Thanks to , found a career revival in 2002 with , the album that refashioned the lovable rogue into a swanky swinger. ' gamble paid off -- he figured that the public, already aware of 's status as a great singer, would believe that he could sing classic songs as well as he sang , and , and he was right: the public did buy the record. But just because a record sells doesn't necessarily mean that it's all that good, and suffered from one simple thing: 's talents and skills are not well-suited for . Still, the concept was a good one so the record sold and spawned a sequel, . Released a year later, nearly to the day, is basically the same album as , relying on a similar song selection of well-worn warhorses and adhering to the same simple, straight-ahead cocktail-bar arrangements as its predecessor. There are some slight differences, most notably the presence of two duets: a version of with , while joins in on the title song (neither cut is very good, but is much better than , who is less-suited for this material than ). Then, there's the slight upper hand of producer , who helms more tracks this time around than the other two producers, and , who are also returning from Overall, the album has a looser feel, but that doesn't mean more relaxed; it means sloppy -- to the point that the producers failed to correct a glaring computerized vocal correction error at 1:20 on the opening track, 's delivery is lazy and unfocused; his asides and offhand turns of phrase work wonders on , where it's more about being in the moment than being in the song, but on finely crafted songs like these, precision is needed and 's delivery makes it seem like he just doesn't have his heart in it. He never sounds bad; he merely sounds awkward on occasion, but the record is so casual that it doesn't make much of a difference. just coasts by on its style and concept, which is about as satisfying and pleasant as it was the first time out, but the slight differences -- the duets, the sloppiness -- make the artifice more apparent this time around. It still works as background music, though, for those who buy into the concept. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine