The Italian

Patrizio Buanne is veritably obsessed with the sound and style of the 1950s and '60s. As a child, he won an Elvis impersonation competition when he dressed as the young version of the King, and he grew up listening almost solely to Italian or Italian-inspired music from that same time period. And now, with his debut album, The Italian, he is able to sing many of the songs he loves. Recorded in London with the Royal Philharmonic, The Italian often harks back to the sound of the original recordings, like in Jimmy Fontana's "Il Mondo," Engelbert Humperdinck's "A Man Without Love," or Mario Lanza's "Come Prima," and Buanne sounds good, his baritone blending well with the orchestra. Buanne also tries new adaptations of classics, like in "L'Italiano," which adds a nicely moving piano line, an electric guitar, and a brass section to the already great song, and sounds new but not kitschy. Not all of the tracks are covers: Buanne helped co-write one of the songs on the album, "Home to Mamma," which is sung to the tune of "Funiculi, Funicula," and there is an Italian-language version of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over," as well. Patrizio Buanne has a fantastic voice, and his genuine love of the music he grew up to is more than apparent on his debut album.