I hear ya my friend, but I think his sense of humor and schtick is very much a part of his Rat Pack appeal. He is carrying on the tradition and role of Dean Martin, who despite having a really terrific voice and talent, also used his natural comedic instincts for his stage patter and personality. It is a real part of his appeal to his fans, but I get that not everyone is going to love it. I will say that in his live concerts he does use his humor a bit, but the music and singing dominate his performance. There is a very brief amount of chatter between songs and often none at all. I have seen Sinatra, Adele, Dolly, Kenny, Orbison, Diamond and probably over 200 concerts in my lifetime, and I have never seen a better entertainer in concert. His voice is even better live than on record and he proved it every time I saw him, especially when he put down his microphone on stage at MSG and sang without any amplification or PA system and his voice just filled that whole arena. It is also a trick he learned from the great Tony Bennet.
Buble could not shine the sh... sh... shoes (Man that was tough to clean up!!!!) of any of the others with whom he is today alligned with. I do not like him at all. (My personal opinion, of course...I respect those who can in some way like what he does).
Oh I totally get that opinion too, and I only think its a shame because Bublé has so much respect for those guys that made it possible for him to earn a living singing songs largely, but not exclusively, from the Great American Songbook. I believe he always includes at least one song closely associated with Mr. Sinatra on each album, sometimes more than one. He even included a rare song that Frank actually co-wrote on one of his previous albums. I think that people like Michael Bublé and Harry Connick Jr. deserve some praise for trying to keep this iconic era of music alive in the public eye. Bublé has also proved himself by writing some of his very biggest hit songs; Haven't Met You Yet, Home, Everything, and Close Your Eyes. The guy can actually play the piano a bit as well. I think he is the real deal.
BTW, I just ordered the Slatkin CD. I’m sure I’ll like it. Seeing as you’ve been “hawking “it here. I will look forward to your liner notes.
Oh awesome Paul, I think you are really going to love it too. Oh yeah, I was all set to write the liner notes for the Slatkin release as I had for the John Klein and Jim Reeves CDs' for Real Gone Music, but we were able to locate Maestro Slatkin's son, Leonard, and he was very anxious to do the liner notes himself, so naturally I stepped aside, when this was brought to my attention. I could have never brought some of the details and history that Leonard Slatkin brought to the project. He is also a published writer and Grammy winning conductor himself, so we just could not refuse his request. I was very significantly involved in this release as I also provided the original front cover artwork from the original album, which Universal Music somehow lost along the way (Please don't mention that dreadful fire). I am really proud of the remastering by Mike Milchner over at SonicVision as well. I always enjoy your passionate and no holes bared opinions on Mr. S and everything else. Frank himself would like that you always keep it frosty and real.
Why'd you have to mention it, it reminds me of how much we could've lost of Bing and Frank as they were both mentioned artists who lost material in it.
That is very well done. I love it! If more videos could be produced with that kind of quality, it would be a great way to acknowledge some of the great voices of Christmas.
Two notes on Christmas. This year for the first time in the 34 years since I moved to AZ we will not have our family/friends gathering on Christmas Eve at my brothers home. It is a big miss. Given the current circumstances, some our our kids and grandkids are a little more disbursed it just isn't going to happen. On the second point. I just added my second Christmas album to my collection. Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDCD 586 Series: Original Master Recording – Format: CD, Compilation, Remastered Country: US Released: Sep 1993 I think I may wait until I'm sitting here on Christmas Eve evening with a glass of bourbon to listen to it.
Without Michael Bublé, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" would forever be intolerable. He gave it a fighting chance.
I don't necessarily like Michael Buble that much, but I agree with this 100%. Although it does remind me of his version of "Santa Baby." I don't if he made it better at all, but he made it a lot weirder.
As one of the biggest music snobs out there...i have to say i like the Bublé. He brings the old school back into Christmas music.
I like his Christmas stuff, I just don't necessarily like his regular music too much, although I do commend him for singing songs from the Great American Songbook.
Santa's Pandemic? I felt sick to my stomach seeing that title... no offense to anyone, but I can't be happy and "FESTIVE!" reading that, seeing that.....ack.
I was just blown away by Michael's completely re-imagined version of Mariah's overexposed hit song when I first heard it. Bublé got the idea for the arrangement from his bass guitarist, Craig Polasko, who really slows the tempo way down and turns All I Want For Christmas into a gorgeous melodic ballad. It remains one of my very favorite cuts from his 13 million plus selling holiday album, and the single itself actually went to number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 2011. Jim Keltner plays drums on the track and Jon Brion's string and horn arrangement adds something really majestic to the arrangement, especially at the 1:25 mark, when they merge together seamlessly around Michael's terrific vocal.
Michael's version of All I Want For Christmas Is You can go along with Bing's You're All I Want For Christmas as the 2 Christmas 'I want' songs I'll go out of my way to listen to.
So I was looking around at some albums that piqued my curiosity and ran across this great throwback album from 2010, The United States Air Force Band, The Airmen of Note - Cool Yule: This sent me down a rabbit hole of U.S. military band Christmas albums on ebay...
I have got to congratulate our Thread Starter as I think his subject title was a brilliant mixture of an attention grabber and honesty. And I say this as someone who does not want everything I do to remind me of the Pandemic, but lets face it, most of us are not taking the holiday's for granted this year, and to me the thread title is clever and has a touch of sass to it. I love it. I think this thread has gotten a lot of action because of his creative title.
