A Wonderful World

Tony Bennett & k  Lang

2002: Sony/Columbia 86734


  1. Exactly Like You
  2. La vie en rose
  3. I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)
  4. You Can Depend on Me
  5. What a Wonderful World
  6. That’s My Home
  7. A Kiss to Build a Dream On
  8. I Wonder
  9. Dream a Little Dream of Me
  10. You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart
  11. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls around Heaven All Day)
  12. If We Never Meet Again

Two of my favorite voices, but not one of my favorite albums. The material is just too “nice” overall—there’s no pain, no doubt, no conflict, nothing for k.d. to really invest that voice’s power and depth in. It’s pleasant to hear these two voices together, but not over this sustained Prozac mood.

Perhaps most disappointing is that lang, who has a tremendous vocal-expression range in both volume and nuance, never gets more than drowsy sing-along work here. I find myself yearning for her to cut loose and take Bennett along with her in some song’s emotional journey…but then it only takes a quick scan of that tracklist to see that there’s no journeying to be had here: it’s all utterly placid and well-that’s-just-how-it-is, lyrically as well as melodically.

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Comments © 2011 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.