Heavenly

is ' most successful regular album release, exceeded in his catalog only by the compilation and the seasonal collection. It's not hard to understand why; this record is the epitome of ' approach to music. like and are joined by and a few more recent titles, such as the -composed title song and The tempos are slow, the strings swell, and ' vulnerable tenor, dripping with tender emotion yet never missing a beat, soars and swoops over all. The best track, a revelation when it appeared on this album, is a treatment of 's piano classic with a newly added lyric by . Few could have carried off that lyric (go ahead, try and think of another male singer of the '50s who could handle it), but it was perfect for , and the track was spun off for a single that became his biggest hit in two years and remains one of his signature songs. Though still fairly early in his career, had done a lot of recording; was actually his tenth album release in less than three years (counting two hits collections and the album). As a result, he was a recording veteran while still being fresh enough to give his performances real feeling. It all came together on , ' longest running number one album which spent more than five-and-a-half years in the charts. ~ William Ruhlmann