New duet with Tony Bennett

[sweetest punch]

See:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 5287c.html

A genuine old master

When Tony Bennett asked some younger singers if they'd help him cut an album of duets to mark his 80th birthday, most had two questions: Where? And when?

Bono, Sting, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Diana Krall, Michael Buble and the Dixie Chicks are getting in line to help the legend rework some of the songs he's recorded on almost 100 albums. They aren't the only ones paying homage. Clint Eastwood is producing a documentary about Bennett. The Smithsonian American Art Museum just accepted Tony's painting of Central Park into its permanent collection. And last week, the National Endowment for the Arts named him a Jazz Master.

Of course, he was honored last month at the Kennedy Center — an occasion that challenged his diplomatic skills.

Bennett has entertained six or seven Presidents. The White House's current occupant isn't one of his favorites.

The war in Iraq "made me a pacifist," the World War II infantryman tells us. "I just think [war is] the lowest form of human behavior."

And what about fellow liberal Alec Baldwin, who's been parodying Bennett on "Saturday Night Live"? "There's nothing wrong with caricature," he says. "I guess it means a few people know who I am."

[Turquoise Pajamas Pt Deux]

I wonder if it is possible for a journalist/columnist/reporter to write a piece about celebrity without some sort of inane reference to the celebrity's disdain for the President. Yes, we know! We've heard the tired story already! Hollywood folks don't like Bush! It seems to be an almost pathological problem for the celebs.

My fake interview below...

Washington Post-It Notes Newspaper: "Mr. Bennett, does the duration of your career and your ability to touch fans of all generations ever amaze you?"

Tony Bennett: "Well, I suppose it just amazes me that I have lived 80 years and have been healthy enough to keep performing. And of course, it's always a fantastic thing to see my old fans who are now grandparents, as well as new, young fans who can appreciate the music of an old guy like me. Bush is a douche bag *laughs*."

WP: "Did you just call the President a douche bag?"

TB: "No! That's absurd. I would never say something so derogatory about the Commander-in-Chief even if he is an asshole."

WP: "Mr. Bennett, you've now called the President a douche bag and an asshole. Would you care to either defend those remarks or take them back?"

TB: "Frankly I don't know what you're talking about. Listen, I don't agree with what this President has done with our foreign policy. I think going into Iraq was for the wrong reasons and has no possible positive outcome. I want our boys and girls to come home safely. I've been through a war myself and I know how devastating it is. But to suggest that I would call President Prick names or to try and bait me into an argument about politics is irresponsible. It's no wonder I try to avoid you media fools."

[johnfoyle]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArtic ... ETT-DC.XML

By Melinda Newman

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - By 11 a.m. the day after the Grammy Awards, while other winners were undoubtedly still sleeping off the night before, Tony Bennett was doing what he does best: singing.

Bennett, who won for best traditional pop vocal album at the February 8 event, was tucked inside Capitol's legendary Studio A, running through the standard "Rags to Riches" with his duet partner du jour, Elton John.

And just like that, by 11:30 a.m. they were done. In a feat that could teach some youngsters a thing or two, the pair cut the track live (accompanied by a quartet) four times from start to finish before producer Phil Ramone called it a wrap.

The song will appear on a duets album coming out September 26 on RPM/Columbia to herald Bennett's 80th birthday. Among the other acts on the set, all of whom recorded face to face with Bennett in the studio, are the Dixie Chicks, Bono, Billy Joel, Sting, James Taylor, John Legend, Elvis Costello, Juanes, k.d. lang, Tim McGraw and Barbra Streisand. John took the opportunity to suggest one of his faves, Mary J. Blige. "She's the greatest female singer out there," he told Bennett.

Bennett credits his son/manager, Danny Bennett, with the duets idea. "I'm just so thrilled that all these contemporary artists want to sing with me," he says. "They're all making me feel so good."

John says he cannot believe he and Bennett have not paired up before. "I've done a duet with so many people, the world and its mother. I've done a duet with RuPaul. But everything comes when it's meant to be."

