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Cheryl
Bentyne - The Book Of Love (Telarc)
Released: November 21, 2006
I hate concept albums. The setup always goes something like, "In every
love story, there's a beginning, a middle and an end..."
Sorry. Been there. Done that. Plenty.
My soundtrack was usually different - more like Harry Nilsson's "You're
Breaking My Heart."
Okay, all of that said, there are a few things going for this album, like
Cheryl Bentyne's voice. If you love the Manhattan Transfer (and I do),
then you've got to like Cheryl Bentyne. If Janis Siegel's voice hits you
in the solar plexus, it's Ms. Bentyne's voice that's soaring somewhere
around the ceiling.
But there's nothing soaring about this set. It's a low-key showcase for
Ms. Bentyne's fine voice...refined, almost too reserved.
"Blue Moon" is dusted off nicely as a duet with Telarc stable mate John
Pizzarelli, and is the highlight of the disc for me. "You Don't Know Me"
isn't recorded much, and got my attention as the first track on the disc.
Truth is, any individual track is fine as a stand-alone, or in a mix with
other artists, or even in a collection of Ms. Bentyne's work.
Each track is a solid performance, and I'm sure every track will make it
into one of my various 'pod mixes.
But there's nothing here to recommend the album as a whole.
Go. Spend a buck on "Blue Moon," and another buck or two on a couple of
your favorite titles from the group of a dozen standards here.
But the work as a whole disappointed me.
And that, my friend, is the problem with concept albums.
 
Two and one-half Microphones (out of four) - Doug Boynton
(11/23/06) |
