TV REVIEW : ‘Center’ Nicely Showcases Michael Bolton

This is a review of Michael Bolton that’s not a poison-pen job. After all, what negative comments are there to make about the white soul singer that venomous critics haven’t already made?

So let’s look at the good things about him--which are all nicely showcased in the hourlong premiere of “Center Stage” tonight (at 9 on KCET-TV Channel 28, 8 p.m. on KPBS-TV Channel 15 and KVCR-TV Channel 24).

What Bolton does is sing romantic ballads in a style borrowed from assorted R&B; singers. Critics and purists have been mad at him since he had the audacity to sing Otis Redding’s “The Dock of the Bay”--and turned it into a career-launching hit in 1988.

The reason Bolton has become so popular is because he’s tempered that gruff R&B; style and geared it to female pop fans over 30. This crowd normally wouldn’t like hard-core soul music, but they like the spin he puts on it. According to one school of thought, it’s better that these fans get Bolton-style soul music than no soul at all.

On “Center Stage,” backed by a capable band and a large corps of backup singers, Bolton croons some of his hits, including “Love Is a Wonderful Thing,” “Soul Provider” and “When a Man Loves a Woman”--the latter a duet with Percy Sledge, who originally recorded it in 1966. Showing off his good taste in oldies, Bolton also does “Lean on Me” and the Dobie Gray hit “Drift Away.”

Taped in a Chicago studio with a small, adoring audience, it’s a casual, fairly intimate concert, with the simplest lighting and camera setups. The show is nearly all music, with a smattering of interview footage included. His fans should love it. Bolton haters will find it like an hour of listening to chalk scraping on a blackboard.

“Center Stage” is a co-production of public television station WTTW in Chicago and cable’s VH-1. The cable channel shows half-hour versions of the concerts first (Bolton’s aired last February), then PBS comes back with an hour.

Future installments on the PBS schedule include Lindsey Buckingham (June 21), Neil Young (June 28), Wynonna Judd (July 5), Aaron Neville (July 12), Keith Richards (July 19) and Bruce Hornsby (Aug. 2). The half-hour version of Judd’s program airs on VH-1 Tuesday at 5 p.m.