Into the Valentine groove with Charlie Puth, Tony Bennett
PUTH. His debut album brims with romantic froth and catchy, feel-good anthems. AP
If you want songs to get you into the Valentine groove, Charlie Puth’s debut collection, “Nine Track Mind,” won’t disappoint.
The album, which debuts at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 this week, contains tracks that brim with romantic froth, catchy, feel-good anthems and that ubiquitous Paul Walker tribute (featuring Wiz Khalifa) from the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise, “See You Again.”
The 24-year-old former YouTube sensation is eager to please—and that isn’t such a bad thing if all you want is an album that allows you to luxuriate in its “manicured” melodies, glossy arrangements and Charlie’s seamless singing.
His languid vocals are gorgoeusly showcased in his current smash single, “One Call Away,” and the Motown-channeling “Marvin Gaye,” his playfully suggestive collaboration with the irrepressible Meghan Trainor.
You’ll enjoy the catchy “Left Right Left” and the pounding “My Gospel” as much as the falsetto-laced “Suffer” and the “Let It Be”-sounding tune, “Up All Night.”
Our top pick: Sultry Selena Gomez seizes the spotlight away from Puth in the poppingly playful “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” about getting back on track after a difficult breakup!
Jerome Kern classics
For something more timeless and enduring, you can’t go wrong with Tony Bennett’s latest recording triumph, “The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern,” where the 89-year-old legendary crooner teams up with jazz pianist Bill Charlap.
On his latest chart-topping, all-standards playlist, Bennett revisits “All The Things You Are,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Long Ago and Far Away,” “The Song Is You,” “The Last Time I Saw Paris” and the exuberant “I Won’t Dance” with vocal panache and stirring soulfulness.
