Connick goes classic... again

It's been a year since Harry Connick Jr. released Other Hours: Connick on Piano, Vol. 1 on the Marsalis Music label, and on his latest offering, Only You, the supper-club crooner sticks to what he does best: covering the great standards of bygone days without really offering any original material. It's not that Connick couldn't one day emerge as a creative songwriter; he just knows what he's good at, and that happens to be wrapping his rich contrabass around the good stuff Sinatra and Noble wrote decades ago. \nOnly You features ditties much along the lines of what Connick's done in his latest three albums, only this time they're somehow more fresh, more intricate. His lazy stroll through Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You" particularly shines, featuring a dexterous string section and Connick's sustained, deliberate vocals. \n"Save the Last Dance for Me," the album's sixth track is all the better with Connick's lightly stylized vocals and the addition of strings and congo beats, which update the Doc Pomus standard. Connick appears to have a considerably free hand in arranging classic songs, and this is especially apparent on "For Once in My Life" and other tracks that feature extensive piano solos and breakaway sections featuring Connick's horn section.\nThe record tends toward the overly-sentimental at times, and the extravagantly-arranged "More" that opens the album perhaps sets the listener up for more flamboyant, up-tempo tracks that never follow. Yet the latest Connick offering is sure to vamp up your Valentine's Day, at least: chicks (at least this one) dig sultry-voiced saps setting the mood.