POP REVIEW : 5 Million Fans <i> CAN </i> Be Wrong!

Everything you need to know about Michael Bolton’s singing style can pretty much be squeezed into a single word: overwrought .

But it seems unfair to the 5 million or so fans who bought Bolton’s last album to limit the discussion of his Hollywood Bowl concert Monday night to three syllables.

And most certainly the 16,472 worshipers who sat under the full moon at the Bowl want to hear more about their hero’s performance . . . maybe even a description as exaggerated as Bolton’s vocal approach itself.

So, how about these extra terms to make sure no one misses the point? Bolton’s singing style is also bombastic, melodramatic, ham-fisted, strained, gross and corny.

Face it: This guy’s the sledgehammer of pop--someone who has never met a song he can’t pulverize by so exaggerating its emotion that the song becomes a burlesque of pop emotion.

He is to pop what Steven Seagal is to films or LeRoy Neiman is to sports art. Two important elements you won’t find in his interpretations: subtlety and nuance. If critics employed the Bolton approach, every other word would be italicized or CAPITALIZED and followed by an exclamation point!

It’s hard to tell which is worse--when Bolton turns to the middle-brow contemporary material that he favors (and often writes) or when he reaches back for a memorable old song.

Bolton, a man in his late 30s who penned hits for Cher and Laura Branigan before becoming a big seller himself in the late ‘80s, has taken aim over the last four years at such ‘60s soul classics as “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay� and “When a Man Loves a Woman.�

In the original hit versions of those songs, Otis Redding and Percy Sledge, respectively, sang the tunes with such character and grace that they became masterly pop-soul expressions of longing and desire.

But one swing from Bolton’s sledgehammer turns the songs into flat, characterless exercises, notable only for an intensity so severe that it lends itself to easy parody. In a memorable skit on “In Living Color� recently, the Bolton character became so energized while singing that his head exploded.

And veteran songwriters everywhere must have held their breath at the recent news that Bolton’s next album, due in September, will consist only of rock-era standards. The royalty checks will be welcome, but what about the poor songs?

On Monday, Bolton previewed two of the songs from the album and the news wasn’t good.

Nothing about his renditions of either “Since I Don’t Have You,� the much-recorded Skyliners hit from the ‘50s, or “To Love Somebody,� one of the most appealing of all the Bee Gees’ hits, suggested that the long-haired singer is softening his touch.

The enthusiastic Bowl crowd, however, seemed to love the versions--just as they loved everything else.

Many of the female fans shrieked and howled from the opening moments of the 90-minute set, though things didn’t really heat up until Bolton and saxophonist Kenny G, making a guest appearance, teamed for a version of “Georgia on My Mind,� the Ray Charles hit.

It wasn’t just the song that ignited the crowd, but the staging.

While the band played a lengthy instrumental on stage, Bolton and G stationed themselves out in the audience, causing a stampede of fans toward them as they began the song, which was a hit for Bolton in 1990.

The best thing you can say about Bolton is that his manner isn’t as heavy-handed as his vocal approach. For the most part, he appeared relatively gracious as the fans shrieked and paraded to the edge of the stage with gifts of flowers.

The worst thing? It’s a tempting opening, but after the Hollywood Bowl show, someone has to show RESTRAINT!

The evening’s opening act, Celine Dion, best known for her duet with Peabo Bryson on the title tune from the film “Beauty and the Beast,� has a more affecting vocal style than Bolton, but she generally leans toward equally middle-brow original material.

The bill also appears on Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa.