Michael Bolton

Few people have had quite the career as Michael Bolton. His smooth, seductive vocal stylings and dreamy locks made him the poster man for many a woman during the late '80s and into the early '90s. And while a title such as Artistry of Michael Bolotin may seem like a typographical error on the label's part, rest assured it most certainly is not, as "Bolotin" is his birth name. The Artistry of Michael Bolotin does not cover the shining era of Bolton's chart storming brilliance, it still has a few moments of notable merit. Starting off with a blistering cover (the first of many) of "Rocky Mountain Way," he somehow turns the brilliant "Time Is On My Side" into a soft, limp number that by the end is begging like an elderly hound dog to be put out of its misery. This methodology of turning an otherwise brilliant song into something less brilliant would later become a staple of Bolton's career. Nonetheless, Bolotin takes his own sweet time performing three self-penned numbers, and one from hitmaker Glen Ballard before pillaging the Motown hit "Dancing in the Street." While this proves to be a most unfortunate move, Bolotin redeems himself with a white-hot rendition of the classic Guess Who number "These Eyes," all before wrapping up the disc with another self-penned number. This disc is by no means essential to anyone but diehard Bolotin fans, but provides interesting documentation of the man's early years, and his ever-developing process of taking a classic song and making it uniquely his own, for better or worse. ~ Rob Theakston, All Music Guide