Michael Buble: Michael Buble

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)

From time to time the cool sound of swing in the manner of Sinatra's Rat Pack undergoes a rediscovery, but 27-year-old LA-based Canadian Buble sounds like he was born to this as he courageously takes on Frank standards Summer Wind, Come Fly With Me and For Once in My Life. More than just copying the great man he brings his own phrasing to bear and even makes Moondance sound interesting which, given how many versions there are, is really saying something.

But of greater interest are his astute readings of George Michael's Kissing a Fool as a club-noir ballad, the 50s-styled treatment of the BeeGees How Can You Mend a Broken Heart and a swinging big band stomp and finger-snap through Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love. This has its soul in a classic period but is contemporary enough to mean something some 50 years on and, despite the comparisons to Sinatra, Bobby Darin and others you will hear, Buble has his own voice.
Label: Reprise