Undoubtedly the biggest issue for many listeners may be an undeniable resemblance of some of the songs to their originals. One could ask - what's wrong about it, covers usually differ only slightly from the song they base on. That's true, nevertheless, it reduces them only to the role of derivative tunes, which most of the artists could come up with. Plus, each one of the three ‘Kissing A Fool', ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and ‘Come Fly With Me' reveal another inconvenience - although Bublé was gifted with both smooth and powerful voice, it often lacks charisma (in comparison with Freddie Mercury’s or George Michael’s) and seems a bit emotionless. Don't get me wrong, I love each one of these tracks, unfortunately they don't come close to their originals, mainly due to the Canadian himself.
It's not all all bad, though. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Although the mentioned tracks are instantly recognisable, some others may make you raise your eyebrows after realising, what you are listening to. Have you thought of Stevie Wonder's ‘For Once In My Life’ turned into traditional jazz? Or ‘You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine', which was transformed from a disco tune into a latina ballad? You can find an inspiration with this kind of music on other songs as well (for example ‘The Way You Look Tonight'), most noticably on ‘Sway’, the best track on the album. Once again, it has been sung so many times that it appears impossible to make it stand out in the crowd. Nonetheless, it does succeed to. It's fast, tango-like tempo and rich, vibrant arrangement make it an absolute gem and one of Michael's greatest accomplishments.
Summing up, there's no doubt, that this album is a highly entertaining compilation of covers. Nonetheless, it begs a vital question - can such release be ever considered as a full-blown one? In most cases - not really, as artists tend to stick mostly to jazz classics and rearrange them only to a degree. This record, on the other hand, gathers songs from the variety of genres (although they mostly circulate, to some extent, around jazz) and makes them his own, though often changing the tone of the track altogether. Of course, it's by no means perfect, however, you do need to take into account that it was, in fact, a debut. A debut, which started an international career and made Bublé ‘immensely popular among middle-aged women, particularly mothers', as you can read in the description of an artist on this website... Anyway, this album is definitely well worth a try and perfectly suitable for those, who want to explore traditional side of this wonderful genre, which jazz undoubtedly is. And even if it doesn’t knock you off your feet, it will surely be a time pleasantly spent.
