Monica Mancini
Singer Monica Mancini's tribute to her fatherHenry's music is well-crafted, apparently good-intentioned, and thoroughly unexciting in its tastefulness. Floating in a sea of orchestration, she delivers song after song about a "Crazy World" in which "The Days of Wine and Roses" too quickly pass, but she holds her head up and follows "Anywhere the Heart Goes"--including, and especially, to "Dreamsville." A perfectly acceptable album of its kind,Monica Mancinithankfully escapes the aura of cash-in that surroundedNatalie Cole's record of her own dad's signature pieces. That that's the most praiseworthy aspect of the attempt, however, is hardly enough to make listening more than a chore.--Rickey Wright