A blast from the past, with horns

Dave Stewart & His Rock Fabulous Orchestra

The Dave Stewart Songbook, Volume One (Surfdog)

ESSENTIAL "Don't Come Around Here No More"

The title of this collection from Tourists/Eurythmics co-songwriter and guitarist Dave Stewart might set off alarm bells. Surely Stewart isn't doing a Rod (Stewart, that is, who found quite the second career delving into the Great American Songbook) and delivering his favorite Gershwins and Porters? No, this is Stewart -- Dave, that is -- taking on his own songs, rearranged for an orchestra, though one that leaves plenty of room for a rock band, too. The 30-piece Rock Fabulous Orchestra's flourishes of strings and horns sometimes give a tired showtunes feel, made worse by Amy Keys melodramatic vocals and unavoidable on the limp Sarah McLachlan ballad "Ordinary Miracle." The two-disc set is much more vital when Stewart kicks into pert guitar leads and his gruff voice adequately subs on Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More" and Mick Jagger's "Old Habits Die Hard." Sierra Swan provides a gutsier female stand-in, too, belting out incomparable Annie Lennox's leads on "Thorn in My Side" and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." Before we put the '80s to bed once more, this collection is at its best when nostalgia-tripping through some of that decade's greatest songs. [Linda Laban]