The Impossible Dream [Collectors' Choice] (CD - 1966)

Not to be confused with an identically titled 1966 Jack Jones album (Kapp KL-1486/KS-3486), MCA Special Products' 1985 budget compilation The Impossible Dream presents ten Jones tracks drawn from his '60s Kapp recordings, including five of his more successful chart singles: the title song "Call Me Irresponsible," "Dear Heart," "Lady," and "Wives and Lovers." The collection also includes five LP tracks: "She Loves Me" from the album of the same name, "Alfie" from the original The Impossible Dream album, "Michelle" from Our Song, "And I Love Her" from There's Love & There's Love & There's Love, and "Angel Eyes" from the Wives and Lovers album. Together, the songs demonstrate Jones's diverse sources of material -- he draws upon contemporary film themes ("Alfie," "Dear Heart," "Wives and Lovers") and stage musical songs ("She Loves Me," "Call Me Irresponsible," "The Impossible Dream"), covers the Beatles ("Michelle," "And I Love Her"), and reaches back to old standards ("Angel Eyes"). He handles all of the material well, and while this brief selection can't be called "Jack Jones's Greatest Hits" or even "The Best of Jack Jones," it is a good, representative sampling of music from his most commercially successful period. ~ William Ruhlmann

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM is a fine sampler of Jack Jones's earlier work. Although he's firmly based in the pop tradition, Jones nevertheless shows an affinity, with his sense of time and phrasing, for his jazz compatriots. His bell-toned vocals are effectively moving without excessive displays of emotion. Rather, Jones's command of meter and melody, as on the Beatles' "Michelle," invokes the proper feelings by letting the songs stand on their own.

These mid-'60s tracks differ from Jones's later style, where he adopted bluesier, jazzier treatments. Here, he sings the material without frills. Jones's clarity is more than sufficient to put over fine tunes such as "Wives and Lovers" and "Angel Eyes." minimize