first embraced his appeal to the middle of the road way back in 2002 when he recorded , the first in a series of explorations of the Great American Songbook. Given those albums, it's no great surprise to hear sing with an orchestra on . What is a surprise is that he's hopped upon the orchestral overdub bandwagon, letting the glop on strings and horns over original vocal tracks for such hits as "Maggie May." Clever guy that he is, contributes a couple of ringers -- including a duet with on "It Takes It Two" -- but those only wind up illustrating how stilted and stiff the overdubs are. On those hybrids, doesn't seem to be riding the waves of the music, which is a gift he's had since the beginning. Instead, the vocal tracks are tweaked to suit the needs of the orchestra, which gives an odd stuffiness. Even on his Great American Songbook albums, hasn't sounded stuffy, so the fault isn't his, unless he should be blamed for consenting to this project in the first place. The reason why the record doesn't work is the concept itself: it's wrapping warm, empathetic recordings in a lounge robe that winds up as suffocating as a straightjacket. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine