Melissa Errico - Blue Like That

Artist: Melissa Errico
Title Of Album: Blue Like That
Year Of Release: 2003
Label: Manhattan Records
Genre: Jazz / Vocal / Folk-Rock
Bitrate: VBRkbps / 44.1 kHz / Joint Stereo
Total Time: 49:30 min
Total Size: 76.2 MB

Tracklist
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01. I Still Love You
02. Never Saw Blue Like That
03. When He Loved Me
04. Keep It to Myself
05. He Was Too Good to Me
06. Love Junkyard
07. Night Ride Home
08. Hot in Here
09. Company
10. Diamond in the Rough
11. And So It Goes
12. As I Long as I Have You


Melissa Errico can have a slightly irritating teacher's-pet air but her gifts as an interpreter are without question and she's lit up every show she's been in prior to this album, from a concert version of Kurt Weill's One Touch of Venus to Michel Legrand's underrated Amour. But realizing perhaps that Broadway is a dead end if you want mainstream success, Errico looked for pop crossover material on her solo debut. The CD's mood is neatly encapsulated on the first track, "I Still Love You," which feels as if you've tuned in to an AM station in 1974. That song was penned by Errico's brother Mike but the choice of covers confirms that the singer's stylistic roots can be found not in Gershwin or Porter but in soft-rock songsmiths such as Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Billy Joel, and Rickie Lee Jones. In the end, Errico overcomes Arif Mardin's cheesy production and a sometimes-timid song selection thanks to good old-fashioned values: She serves the material with unfailing insight, humility, and what may be the most naturally beautiful voice to come out of the musical theater in years. --Elisabeth Vincentelli