Julio Iglesias Love Songs CD

This has 16 tracks from the mid-'80s to the late '90s, but like other installments in Sony's Love Songs series, it's not synonymous with a greatest-hits compilation. Instead, it's just an assortment of various songs from the catalog of one of the most popular romantic vocalists of the late-20th century, though there are of course a whole lot more than 16 "love songs" in the Iglesias discography. These particular ones seem to have been selected with an eye toward the North American market, as all are in English, and the program's heavy on covers of era-spanning pop standards: "Mona Lisa," "Can't Help Falling in Love," "When I Fall in Love," "As Time Goes By," the Willie Nelson-penned "Crazy" (popularized by Patsy Cline), Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)," the Beatles' "And I Love Her," Morris Albert's "Feelings," Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen's "If You Go Away." It does have some of his big American hits in "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (a duet with Willie Nelson) and "Moonlight Love," yet it's missing his smash duet with Diana Ross, "All of You." Overall, it's representative of the glossily produced, sentimental adult contemporary pop for which the singer's most known to much of the English-speaking audience. ~ Richie Unterberger

Personnel: Julio Iglesias (vocals); Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson (vocals).

Photographer: Randee Saint Nicholas.