Miles Davis
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Etta James
Dolly Parton
Isley Brothers
Babyface
From the Heart Series
Sony Legacy/Victor Legacy (Sony Music Entertainment)

This collection, issued in time for Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s weekend, and the weeks to follow are nice little anthology sets. Hardly best-ofs, but certainly fine mood-setters.

Best is the Miles Davis set — all instrumentals, of course — including his classic “Round Midnight,” “Stella By Starlight,” two from Porgy and Bess, his great version of the Cyndi Lauper ’80s hit, “Time Afer Time,” and — what else but? — “My funny Valentine” — a live recording to close things out.

The Sinatra collection is the young Frank, who made bobbie-soxers swoon in the ’40s.  There’s “Blue Skies,” “Stardust,” “Someone To Watch Over Me,” his reading of “Stella By Starlight,” “Body and Soul,” and “I’ve Got a Crush You.”  1950s and even ’60s Frank swings more, and his hip phrasing hadn’t quite arrived yet, but it’s a good set.

The Billie Holiday collection includes “These Foolish Things,” “The Very thought of You,” “You Got My ‘Head,” and “Body and Soul.” Every track is a gem, really — almost as good is the Etta James, which features, duh, “At Last,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” “My Funny Valentine,” “The Man I Love,” and “Night and Day,” among the song selections.

Not quite as winning but still having moments are the Dolly Parton, Isley Brothers, and Babyface collections. The Dolly set included “Islands in the Stream” (with Kenny Rogers) and “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me” with Porter Wagoner, and her signature ballad, “I Will Always Love You.”  From the Isley’s, it’s pretty much the T-Neck years, but their greatest love song, “This Old Heart of Mine” is not here.  The Babyface anthology works for fans of his stuff, probably, though songs such “This is For the Lover in You” or “Whip Appeal” were just romantic radio fodder of their day, and sorry, not classics in any way.

Meanwhile…

Franz Ferdinand
Tonight
Epic

Those often-manic musical Scots return for their third outing which takes a dancey tack at times, though it’s all still based in wound-up-to-spring-and-ring guitar lines and big ol’ beats. The Glasgow group is out the gate (again) with “Ulysses,” a fun synth-and-guitars mash-up. The group’s art-rock styling keeps much of its past, wry humor with a touch of heart on the sleeve, from the racing “Turn It On” and hit-worthy “No You Girls,” the retro-soul of “What She Came For,” and darn near techno “Live Alone.” The band only overdoes it on the too-long “Lucid,” though it’s mighty hooky, and the acoustic-based closing “Katherine Kiss Me” is a nighty-night nice finish. Another solid one for these boys and the songs will surely take on greater amped-up life during upcoming tours.

The Alternate Routes
A Sucker’s Dream
Vanguard

The Americana-ish Alternate Routes return with the follow to their 2006 debut, Good and Reckless and True, and it’s pretty much a continuation of the band’s often tuneful styling. There’s a press-on spirit on many of the songs, with hints of optimism found in the likes of “All That I See” and the lyrical “Quiet Highway Road.” Patty Griffin makes a vocal cameo in the intimate “Desdemona,” and the title track mines the frustration in our American ideals we’d still like to believe in. A definite highlight is the closer, “A Better Way” — certainly the kind of anthem-ish piece that works in this post-Bush, Obama-hopeful time. 

Blue Note 7 
Mosiac – A Celebration of Blue Note Records
Blue Note

A souvenir for the anniversary tour commemorating legendary jazz label Blue Note Records’ 70th anniversary.  The all-star seven here are: pianist, musical director, and current Blue Note recording artist Bill Charlap with trumpeter Nicholas Payton, tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, alto saxophonist/flutist Steve Wilson, guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Lewis Nash. It’s essentially a tribute album to past recordings in the labels history, but that’s okay. It swings too, at times, so there ya go. 

Portugal.The Man
Censored Colors
Equal Vision

While this band/label should perhaps fall under an upcoming (watch for it soon now) Indie CD Grab Bag, Portugal.The Man deserves the CD Spins attention. The Alaska band from Sarah Palin’s town (oh yeah, they just love her. Right. That would be a no.) are off-center, semi-prog, conceptual (the CD is divided as “Side One” and “Side Two”), with jazzed-up blues bits and trippy folk detours. The tracks, such as the opening “Lay Me Back Down” and “Colors,” are impressionistic, while other stand-outs include the suck-you-into-the-groove overlay “New Orleans” and the Led Zep channeling of “Out And In And In And Out,” the saloon-sing swagger of “Hard Times.”