Tony Danza
Does every Italian guy want to be Frank Sinatra? Probably no more than every Scottish guy wants to disrupt a polite dinner party with an atonal bagpipe solo. Not every would-be Frankie has the dough to make his “your name here at the Sands” fantasy happen, but TV celebrity Tony Danza apparently does. Vocally, Danza sounds closer to Barry Manilow than he does to the greats—Frank, Dino, Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale or even Domenic Modugno or Louis Prima. The orchestra is strictly old-school; it isn’t Nelson Riddle, but it might give Merv Griffin a stiffy. The tunes are kinda Merv’s bag, too, like “That’s All,” “Pennies From Heaven” and “L-O-V-E.” “On an Evening in Roma” has accordions, so it’s also nifty. On two of the last three cuts, Danza lets his daughter sing. Mistake. And ending with “God Bless America”? Oy. I found this for $1 in a blue-tag bargain bin at Pug’z. It’s worth a buck, at least.