Michael Bolton | Sony | March 2, 2010
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Photographer: Andrew MacPherson.
Never let it be said that Michael Bolton is ignorant of his times.
He may not always participate in them -- he spent the better part
of the new millennium on the sidelines, occasionally singing
covers, even indulging in an album-long tribute to Sinatra -- but
he's aware of them, as One World One Love, released in the U.K. in
2009 and the U.S. in 2010, illustrates. For his first mainstream
pop album since 2002, he immerses himself in cool contemporary
trends, trading heavily in Auto-Ttune, enlisting Ne-Yo and a
pre-fame Lady Gaga for some collaborations, dabbling in some reggae
rhythms, adapting some coolly synthesized rhythms without ever
quite achieving the iciness of Ryan Tedder. Strangely, Bolton's
impeccably recorded adult contemporary seems much warmer than most
modern AC, something that goes a long way toward making One World
One Love appealing: even though the songs are, as a whole, not as
memorable as his earliest hits, there's a nice easy confidence here
-- it's the sound of an old pro doing what he does best. ~ Stephen
Thomas Erlewine