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Click here to return to the main site. Soundtrack Review
Michael Longoria releases his latest album, Like They Do in the Movies, via Broadway Records. We're off to the cinema with a collection of Longoria's favourite songs from the silver screen... Michael Longoria has already proven, thanks to his previous album releases (Merry Christmas Darling, Broadway Brick by Brick), that he's a versatile and talented vocalist. Like They Do it in the Movies starts off incredibly promising. The opening 'Kiss Me (Like They Do in the Movies)', the only original song on this collection, shows Longoria's vocals off perfectly. Likewise the next few tracks are well produced and Longoria does them justice - in some cases giving a fresh and more modern approach (as in 'In Your Eyes') and in other instances delivering a fairly faithful delivery to the original ('Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)'). I really loved his take on ''Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)' which both remains faithful to the original, whilst bringing it up to date for a modern audience... but there's no way he can manage to keep up this sort of quality for the duration, surely. Especially when there are quite a few tracks that were originally performed by a female vocalist. How could Longoria possibly do justice to these without it sounding out of place. Amazingly, his vocal range is so diverse and his delivery so fluid that you quickly forget the original recording in most cases. I think the biggest hurdle that Longoria has to overcome with an undertaking like this is that the majority of these songs are so ingrained in our past, conjuring up nostalgic memories, that anything other than the original will just sound wrong on a first listen. The first potential casualty was ''Wind Beneath My Wings', but thankfully Longoria manages to eventually turn this into something much better than the original. 'Don’t You (Forget About Me)' has doo wop backing singers, for some unfathomable reason, but Longoria just about manages to save it from descending into farce. He has a powerful enough delivery to make it his own. Likewise, ''I Will Always Love You' is synonymous with Whitney Houston but Longoria manages to rework this wonderfully. Without a doubt... the one guaranteed stumbling block was bound to be his cover of 'My Heart Will Go On'... or so you'd think. This song has been played to death and yet the delivery here is incredibly spot on. Again, the only slight let down is the musical arrangement. It's not a complaint, rather an observation. I can't help thinking that an orchestra would have made this sound so much better... in fact the majority of the album would have been elevated with an orchestral arrangement, but then that's probably an expense that just couldn't be justified. While, on first glance, some of the song choices might raise an eyebrow, rest assured Longoria takes each and every track and knocks it out of the park. Track listing: 01 - 'Kiss Me (Like They Do in the Movies)' - Michael Longoria 9 Darren Rea Buy this item online
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