Music of My Life

Although he's busied himself with children's and Christmas albums in the new millennium, The Music of My Life is officially Neil Sedaka's comeback album, positioned as an overview of where Sedaka has been and where he may go. Mostly, it sounds like where Sedaka has been recently, feeling quite similar to the clean and crisp homemade sound of those niche records, but underneath that heavy gloss, The Music of My Life does hark back to Sedaka's past glories. Sometimes he winds up trading in easy nostalgia -- as he does on the doo wop "Right or Wrong" -- but more often he effortlessly evokes memories of his finest pop, particularly on the bossa nova gait of "Do You Remember?," the bright bounce of "I Got to Believe in Me Again," and the steady strut of "A Fool in Love," a winning pastiche of his Rocket-era signatures. Moments like these balance out Sedaka's enduring taste for schmaltz, but even that trait holds some appeal to his longtime fans, who naturally are the audience for this light, likable album that isn't so much a comeback as a reminder of Sedaka's enduring charms as a showman. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine