If you’re the producer of TV's Family Guy and now the director of a current feature film (Ted), presumably you can afford to undertake a singing career and even get to appear on the BBC Proms with John Wilson (in August). If you’ve got the moxie as well as the funds, you can record your album at Capitol Studios, use the same mic that Sinatra used, sing live in the room with the band and capture it on analogue tape, to get the classic 1950s sound. In cold print, that all looks a bit reality-TV, but it actually works and McFarlane, though more of a Jack Jones than a Frank, has the vocal technique to carry it off. The repertoire may have four ancient warhorses, but the remaining 10 items (even if by prominent writers) are mostly obscure, even including one co-written by McFarlane and his excellent MD Joel McNeely. As for attention to detail, Peter Erskine (who did such great work on Joni Mitchell's versions of standards) even used a 1952 drumkit, because the sound is so different from today's manufacturers.