Bolton Swings Sinatra
Album release date:
May 23, 2006 on
Passion Music/Concord Records
That being said, my response to this album is both good and bad.
First off, let me state right up front that the orchestra/band on this album is fantastic. Bolton's vocals are backed up with what I would call a "1960s Las Vegas show-style" big-band, and several numbers also include a large string section as well. Unfortunately the advance copy of the CD that I received did not have a liner or liner notes, so I can't give definitive credit to the band or the arranger, but the musicianship and arrangements are superb - couldn't be better or more professional. According to the Concord Records press release, the arranger is Chris Walden, and the engineer-mixer is Al Schmitt, who worked on many Sinatra recordings. Concord says they are '“A-plus musicians,' including 17 horns and 35 string players, ... with top-flight arrangements and audio technicians." Top-flight is no exaggeration. The music and sound quality on this CD are superb. If you're a fan of big band music, you'll love the crisp, clear instrumentation. If you've not listened to big band before, the band here may be just the thing to get you interested.
Bolton says, “Frank Sinatra ... could sing with complete authority, strength and conviction one moment and in another stir us to our core with a tenderness and a sense of vulnerability that would deliver the pure emotion and meaning the composer intended.” The question is, is Bolton also able to deliver songs from the Sinatra repertoire with the same authority and vulnerability for which The Chairman of the Board is legendary?
The album gets off to a very laid-back start with a smooth rendition of "You Go To My Head". Bolton is backed here with piano, string bass, and strings with a nice sax break between verses. There's certainly none of the over-the-top singing here that Bolton has a bad reputation for. I wasn't familiar with the song, however, and I didn't find either the song or the vocal particularly interesting.
"Fly Me To The Moon" kicks off with a nifty tom-tom rhythm, and the band really has fun with this one. But the band arrangement here exemplifies one of my personal gripes about this style of music. The arrangement would stand alone great as an instrumental version of the song. But to my ears, it's just too much music when the vocal is added to it. For a change, it's not Bolton's singing that's over the top, it's the band. Bolton's delivery on a song that would be tempting to take over-the-top vocally, is actually pretty restrained. He's not Sinatra on this one, but he's ok.
Next, the band struts right into Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life," and Bolton struts right in with them. I fully expected that Bolton would choose do do this song ballad-style as some others have, particularly since Bolton is particularly known for his ballads, but he does this one in the up-tempo style of the original, and the band's arrangement is a virtual duplicate of Sinatra's version. He doesn't push, but he delivers the lyric with both self-assurance and strength while retaining his characteristic soulful vocal style.
Johnny Mercer's "Summer Wind" has been covered by dozens of artists. This is the first cut on the album where I can detect a bit of an attempt by Bolton to copy Sinatra's vocal styling. Bolton's tone will never fit into the same category as Sinatra's, but he's in fine voice and he does a nice job with the song.
Bolton delivers a breathy, heartfelt vocal on the Lorenz Hart-Richard Rogers classic "My Funny Valentine." The arrangement is lush with strings and a gorgeous muted horn break. The vocal showcases Bolton's beautiful vibrato and demonstrates improved control of his voice in the upper ranges.
I'm a sucker for Cole Porter, and I expected to love a new version of "I've Got You Under My Skin." But the emphasis on a rather monotonous clarinet line in the instrumentation keeps distracting me from an otherwise well done rendition. I'd have re-mixed a bit and replaced the clarinets with saxes.
A bluesy organ intro kicks off what is the standout track on the album -- "That's Life." Here's a rhythmic, bluesy song that can really show Bolton at his best, and he doesn't disappoint. It's clear that Bolton identifies with the lyric and he easily gets the message across and makes the song his own. You just know that when he sings “I been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, a king. I been up and down and over and out and I know one thing: Each time I find myself layin’ flat on my face, I just pick myself up and get back in the race …," that he's lived it all and done it all. Yep, when he sings, "Many times I thought of cuttin’ out, but my heart just won’t buy it,” that's Bolton at his best. I'd have mixed Bolton's voice a little farther out front to bring out the power more. But this is the cut that makes the album worth buying. I have no doubt that this song is going to be stunning when performed live.
Unfortunately, you go from the album's high point directly to the album's low point -- Bolton's "duet" with actress Nicolette Sheridan. It's hard to call this one a real duet. It's really an over-echoed overdub of a breathy Bolton and Sheridan singing the melody line on top of Bolton's original solo. So you end up with three voices singing the melody line and it turns the song to mud. I can't help but ask why they did it. Ok, we know why -- Sheridan is Bolton's fiancée. But from a musical standpoint, the "duet" only detracts from Bolton's original solo, which is actually pretty decent. Sheridan may actually have a good voice. She does sing on pitch, has a nice tone quality, and she actually breaks into a decent harmony on the very last line of the song. But if she can really sing, this arrangement doesn't do her a bit of justice and it ruins the track. They should have either let her do a real duet with him or just left it out. Leave this one out when you copy the CD to your iPod.
"The Girl From Ipanema" is another tune that has been covered by dozens of artists, and "frankly" (pun intended), I wasn't aware that Sinatra had done a version too. Bolton's rendition is very legato and somehow lacking in the longing words of the lyric. I'd have preferred to hear more punch in the delivery to bring out the samba rhythm. And there's an annoying wood block click that pops in at oddly unpredictable moments. I'd have heavied up on the rhythm section on this one and kept up the wood block throughout.
Cole Porter is back again in big style with "Night And Day." Bolton does a great job swinging it and it's clear he's enjoying himself here. This tune is a great choice for a Bolton-style power delivery. But again, I'd have mixed him a bit farther to the front.
A very big-band arrangement of George and Ira Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" that's very reminiscent of Sinatra's arrangement, I get the feeling that Bolton identifies with these lyrics too.
Critics are bound to criticize Bolton for covering "New York, New York", a song that's heavily identified with Sinatra. Bolton's voice doesn't have the strength of Sinatra's delivery, but he holds his own with it, and by the end, he really cuts loose and nails it. I can see him on a Broadway stage doing this one!
So, does Bolton succeed with this all-Sinatra covers album? Yes and no. If you worship Sinatra, you probably won't like this album. If you enjoy standards and big-band, you'll probably enjoy it. If you loved Bolton in his late-eighties, early nineties days, this album may not do it for you. But if you're a die-hard Bolton fan, you'd probably buy this one even if he were singing the phone book.
Jan Goldberg
Michael Bolton Photos
BOLTON SWINGS SINATRA TRACK LISTING
01. You Go To My Head
02. Fly Me To The Moon03. For Once In My Life (Windows Media) (Real Media) (Quick Time) 04. The Summer Wind 05. My Funny Valentine
07. That's Life
08. The Second Time Around (duet with Nicolette Sheridan)
09. Girl From Ipanema
10. Night and Day 11. They Can't Take That Away From Me 12. New York, New York
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This page last updated 05/5/2006