It’s easy to feel, as you stare at a Spotify search bar, or wade into a bulging bookshop, or visit a gallery where only a tiny percentage of the owner’s collection is actually on display: haven’t we made enough stuff now? Who could possibly find enough time to see all the films, read all the books and hear all the albums that already exist – even just the really good ones?
Michael Bublé has always seemed aware that the greatest songs have already been written. The music on the Canadian singer’s 11 albums is dominated by cover versions. When an original does make an appearance, it sometimes feels like it’s more for his benefit (enhance the credibility, score some royalties) than the listener’s.
To his credit, he has always drawn on a wider range of sources than his Rat Pack styling might suggest. He’s done Queen, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees and the theme from Spider-Man in the past, as well as a raft of standards and of course, all those Christmas classics. Here he cuddles up to country legend Willie Nelson for a Crazy duet and doesn’t sound especially comfortable at the disco when he picks up the pace for Barry White’s You’re the First, the Last, My Everything.
He’s much more at home with a few more standards, so much so that it’s hard to believe the 46-year-old hasn’t already tackled Smile, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. At least he keeps things classy – there’s no attempt to modernise, just huge sweeping strings and that velvety voice. Smile in particular sounds like there must have been several hundred people in the room during recording, closing the album with a colossal pile-on between orchestra and choir.
The handful of new songs are less memorable. I’ll Never Not Love You might make a traffic jam more bearable on Radio 2 but you’ll be humming something else by the time you get home. The title track is fun, however, a collaboration with A-list songwriter Ryan Tedder that features grand piano stabs and a notable increase in energy from the singer.
Most surprising is the existence of a co-producer credit for Paul McCartney and the presence of a little known McCartney song, My Valentine, which appeared on his Kisses on the Bottom album in 2012. Once again, in Bublé’s safe hands, it sounds like it has existed forever.
