Peter Grant

PETER GRANT
"TRADITIONAL"
(Universal/UK, 2007)


"On The Beach"


I was vaguely aware of the existence of Peter Grant a couple of years ago when his debut album "New Vintage" was released, but my curiosity never grew to the point of actually compelling me to purchase it. But as I was flipping through the racks at Amoeba last month, I happened upon this, his second album, which I didn't know existed. Its price tag was all of ten dollars, so I decided this was my chance to give the young British crooner a try.

Peter Grant can probably best be described as the UK's answer to Michael Bublé, as both are young and handsome, have smooth and appealing voices, and sing in basically the same genre of music. There are a couple of differences, however: Grant's voice, though having a similar timbre to Bublé's, is a bit deeper; also, Grant relies less on classic standards and puts more original material on his albums.

The track on this album titled "That's Life" is not the song made famous by Frank Sinatra, but rather a more upbeat and inspiring anthem (complete with some first-class vocal scatting). Nor is "Let The Good Times Roll" the '50s sock-hop staple, but instead a Rat-Pack-inspired bouncer. There are some covers here, though -- Grant's take on "Until You Come Back To Me" is more reminiscent of Basia's jazzy rendition than the Dionne Warwick original; "On And On" is a cover of Stephen Bishop's neglected '70s soft-rock hit; and I dreaded hearing his take on the chronically tired and overdone Turtles song "Happy Together" until being pleasantly surprised by this fresh big-band arrangement of it.

The rest of the 13 tracks included here are pretty darn enjoyable too: the samba-flavored opener "Traditional" ... my current favorite "You're Worth It" ... the superbly sensual duet "You Don't Know (How Glad I Am)" with Belle Erskine ... and the closing celebration of music (hmm ... now I have two favorites!) "Never Too Far Away From a Song". All in all, this is one of the better albums I've come across so far this year -- and this is coming from someone who usually gets bored a bit quickly with this sort of stuff.