It's Time, Michael Bublé

EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Young crooner Michael Buble delivers an album of love songs as powerful as chocolate and candlelight. From covers such as Ray Charles' "You Don't Know Me" to "Home," penned by Buble and Amy Foster-Gillies, the album is a romantic treat. With total sales of his CDs and DVDs in the U.S. well over 1 million units, plus glowing reviews and standing ovations everywhere, Buble is set for an even bigger and better year.

AMAZON.COM
Michael Bublé's assured debut and the tireless year of globe-trotting touring he spent promoting it elevated the 20-something Vancouver native into the first rank of pop crooner revivalists. His sophomore studio follow-up largely turns on the same formula that helped make his considerable vocal prowess so attractive to mainstream audiences, mixing the nigh flawless, if expected Sinatra-channeling ("I've Got You Under My Skin") with more playful and inviting renditions of pop standards like the Gershwin's "A Foggy Day in London Town," "Feeling Good," "Try A Little Tenderness" and Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin." But it's the eclectic mix of more contemporary material the singer seasons them with -- apt tribute to Bublé hero Bobby Darin -- that keeps him walking the narrow tightrope between artistic intrigue (a blues-tinged vamp of Holland-Dozier-Holland's "How Sweet It Is," Leon Russell's lovely "Song For You," with a guest turn by Chris Botti) and the kitsch-laden abyss ("Quando, Quando, Quando"'s Euro-centric duet with Nelly Furtado, a ring-a-ding-fling with the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" that echoes fellow Canadian crooner/rival Matt Dusk's more successful flirtation with Lennon-McCartney). Arranger/producer Tommy LiPuma offers Bublé a welcome swinging jazz showcase on "The More I See of You," a bracing respite from the rest of producer David Foster's slick, if typically bloodless MOR production. -- Jerry McCulley [Note: A special edition including two bonus tracks--"Dream a Little Dream" and "Mack the Knife"--is also available.]

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