As a singer, John says Bennett has few equals. "He still makes everything sound so easy, his sparsity of phrasing. He has a very sort of casual phrasing. It's just brilliant."

Out of respect for Bennett and the fabled studio, John was dressed in a beautiful suit despite the early hour. "I knew it was going to be a live session. You want to look smart, you want to feel good, because that makes me sing better," he says. "You don't come here in a track suit or looking scruffy. I could never forgive myself for that."

Starbucks has signed on as a partner in Bennett's birthday celebration. In addition to carrying the duets title, the java chain will exclusively release "Through the Years." The set, available April 4, features classic Bennett hits and his hand-picked favorites.

Reuters/Billboard

[johnfoyle]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/ba ... -headlines


( extract)

And Costello recently recorded a duet with celebrated songster Tony Bennett for release later this year. What tune did they share?

"'Are You Having Any Fun?'" Costello said. "And, yes, I am."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.warnerchappell.com/wcm_2/son ... id=3005090

Are You Havin' Any Fun? From "George White's Scandels" 1939
Fain, Sammy , Yellen, Jack

' Hit parade favorite which was written for the last of the legendary 'Scandals' revues staged by master showman George White. Song was also used in a British show by the music-hall duo, Flanagan And Allen. '
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000 ... nce&n=5174

Basie Swings, Bennett Sings
Tony Bennett, Count Basie

4. Are You Havin' Any Fun

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process ... d.59827_CD

Personnel: Count Basie (piano); Tony Bennett (vocals); Marshall Royal, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Billy Mitchell, Charles Fowlkes (saxophone); Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Wendell Culley, Joe Newman (trumpet); Henry Coker, Al Grey, Benny Powell (trombone); Ralph Sharon (piano); Freddie Green (guitar); Eddie Jones (bass); Sonny Payne (drums). Producer: Teddy Reig. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York, New York from January 3-5, 1959.

Includes liner notes by Barry Ulanov. This 1959 collaboration between Count Basie and Tony Bennett is truly a gem. While Basie himself plays only on two out of the 12 selections, his spirit is present throughout the entire album, apparent in the way the band swings, and even in Bennett's inspired singing. On BASIE SWINGS, BENNETT SINGS we hear a variety of tunes from ballads to up-tempo and vigorous swinging charts. The opening track, "Life is a Song" is simply rapture-filled. Basie noodles bluesy licks in just the right spaces, while Bennett soars with vitality, zeal, and of course great technical skill. Other highlights include the big band anthem "Chicago," and "Growing Pains"; on the latter, Bennett's subtlety gives the music a delicate sheen. A superb album, BASIE SWINGS, BENNETT SINGS is one of the Basie orchestra's most expressive collaborations with a vocalist.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.tonybennett.net/

5.11.06

In tribute to Tony Bennett's 80th birthday (August 3, 2006), SONYBMG will release a duets CD in honor of this milestone, to be in stores on September 26th. An impressive roster of vocalists joined Tony in the recording studio earlier this year to record duet versions of the songs most associated with Bennett's repertoire. Among the list of guest duet artists are: Barbra Streisand, Bono, Elton John, John Legend, the Dixie Chicks, James Taylor, k.d. lang, Juanes, Elvis Costello, Tim McGraw and Sting.

Each artist performed live with Tony in studios in New York, Los Angeles and London and for many of these artists this "face to face" approach was a departure from their standard method of studio recording. Phil Ramone, who worked with Tony on his Playin' With My Friends and Bennett on Holiday CDs, is the producer for this project as well.

[scielle]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 230&EDATE=

Track Listing for TONY BENNETT: DUETS/An American Classic

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams /STING
Smile/BARBRA STREISAND WITH PINCHAS ZUKERMAN (Violin)
Put On A Happy Face/JAMES TAYLOR
The Shadow Of Your Smile/JUANES
Rags To Riches/ELTON JOHN
The Very Thought Of You/PAUL MCCARTNEY
Lullaby Of Broadway/DIXIE CHICKS
Cold, Cold Heart/TIM MCGRAW
The Best Is Yet To Come/DIANA KRALL
For Once In My Life/STEVIE WONDER
Are You Havin' Any Fun?/ELVIS COSTELLO
Because Of You/K.D. LANG WITH CHRIS BOTTI (Trumpet)
Just In Time/MICHAEL BUBLE
Sing You Sinners/JOHN LEGEND
The Good Life/BILLY JOEL
I Wanna Be Around/BONO
How Do Keep The Music Playing/GEORGE MICHAEL
I Left My Heart In San Francisco/TONY BENNETT WITH BILL CHARLAP (Piano)

[verbal gymnastics]

Is Stevie Wonder doing his own song? If so it's a bit unambitious and disappointing.

This sounds like an album I'll buy, Mrs VG will mock me for buying it because Tony Bennett's old (as is myself and Elvis of course) and then she'll play it because it's got George Michael on it.

[johnfoyle]

Is Stevie Wonder doing his own song? If so it's a bit unambitious and disappointing.

For Once In My Life was written by Ron Miller ; Tony's 1967 recording pre-dated Stevie's 1968 version. I like both of these versions but Vikki Carr's 1969 take is my favourite.

[verbal gymnastics]

Thanks for correcting me John. I had wrongly believed it was one of Stevie's - he's certainly made it sound that way.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 8732c.html

… JOHN TRAVOLTA, Donald Trump, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall, and the Dixie Chicks are among those due to toast Tony Bennett on his 80th birthday at the American Museum of Natural History on Aug. 3. The gala's sponsored by Target, which will feature exclusive product from the swinging octogenarian, who's got a new CD, a DVD and an NBC special on the way. …

http://www.amnh.org/home/

[johnfoyle]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 72,00.html

Monday, Jul. 24, 2006
Tony Bennett's Guide To Intimacy

FOR HIS NEW ALBUM, THE SINGER GOT THE BIGGEST NAMES IN MUSIC TO DO THINGS HIS WAY. AND SPARKS DID FLY

By JOSH TYRANGIEL

Tony Bennett will turn 80 on Aug. 3, and while he doesn't think of longevity just in marketing terms, he's happy to have a son who does. It was 15 years ago that Danny Bennett rescued his father from pop-culture oblivion by pairing him with younger stars--k.d. lang, the Red Hot Chili Peppers--on a succession of red carpets, nudging ol' Tone's style toward MTV without sacrificing his half-century of musical substance. Tony has been flying on the fumes of hipness ever since, and Danny sees the big eight-O as the perfect moment for another boost of publicity rocket fuel. "I've had my eye on this since his 75th," says the younger Bennett. "Most people's concept of 80 is you can't get up the stairs, but Tony still sings like he's 20, and he has fans of all ages. You bet we're going to remind people of that."

The coming months will see a Tony Bennett feature documentary, executive-produced by Clint Eastwood, and a prime-time NBC special directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago). Bennett, who in conversation sounds like he's smiling even on the rare occasions when he's not, has nothing but exclamation points for Eastwood ("A class fella!") and Marshall ("Best director I've ever worked with!"). Initially, though, he had no interest in making the album that is at the center of his booming birthday industry, Tony Bennett: Duets/An American Classic, due out Sept. 26. "I was apprehensive," says Bennett. "I lean toward jazz, but jazz doesn't sell records. Dan's idea was collaborations on my greatest hits with contemporary artists who are institutions--Streisand, Elvis Costello, Bono. I told him I'd do it, but on certain terms."

Except for a few wrinkles and a head of silvery, cotton-ball hair, Bennett doesn't look particularly old. He is, however, deeply old school. He calls Elton John a "new" artist and refers to his girlfriend as "my special lady." (That his special lady is 40 years younger upholds another show-biz tradition.) Bennett is at his most reactionary when it comes to making music. Since 1970's disastrous Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!, which featured a Shatneresque take on Eleanor Rigby, he has clung to the great American songbook and insisted on recording with live musicians. If he's doing a duet, he wants his partner singing with him live on a single take--an almost unheard-of level of fussiness in an era when voices are spliced and diced and singers collaborate from different continents. "It's not just putting on a tuxedo, grabbing one of those old microphones and putting it on the album cover," says Costello. "With Tony, you've got to be there and have some curiosity about the music. You've got to learn his method."

