Herald rating: 2/5
Tony Bennett has won Grammies for this sort of thing before - the likeable 2003 album he did with k.d. lang. And she's back - though much further down the guest list - on this 20-track all-star cosmopolitan effort. But what a slog it is.
Sure, Bennett's pipes are still impressive in his 80th year whether he's doing his trademark matter-of-fact delivery or belting out the occasional lung-blasting high-note on the closing How Do You Keep the Music Playing? with George Michael.
But so many of the tracks seem oddly off-kilter with the various singing partners simply not up to the task (The Dixie Chicks doing the Andrews Sisters on Lullaby of Broadway, James Taylor sounding less than cheerful on Put On a Happy Face), affected and incongruous (Sting) or overdoing it (Stevie Wonder). Some of that who's who manage to locate their inner swinger (Elton John, Paul McCartney, Bono, Elvis Costello).
Otherwise, Just in Time with Michael Buble proves the difference between the genuine article and the young pretender. While having Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion and Delta Goodrem on one album together is surely a moment in pop history never to be repeated. Please?
Label: Sony/BMG
