Michael Bublé goes Hollywood in new deluxe CD. This is actually the same one as his hit Crazy Love album with the No. 1 selling Haven’t Met You Yet but improved with new recordings in an extra bonus disc. There is a new hit single Hollywood, that he co-wrote. A sweet End of May and an enchanting take on the David Foster and Richard Marx love song The Best Of Me, which was slowed down to a sexy, languorous tempo. There are also live versions of At This Moment, Haven’t Met You Yet and Heartache Tonight.
What is really amazing about this album though is the superb performance by Bublé, who must now be ranked among the best. This is not anymore the kid who impressed with The Way You Look Tonight. He is miles and miles over that. His vocals are precise, heartfelt. He can take on soul, Me And Mrs. Jones. He can do his kind of rock, Twist And Shout. You doubtless recall how he made a No. 1 seller out of folksy Van Morrison’s Crazy Love. Of course, his standards, All Of Me, All I Do Is Dream Of You, are always spot on in delivery.
The way he can take any song and make it his own is simply unbelievable. Even songs that became iconic recordings like Some Kind Of Wonderful and Georgia On My Mind sound here like Bublé originals and what he did with Julie London’s Cry Me A River is just incredible. Take note that there are recordings of these songs so embedded in the memories of music buffs that it takes a truly exceptional talent to remake them and make the new versions work. Bublé does that and I must add that, that is what real singing is all about.
I am also all excited about the technological expertise, make that brilliance, that went into the making of this album. It takes genius at the consoles to bring out that bass in All Of Me, the violin in Hollywood or the piano in Best of Me to just the right consistency or Bublé’s singing to crystal clear perfection. It might also skip your mind because the transition from cut to cut is so seamless but a lot of work also went into putting all the live recordings on the same level as those done in the studio. Every cut is flawless and so enjoyable. Listening to something like this will spoil music lovers forever. They may not want to listen anymore to something of inferior quality.
Reimagined songs is the best way to describe Sting’s Live In Berlin album and it is certainly not of inferior quality. This is another album recorded, mixed and mastered with perfection in mind. The two-disc package is made up of a live-recorded DVD and a CD with assorted songs by Sting. Some are big hits while others are album cuts you may not remember. Whatever these are, they provide a picture of his early days with the Police to his later stint as a solo act and of how his music has transcended its pop origins.
Proof of that in this DVD where Sting performs live with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the O2 Arena during the Berlin leg of his acclaimed Symphonicity Tour. This tour started over a year ago and has proven to be so successful that it is still going on. Note that the tour is named such because he features local musicians in every city he visits.
Sting in this video is a rock star who has transcended limitations. There on a concert stage backed up by the 50-piece orchestra he is an artist who has attained greatness and will be so anywhere he performs. That is why the show works even if he is shown simply standing in center stage most of the time singing or talking about his works. No intrusive props anywhere. I am not a fan of some of his songs but the music here is divine and I am always happy to find pop songs invading the august halls of what is usually a place for classical music.
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Every Breath You Take, Fragile, You Will Be My Ain’t True Love easily lend themselves to the new arrangements. Roxanne is particularly impressive embellished with solos on the cello and the clarinet. Cheers, too, to guest performer Branford Marsalis. It is so amazing how his sax playing can find untapped nuances in an oldie like an Englishman In New York that we have heard so many times before. Fields of Gold was sadly not part of the concert repertoire. But it is in the CD as well as Shape Of My Heart.