. was an outsized talent. Whether dancing or singing or acting (or drumming, or doing impersonations), he spent more energy, carried more emotion, and involved himself more deeply in his performances than any other artist of his caliber. His earliest hit material -- -- signalled the advent of a show-biz vocalist who could blow the roof off the joint like a shouter, and though was impeccably refined, he was obviously channeling Broadway figures like or rather than the mellowed, mellifluous sound of -influenced vocalists. (As such, he earned more fans in the showrooms of Las Vegas than the nightclubs of New York.) 's is not only a fine compilation of . highlights, it's the best single-disc overview of his career, beginning with his '50s material and ending in the mid-'70s, when his hits petered out after a late chart-topper ( ). It features all of his hits and it's the first single-disc compilation to include songs from every one of his movie or Broadway hits -- ( ), ), even It also includes a pair of well-chosen album tracks, from his collaboration with , and the title song from a very good mid-'60s LP. ~ John Bush