Saturday, October 10, 2009

My Songs, You Say?


Ahhh, how I love that new album smell! Considering that most of my music comes from itunes and other web-based stores these days, it was fun to tear the plastic off Your Songs, the new Harry Connick, Jr. CD.

Your Songs is a compilation of famous classic songs, performed by Connick with the assistance of a string orchestra and full jazz band. As you can see, the album is loaded with covers of iconic songs:

All The Way (orig. Frank Sinatra)
Just The Way You Are (orig. Billy Joel)
Can't Help Falling In Love With You (orig. Elvis Presley)
And I Love Her (orig. The Beatles)
(They Long To Be) Close To You (orig. The Carpenters)
Besame Mucho
The Way You Look Tonight
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (orig. Roberta Flack)
Your Song (orig. Elton John)
Some Enchanted Evening
And I Love You So (orig. Don McLean)
Who Can I Turn To? (orig. Tony Bennett)
Smile (orig. Charlie Chaplin)
Mona Lisa (orig. Nat King Cole)

As these songs are all covers, I of course found myself comparing each of Harry Connick, Jr.'s versions to the originals. One or two unfortunately didn't measure up - as far as I'm concerned, no one can top Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are. And, thanks to my grandmother's taste in music, I have strong opinions on how Besame Mucho should sound.

However, there are a number of tracks I enjoy. Connick's rendition of Your Song is pleasantly upbeat, and my absolute favorite track is Can't Help Falling In Love With You (sorry, Elvis). Can't Help Falling In Love With You is just a great song, and Connick's version has a good trumpet part (I'm a sucker for trumpets). Other notable tracks are All The Way, Some Enchanted Evening, And I Love You So, and Smile.

I'm keeping Your Songs on repeat in the background as I work today. The songs are relaxing, but by no means boring. Harry Connick, Jr. has a great voice, and it matches beautifully with the music. Personally, this entire album makes me want to dress up and go out dancing :-)

Oh, and in case you haven't been clicking all the links I included ... well, shame on you, and you should at least check out the behind-the-scenes video. It offers a good feel for the album and includes some of the music.




As ever, thank you to the One2One Network for the chance to enjoy new music!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great review - I am already a Connick fan but did not know this new CD was out. sounds like some very cool music - now I can't wait to go out and purchase this.

although I have to agree Besame Mucho is not a song for non-native speakers!

Gibbs McGee said...

I used to love HCJ - starting way back with Eleven, but the shine has since worn off with his foray into funk/fusion whatever. I guess I expected more from him as he got to be a more mature musician. Now, I like him more as and actor than a musician.