Music Review: Crazy Love

July 1, 2010 0 By Sankhya Samhita


Album name: Crazy Love (2009)
Artist/Band: Michael Bublé
Genre: Vocal/Jazz

Rating:

I swore unwavering loyalty to Michael Bublé right from the first day I heard him, given the fact that I really love all of his songs, bare none. Very rare does it happen that an artist manages to raise expectations with each album, and meet all of them in the next. So when I got hold of “Crazy Love” I was more than willing to fall in love with his music yet again, although a higher share of the tracks are covers of older popular numbers.

When the first track “Cry Me A River” started playing, my first reaction was that of surprise. The track begins with an intro that is totally over the top and theatrical; a far cry from the Michael Bublé that I knew. It almost made me think of a drama stage with a single floodlight on the hero, in the center of the stage, with his white shirt open at his chest and arms wide open. Oh well, forgive me the occasional imagination overdose. But coming back to the song, “Cry Me A River” is about vengeance, about being unforgiving and ruthless, and yet would make you go all “Serves her right”. The very next song “All Of Me” is about surrender. It is a much more mellowed song, both music wise and sentiment wise, and is also easier on the ears than the first track. “Georgia On My Mind” again is a cover of the original Ray Charles song, and manages to capture the pathos of the original with the added Michael Buble flavor. The title track “Crazy Love” is dedicated to Van Morrison’s original, and is well done too. And just when you think you would want more of original Buble and less of covers, he surprises you with “Haven’t Met You Yet”, which is perky and peppy, and extremely happy. The beat is typical Buble and the lyrics even more so. The peppiness continues in the next song “All I Do Is Dream Of You” which would kind of remind you of a love-struck happy-go-lucky guy in a funny hat, the kind you might catch doing a jig in the middle of the road. But then the mood becomes somber with “Hold On” which is bound to make you think of “the one” in your life, or make you want to find that someone in case you haven’t already. “Heartache Tonight” starts with a Broadway like intro, and even the beats would kind of remind you of a a Broadway sequence with dancers in synchronized fashion. The next song is a cover of the popular song “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You” which is best known in the Dean Martin version, although it has been sung by many including Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. This slow song keeps up with the “slow-fast-slow-fast” kind of theme in the album when it comes to the order of the songs. And in the same lines the next song, which is again a cover of the original Dinah Washington/Brook Benton song “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” is a nice foot-tapping number with Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings. “At This Moment”, originally sung by Vera Billy and The Beaters, would kind of make you stop and sigh, and think of how desperate and helpless love can make you at times. “Stardust”, yet another immensely popular love ballad is the next track in the album and Buble with Naturally 7, has done justice to this song originally recorded way back in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael and sung and re-sung by many after that. The last track “Whatever It Takes” with Ron Sexsmith, is an easy number, and sounds more Buble than any other track in the album because of the signature beat, or maybe because something in it reminds me of “Quando, Quando, Quando”, another of my Buble favorites.

The very name suggests that this time Bublé has come up with a tribute to the roller-coaster of emotions that love is. A song for every mood, as I would like to put it. Remember those compilations of love songs that would flood the market pre-Valentine’s Day, around a decade ago when cassettes still ruled the day and CDs were just an extravagant option for the unwise spendthrift? “Crazy Love” might as well be another one, with Michael Bublé adding to the “feel” of it, with his amazing voice. Listen to it if you are in love, and even if you aren’t, because this one would make you want to fall in love. Celebrate the feeling of being together, or learn to love the pain that comes with heartbreak, too. Because love is, afterall, crazy.

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