In all, 18 acts--including Bono, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and the Dixie Chicks--tinkered with their schedules and submitted to Bennett's requirements. (A love for Bennett's voice was a driving factor, though the success of Ray Charles' multiplatinum, Grammy-winning Genius Loves Company was a compelling model of the benefits of synergy.) But singing à deux can be a tricky business. "Duets are blind dates," says Bennett. "You meet people, often for the first time, and then you've got to get close enough to them to get at the soul of a song. We're trying for instant intimacy. You never know if you're going to get it."

Sure enough, Bennett, while a warm and enthusiastic paramour, is not a patient one. "You don't get more than three takes," laughs Costello after recording Are You Havin' Any Fun? (and watching his wife Diana Krall record The Best Is Yet to Come) at Bennett's Englewood, N.J., studio. After three takes of Cold, Cold Heart, the Hank Williams song Bennett took to No. 1 in 1951, producer Phil Ramone asks Tim McGraw, "You want one more?" McGraw, who can't stop confessing his nerves, says, "I want 20 more." Bennett looks momentarily ill. "If Tim wants to do 20 more, we'll do 20 more!" he chirps, adding, "That was a good one, though."

Some of Bennett's need for speed is the product of a Depression-era upbringing. "The studio isn't a clubhouse," he says. "We're here to work." But it's also a critical part of his process. "Singing intimately is almost like thinking into a microphone, so it helps to have the song buried inside you." Like a method actor, Bennett goes over lyrics for days--even for songs he has sung forever--repeating them until they're second nature. When the time comes to record, the words pour out with different emphases on each take. (On Cold, Cold Heart, the shift from a brisk apart to a drawn-out uhhhh-part tips the mood from disdain to misery.) The advantage is that his performances are spontaneous and deeply felt; the disadvantage is that each one exhausts him. So Bennett values focus and speed in his partners, and the fact that it took Elton John just 31 minutes to exit his limo, record Rags to Riches and return to his limo is mentioned around the studio as if it were a historic sexual conquest.

Bennett's technique can be a little imposing. So can the presence of four guys with live instruments. When Billy Joel peers over his microphone and sees the Ralph Sharon Quartet, he says, "Live instrumentation? So if we f___ up, they got to do it again and again? Ho boy. I haven't had a drink in a year, but right now, I really want a cocktail." McGraw says simply, "Uh, I've never done this before." (He does have a cocktail.) Once a duet partner gets used to the live instruments, there's the vocal to reckon with. "You don't want to sound like you're doing an impersonation," says Costello, "especially since he'd be the best person to copy and he's standing right here." Still, all three end up slipping into imitation. "Am I doing Tony too much?" Joel asks the control room after a take of The Good Life. "I'm trying not to." Pause. "I could do Frank."

Bennett: "How about yourself?"

Joel: "I don't know who that is."

Bennett: "Well, I'm not a psychiatrist."

Joel cracks up, then nails his take. "He likes to work fast, but he's not ignorant of chemistry," says Joel. "We got that banter going, and that helps you feel the song."

The Good Life is sung partly in unison; harmony has a different set of challenges. "He's actually got more breath than me," says McGraw. "I've got to figure out how to hold things longer and match up." Costello admits, "In a certain register I get very loud, and when you're trying to sing harmony--even with Tony just five feet away--there's a point after which I'll only hear myself. That's not a good thing, you know. You tend to remember the more intimate voice on a duet, not the screaming madman." Bennett doesn't like wasting time, but he bounces happily on his left heel while he and Costello discuss harmonics. "I've been doing these songs for 60 years," Bennett says, "so talking like this is good for me. You have to stay open to new possibilities, and everyone on this record has been so prepared. They've got valuable ideas."

