Frankie Laine

This late-'60s album finds the former pop superstar competing with the likes of Ed Ames and Andy Williams in the realm of adult contemporary music. The progression is not much of a stretch for Laine, but the easy listening vocal music of this era had less of the drama and anything-goes sensibility that prevailed in the '50s when he was cutting songs like "Jezebel" and "Rawhide." Laine's remake of "To Each His Own" is very good and became a big adult contemporary hit; the rest of the album follows suit with an assortment of oldies and newies, some of which are in a country-pop vein. Bob Theile's production is dense and florid, with a sound that is more trendy and modern-sounding than Ames' records from the same time. The production style may have been commercial in the '60s but makes the album sound dated today. Laine still has a great voice and several of the songs are good, but the arrangements are distractingly busy with an intrusive vocal chorus and everything pushed indelicately to the fore. ~ Greg Adams, Rovi