NY Times Draws Darin Comparison to Buble

Anyone who has followed nouveau singer, Michael Buble's, career has heard the Darin comparison many times, rarely without justification. In the New York Time's review of Buble's debut at Radio City Music Hall this week, writer, Stephen Holden, conjures up the Darin image, but with a little more substantive analysis.

"If Mr. Buble roughly follows the Sinatra archetype, that primary influence is less pronounced than the influences of those of two chips off the old block, Bobby Darin and Harry Connick Jr. For Mr.Buble never dives into the noirish depths Sinatra plumbed with such profound intensity. Like Darin and Mr. Connick, he ventures to the brink and wets his toes, but refuses to take the plunge."

I would agree that Buble has *yet* to make the leap from "entertainer" to true "interpreter," but unarguably Darin did. No one could have covered as many genres as successfully and performed them as convincingly -- and not have inhabited and internalized them deeply. The 1963 Flamingo recordings are a great example of this range Darin had -- all neatly packaged in a 50 minute show. Perhaps we could take up a collection for Mr. Holden and send him a copy.

** Excerpt and photo, courtesy The Daily Buble