PATTI AUSTIN ~ Street Of Dreams

STREET OF DREAMS . . .PATTI AUSTIN EMBRACES OLD & NEW WITH CLASS (As Always)!!!

Trademark diversity in place, Patti Austin, vocalist extraordinaire starts set off with a generous re-thinking of the otherwise bland "The Look of Love". (Bacharach and David never had it soooo good!) She even helps breathe some life into the old standard "Street of Dreams", the title cut, but when "A Candle" (new song) takes off it is clear that we have yet another Patti Austin treat for the old mixed tape or CD burn. When Austin starts off singing: "...There's a sadness here inside my heart ..." we know it's "gonna be special". Singer, words, melody, and production are well-matched on this tune . . . music so so good . . . !

Her lovely serenading on "Someone To Watch Over Me" makes the listener sort'a long for an entire Austin-Gershwin recording, so sweet the marriage of melody, lyric, and voice.

Leave it to Austin to remind us so stylishly why "I Only Have Eyes For You" is a standard. Members of Colour Me Badd lend harmonies! Incredibly ROMANTIC; lush.

"For Once in My Life" takes on a new face with an uptempo, funky arrangment that soars into a scat menage sweeter than any so-called "jazz vocals" I've heard so far this year!

When Patti sings the much-recorded "Calling You", walls come down, curtains pull back, a new layer revealed . . . the desperation of the lyric becomes a siren song to lost loves.

Could "Waiting For You" be the singer's most subtly poignant vocals ever? "Beautiful" seems even an understatement when describing the wonders at work on this gem, and don't be fooled by the laid-back approach on Boz Scaggs' "Look What You've Done To Me". Several listens later you'll be getting something new from the song - just like this great Patti Austin album, which respects the old by blessing it ... anew!