Julio Iglesias - Romantic Classics (2006)

Ever the sentimentalist, balladeer Julio Iglesias continues his legacy of finding the sappiest songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s on Romantic Classics. Unlike 2004's Love Songs, which was a compilation of some of Iglesias' best-known covers, Romantic Classics is 11 tracks that Iglesias chose and then recorded especially for this album, songs he felt would become future standards. So while there might not be a version of "My Funny Valentine" or "Fools Rush In," there is Richard Marx ("Right Here Waiting"), the Bee Gees ("How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"), and plenty of Foreigner ("Waiting for a Girl Like You," "I Want to Know What Love Is"). Iglesias imparts his Spanish-accented English on each of the tracks, a technique that has the profound effect of making them seem even more dramatic and plaintive than they already did, but this is nothing new. He's been doing it since the first note he ever sang, and he'll being doing it for years to come. Yes, the production is overdone, and yes, his voice, the keyboards, and the drums are affected to the point of excess, but this is adult contemporary after all (in fact, this album may be the very definition of adult contemporary), and that's supposed to happen. If the singer doesn't sound emotional, like he's about to start bawling, like he's known the pain and joy of love better than anyone else and so cannot help but sing about it, then he fails, and the album fails. And since these are in fact the criteria and they are most assuredly met, Romantic Classics is quite successful.