NEIL SEDAKA

The Music of My Life

[Razor & Tie]

While the days have long passed when Neil Sedaka’s brand of songwriting dominated the airwaves, the 70-year-old veteran holds true to the classic-sounding piano pop that made him a star in the early 1960s and a comeback kid in the mid-’70s. The Music of My Life proves that Sedaka has lost none of his touch. Rife with energetic melodies, elegant arrangements and an old-school showman’s flair, the songs have the air of familiarity often associated with standards. High points include “A Fool in Love,” which sports a piano figure similar to Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” (harking back to Sedaka’s Brill Building days) and “Right or Wrong,” a doo-wop song that manages to sound contemporary rather than kitschy. Best of all, however, is the title track: A lightly orchestrated torch song directed toward music itself, it’s a fitting ode to a life richly lived. –RH