Frankie Laine's 1958 collection of torch songs features at least half-a-dozen rather obvious inclusions: "A Cottage for Sale," "These Foolish Things," "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)," "I Get Along Without You Very Well," "I Cover the Waterfront," "It's the Talk of the Town" -- a raft of songs done dozens of times before by many different vocalists.

As with all of the other far-ranging material he attempted, though, Laine is a solid interpreter of torch songs; his deep vibrato, close delivery, and emotional readings were stylistic hallmarks that worked especially well on a date like this.

The arrangements, by Frank Comstock, are ponderous and gauzy, heavy on the strings but usually following the leads pretty well.

(Obviously, Nelson Riddle's charts for Sinatra were a touchstone.).