Bennett and Costello decide to stand a little farther apart, and Bennett advises, "Don't worry about the dynamics. Sound how you want to sound because the contrast is the thing." Later, Costello says, "I would never have chosen this song in a million years. I'm more at home with ballads. But you do a swing tune, and you realize--it's a gas! If it isn't Hope and Crosby, maybe it's Hope and Dorothy Lamour."

That Tony Bennett: Duets/An American Classic is a throwback is the point, of course, but the intimacy it creates feels startlingly new. Stevie Wonder slides into I Left My Heart in San Francisco on a harmonica solo and laughs. Bennett does a bit of Jimmy Durante gruffness to balance McCartney's smoothness on The Very Thought of You. Costello and Bennett ask Are You Havin' Any Fun? and sound like they genuinely are. What sticks with you is the sound of two famous voices getting to know each other, even if the encounter lasts only a few minutes. "Some of the people on the album, like the Dixie Chicks and John Legend, told me they're thinking about making their next albums this way," says Bennett. "I hope they do. We should never get to a place where we forget the power of beautiful voices and a beautiful song." It's the kind of thing that sells itself.

[johnfoyle]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060803/nyth174.html?.v=46

Tony Bennett Celebrates His 80th Birthday With Star-Studded Gala Hosted By Target in New York City

Thursday August 3, 9:22 pm ET

(extract)

NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirteen-time Grammy winner and entertainment legend Tony Bennett celebrated his 80th birthday at a star-studded gala held in his honor by Target.

Surrounded by family, celebrated friends and industry VIPs, the party was held for "the brightest star in the universe" at the Rose Center for Earth and Space on Manhattan's upper west side.

Diana Krall and Elvis Costello, in honor of the occasion, sang the classic They Can't Take That Away From Me, which marked a rare duet performance by the musical couple.

[thepopeofpop]

Diana Krall and Elvis Costello, in honor of the occasion, sang the classic They Can't Take That Away From Me, which marked a rare duet performance by the musical couple.

Maybe, but they were clearly making some beautiful music together last March.

This Tony Bennett duet thing sounds interesting. Actual duets sung in real time with real musicians and no futzing around

[scielle]

Oh dear.
Go to the opening page of Tony's official site, http://www.tonybennett.net/
Now, look at the name appearing directly after EC's.
!!!!

Never though I'd see the day when those two appeared on the same record.
Waiting for frogs to rain from the sky any day now.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.hellomagazine.com/music/2006 ... nybennett/


Talented husband-and-wife duo Elvis Costello and Diana Krall provided the VIP crowd with some musical entertainment, giving a rendition of one of Tony's classic hits
Photo: © AFP

4 AUGUST 2006

American music legend Tony Bennett enjoyed a star-studded party as he celebrated his 80th this week. Hollywood heavyweights Bruce Willis and John Travolta were among the 250 VIP guests invited to help the crooner mark his landmark birthday.


Famous for hits such as Fly Me To The Moon and Stranger In Paradise, the native New Yorker has been singing hits for over a half a century. And there was no shortage of A-list fans wanting to wish him a happy birthday at New York's Museum of Natural History - the venue for the glittering bash.

Donald Trump and his glamorous wife Melania were among those enjoying a cocktail reception followed by gala dinner in honour of the veteran singer. Elvis Costello, meanwhile, provided the some of the evening's musical entertainment in a rare duet with his pregnant wife, Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall, who is expecting their first baby later this year.

The talented pair, who recently paid a visit to Elvis' London hometown, sang a rendition of the hit They Can't Take That Away From Me. The English musician is one of a number of well-known faces, including Elton John and Paul McCartney, who have teamed up with the birthday boy on his new album Tony Bennett: Duets - An American Classic, due to be released next month.

[martinfoyle]

Oh dear.
Go to the opening page of Tony's official site, http://www.tonybennett.net/
Now, look at the name appearing directly after EC's.
!!!!

Never though I'd see the day when those two appeared on the same record.
Waiting for frogs to rain from the sky any day now.

Indeed, the only thing that could top it would be news of a duet with his old sparring partner Bonnie Bramlett. God, doesn't Elvis look like an ageing market executive in that photo?

[scielle]

Access Hollywood has a clip from the party, which includes the tiniest little snippet of Elvis and Diana on stage:

http://video.accesshollywood.com/player.html?dlid=25432

[oldhamer]

Indeed, the only thing that could top it would be news of a duet with his old sparring partner Bonnie Bramlett. God, doesn't Elvis look like an ageing market executive in that photo?

Indeed he does. I think he's gone from having geeky computer programmer persona, to losing it in the mid-1990s. Now it's come back with a vengeance, because he's now wearing larger glasses and a wider, more amusing array of hats.

[scielle]

Barnes & Noble has the cover -

[invisible Pole]

Wow, Elvis between Michael Buble and Celine Dion. Could it be any better ?

Hey, this could be another thread - what's the worst direct company Elvis has ever been on a compilation ?

[verbal gymnastics]

http://www.hellomagazine.com/music/2006 ... nybennett/

4 AUGUST 2006

Hollywood heavyweights Bruce Willis and John Travolta...

Ambiguity ambiguity!

[scielle]

Plenty o' pictures from the party at Wireimage:

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing ... lbi&nbc1=1

[johnfoyle]

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/musi ... 218269.ece


Tony Bennett: When faded stars see double

Tony Bennett is the latest vocalist to turn to younger singing partners to bolster his declining years, says Fiona Sturges

Published: 11 August 2006


There's little more dispiriting than the sound of ageing stars frantically chasing after their lost youth. This autumn sees the release of Tony Bennett's Duets: An American Classic, in which the octogenarian crooner revisits his signature hits alongside a raft of younger artists, from Bono ("I Wanna Be Around") and Sting ("Boulevard of Broken Dreams") to John Legend ("Sing You Sinners") and the Dixie Chicks ("Lullaby of Broadway").

In recent years, pop has been frequently sullied by these so-called career-boosting collaborations wherein, possibly on the recommendations of their grandchildren, singers in their twilight years drag younger, prettier, hipper stars than themselves into the studio, with wildly variable results. The duets album may be one of the more lucrative weapons in the marketing man's armoury, but that hasn't prevented it from being ill-conceived, shoddily executed and inappropriate in the extreme. More often than not, it is the musical equivalent of cradle-snatching, where old duffers on nodding terms with the Grim Reaper get to rub up against singers half their age, and where the usual generational and stylistic boundaries are thrown to the wind in orgies of mutual admiration and the promise of big bucks.

There's no disputing that Bennett, whose career spans five decades, boasts a fine body of work. It's also fair to say that his golden years are now behind him, which makes it all the more distressing that, to mark his 80th birthday, he should see fit to pair up with a series of young pups and bask in their leather-clad glory. Surely a party and a birthday cake would have been more than adequate.

This isn't the first time that Bennett has played the duets card. His last release, A Wonderful World, a collection of songs associated with Louis Armstrong, was recorded with kd lang. Given that lang and Bennett are both gifted interpreters with pseudo-operatic voices, it made perfect sense and was widely praised. By contrast, Duets: An American Classic smacks of an artist desperate to stay musically relevant. On paper, at least, it's an album that belongs to that dubious Grammy-grabbing genre in which pop and rock royalty put on a glitzy show of mateyness while conspicuously failing to push the envelope.

Alas, Bennett isn't the first to travel down the rocky duets path and he certainly won't be the last. Dr John made a dubious comeback in 1998 with Anutha Zone, an LP of collaborations with a series of startlingly unsuitable bands including Supergrass, Spiritualized and Primal Scream. The following year we had Tom Jones with his Reload album, sweating it out next to youthful indie-rockers Cerys Matthews, The Cardigans, and Stereophonics. In commercial terms it didn't do Jones any harm but it wasn't exactly pretty to watch.

In 2002 another Sixties icon, Lulu, attempted to emulate Jones's success with Together, in which she tried to get hip with the likes of Samantha Mumba, Atomic Kitten and Take That. Mick Jagger's stab at contemporary appeal resulted in the critical flop Goddess In The Doorway with guest appearances from Lenny Kravitz as well as the former Fugee Wyclef Jean and Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with like-minded artists getting together and indulging in an extracurricular jam sessions, but that doesn't mean that the results should be inflicted on the world at large. Rare is the occasion when such pairings are based on any consideration of style or legacy. Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets album, featuring collaborations with Gloria Estefan, Bono and Kenny G, was one of the low points of his career, made particularly excruciating by the ultra-slick production and the fact that the guest singers sang along to tapes of existing Sinatra performances.

Ray Charles's final album, Genius Loves Company, featuring, among others, Norah Jones, Elton John, Natalie Cole and Willie Nelson, may have flown off the shelves in the wake of the great man's death but it was hardly the elegant swansong that critics and long-standing fans had in mind.

It's not just the poor quality of these duets that is depressing for listeners. In many cases you suspect that they are simply a gimmick cooked up by record companies at a loss with what to do with their ageing stars. Stuck with a crumbling icon too old and out of touch to scale the charts by themselves and there can be only one solution: squeeze them into a shell-suit, bring in a hip-hop producer and force them to hang with the kids.

Just as tragic is the eagerness with which the kids will play ball, delighted to get some exposure with the minimum amount of effort. Indeed, nowadays there appears to be a new generation of musicians - serial collaborators, if you will - who have all but abandoned their own musical endeavours in favour of hitching a ride on those of older musicians. Certainly, no duets album is complete these days without appearances from Bono and Elton John. In his post-Fugees years, Wyclef Jean seems to have made a career out of performing rap cameos, a move which finally paid off this month when Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie", on which he co-stars, made it to No1.

While the fortune-reviving duets album is a relatively new phenomenon, the one-off collaborative single has long blighted the charts. Perhaps the worst offender was the juxtaposition of Bing Crosby and David Bowie on "Little Drummer Boy", a song memorably described in David Buckley's Bowie biography as "one of the most surreal events in pop", when "the 30-year-old former cross-dressing, cocaine-snorting bisexual rock god sang counterpoint to the bumbling cardigan that was Bing, 44 years his senior". Almost as peculiar was the pairing of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney on "Say Say Say" (1983), from the latter's Pipes of Peace album, and the Happy Mondays and the ageing Scottish yodeller Karl Denver on 1990's "Lazyitis".

These songs rarely rise above dreadful novelty status - think Chas and Dave, Renée and Renato, and Hoddle and Waddle. Among the more questionable record company tactics is to pair singers of the opposite sex in the hope that sexual chemistry will do the selling. Alas, a chill wind seemed to be blowing between David Essex and Catherine Zeta-Jones on 1994's "True Love Waves", ditto Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman on 2001's "Somethin' Stupid". And how wrong they got it with Kiki Dee and the then in-the-closet Elton John in "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".

There are, of course, rare occasions when two apparently mismatched artists turn out to have an alluring chemistry. Lee Hazlewood certainly put the spice back in Nancy Sinatra's career when he scurrilously offered to open up her gate in "Some Velvet Morning", while Nick Cave managed to bring Kylie Minogue some gothic respectability in 1995's "Where The Wild Roses Grow", a situation helped in no small part by a dreamy Pre-Raphaelite video in which the pop princess appeared as a corpse.

Perhaps the greatest duet of all was "Fairy Tale of New York", a perfect pop Christmas carol in which Shane McGowan's slurring old soak took on Kirsty MacColl's hard-bitten bag-lady.

But these are the exceptions to the rule. As history has repeatedly proven, the pop duet is, by and large, a foolhardy endeavour, less a meeting of ideas than an act of folly driven by financial reward, self-indulgence or plain desperation. Whether the brainchild of the artists and their planet-sized egos or a short-sighted record company strategy, the resulting records are a blot on the CVs of their makers, rarely fit for anything other than the record-store bargain bucket.

'Tony Bennett: Duets/An American Classic' will be released on 9 October

[verbal gymnastics]

Great review of the album

[King Hoarse]

In Spite Of Ourselves is brilliant. That's all I'm gonna say on the subject. (Don't have wet dreams about an EC duets album though, I must say)