That Lovin' Feeling

Album review

An urbane singer with a throaty, burnished croon, Steve Tyrell has made his name interpreting classic pop songs. It's a skill that helped break his career wide open after he appeared singing "The Way You Look Tonight" in the 1991 film version of Father of the Bride. And while it's the songs of the pre-WWII era that are primarily Tyrell's bread and butter, he has a long-standing love and history connected to pop from his own generation. On his 11th album, 2015's That Lovin' Feeling, Tyrell revisits many of the classic pop tunes of his generation as he sings a variety of compositions that were written at places like the famed Brill Building in the '50s and '60s. Inspired both by his time spent as a teenager working in A&R for Scepter Records in New York City, and by his performance at famed songwriter Mike Stoller's 80th birthday concert in 2013, That Lovin' Feeling is a both a celebration and love letter to the songs and songwriters of that decade. The album follows up his similarly inclined collection of American popular song, 2013's It's Magic: The Songs of Sammy Cahn, and like that album, finds Tyrell perfectly suited to his chosen material. Immaculately produced by Tyrell, along with Jon Allen and Bob Mann, That Lovin' Feeling is an intimate, jazz-inflected album featuring contributions from keyboardist Chuck Leavell ("Hound Dog"), as well as Stoller-himself on Hammond B-3 ("Stand by Me"). Also adding to the proceedings are a handful of duets with Tyrell and the artists who originally popularized these songs, including Bill Medley on "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," B.J. Thomas on "Rock and Roll Lullaby," Neil Sedaka on "Laughter in the Rain," and others.
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