| Pop's rush to raid the cradle continues with this promising, self-titled debut by 25-year-old Canadian singer Michael Bublé. And while the young vocal star's good looks are smart enough for a boy band, his muse seems to have sprung from a more sassy and compelling musical era. Mentored by Paul Anka (whose 1950s hit "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" is covered in dreamy, cabaret fashion here), Bublé sings in the orbits of Darin and Sinatra, covering swing epoch gems ("Come Fly with Me", "The Way You Look Tonight", "That's All") and rock-era standards (Van Morrison's "Moondance", "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by the Brothers Gibb, Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") with equal aplomb. David Foster's production is typically slick and played to the back row of the bleachers, but it's informed by smart contexts provided by such arrangers as Johnny Mandel, Randy Waldman and Mike Melvoin. If the choices of material are sometimes staid and predictable, they also give the singer a crucial framework for building toward something more challenging; his is a bright future. --Jerry McCulley |
