Michael Bublé - Totally Bublé (CD)

All Music Guide

Michael Bublé's follow-up to his successful self-titled debut is this jazzy soundtrack album from the film Totally Blonde, in which he co-stars playing a singer in a nightclub. The film's director, Andrew Van Slee, wrote or co-wrote all of the songs that Bublé performs in the movie and on this short, energetic disc. The imitation swing-style songs included here are nicely arranged and played, even though they lack the distinctiveness of melodic phrase or jazzy nuances of classic swing tunes. As with the standards he interpreted on his debut disc, Bublé sounds in command and comfortable fronting these slight tunes, making the songs sound much more interesting than they really are. Throughout most of the tracks Bublé channels his inner Sinatra in a way that is complementary but not imitative, as in the swagger of the disc's opening number, "That's How It Goes," where his Frank-ish vocals get revved up and zoom into a final Bobby Darin growl. His youthfulness does show through on the ball...ad "Anyone to Love," a boozy ode to losing at love in which Bublé's vocals lack the experience needed to truly portray the song's older, depressed character. But that is his only vocal misstep throughout these seven audio tracks, and that makes Totally Bublé a pleasant, if minimal, stopgap between releases that shows off the natural abilities of this gifted vocalist. - Aaron Latham, All Music Guide Read more Less