Buble's musical tastes varying

Michael Buble was last in town last year and about a million albums ago, introducing himself, his crooning voice and his quick wit on a promotional visit.

This time the Canadian star has come to play complete with his 13-piece band. And while his style and recordings evoke the Sinatra era, Buble - pronounced Boob-lay - is but 27 years old. And as swingin' as it is, sometimes his set-list reflects that he was a child of the 80s.

The phone finds him playing a hotel in Atlantic City, where he laughs that a good deal of his audience resembles a certain famous New Jersey-ite.

"I have a great group of fans and a few of them are absolutely like Tony Soprano. Nice people though. Nice people to me anyway ... "

But let's talk music. Specifically, his generation-skipping musical tastes - what are his five couldn't-live-without albums and why?

Bryan Adams, Reckless

"It probably does sound kinda weird - it's just that when I was a kid my parents were never into the kind of music I was. I had already found the great standards and they had said to me, 'Here is someone we like', and I thought he was a great songwriter. Wonderful songs, great melodies, great hooks. I thought he had such a distinctive voice and it was great simple production that seemed to work.

"And on that one record we have Reckless. We have [sings] One Night Love Affair. We have Run to You. We have Heaven - a gorgeous gorgeous song. They're power-ballads but they've got gorgeous melodies. There's Somebody, Summer of 69, The Kids Wanna Rock and It's Only Love with Tina Turner ...

"It's a lot like a greatest hits but this was a young guy, he was 24 years old when this came out. And again, he was a Vancouver boy. I remember listening to this and thinking, 'Wow, I could do this. This is someone from my part of the world who has been successful.' I was 8 years old."

Frank Sinatra, Live at the Sands

"I think it's one of the greatest live recordings ever. He's sitting there playing with the Count Basie Orchestra, the arrangements are by Quincy Jones and it really is Frank Sinatra at his best. His tone is so dulcet, his phrasing is so effortless and pure. You hear him work the audience.

"I never got to see Sinatra on stage and I never watched him on films because I didn't want that to sort of change who I was. I just listened to this record and I understood quickly what he was about. It was before he became the caricature of himself. He does songs like I've Got a Crush on You, Under My Skin, Come Fly with Me, Street of Dreams, Fly Me to the Moon, You Make Me Feel So Young. You've got Basie playing All of Me, Get Me to the Church on Time, It Was A Very Good Year, Making Whoopee.

"It is a beautifully done record. When I go jog on the treadmill, that's the record that goes on."

Queen, Greatest Hits

"That's got one of my favourite songs ever on it which is I Want to Break Free. It's a great record. They've got Under Pressure with David Bowie. They've got I Want it All [sings]. You know what? I love the 80s. I just thought there were such strong, mellifluous songs written at that point, and then came the 90s when they stopped and I stopped listening to the radio."

Ray Charles, The Definitive Collection

"That boy, he may not be able to drive a car well, but what a great singer. What a great piano player. What a great musician. The musicality coming from his soul - I'm sure you could stick him in a tomb and the music would still free itself. Wonderful songs like I Gotta Woman and Hallelujah I Love Her So, Georgia On My Mind, Hit the Road Jack, Baby It's Cold Outside with Betty Carter - a beautiful duet, it just swings.

"The record just swings like crazy. I don't think I've ever heard him do something that wasn't great."

Michael Jackson, Thriller

"I think that Thriller is one of the greatest albums. It's probably a strange time for me to say it's one of my favourite albums, but we're not talking about the man personally, we're talking about records. I think he made an unbelievably great record. Great melodies, unbelievable hooks and again it brings us all the way back to the melody."

Performance

* Who: Michael Buble

* Where: Aotea Centre

* When: Sunday

* Tickets: $90 to $110