No Description Available. Genre: Vocals Media Format: Compact Disk Rating: Release Date: 20-NOV-2001
There are worse things in life than making your acting debut on the much ballyhooed season finale of Ally McBeal, though teen operatic baritone Josh Groban doesn't seem destined to encounter them anytime soon. As the awkward high school student-client who asks the typically romance-jinxed Ally to his senior prom, Groban performed this debut album's "You're Still You" (adapted from film-composing legend Ennio Morricone's Academy Award-nominated score for Malèna, with lyrics by Linda Thompson) as a heart-tugging, literal showstopper. The young phenom was just 17 when veteran producer-writer David Foster tapped him to fill in for Andrea Bocelli at rehearsals for the 1999 Grammys, where Groban found himself suddenly dueting with Celine Dion.
Indeed, such were his fortunes that the young Foster protégé was forced to drop out of Carnegie Mellon when professional commitments--including this record--interfered. And if this collection tends to hew sometimes uncomfortably close to Foster's own MOR sonic instincts, the material offers enough challenges to display Groban's talent and the potential of his warm, mature voice: a lyrical take on another Morricone classic, "Cinema Paradiso"; melancholy readings of Don McLean's "Starry, Starry Night" and Albert Hammond's "Alejate"; masterfully dramatic takes of the Neapolitan "Alla Luca Del Sole" and "Canto Alla Vita," the latter featuring the Corrs. Many of Groban's performances here, including a neo prog-rock-opera take on Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (with Lili Haydn), seem both bigger and bolder than their precious musical frameworks, a telling hint that Grand Opera can't be far from his grasp. As said earlier, there are worse things in life. --Jerry McCulley
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
A Great Singer Endures:
Josh Groban was young and pretty-much unknown when he issued this CD. Wow, how times can change in less than a decade. Now he's in big demand, from concerts to singing the national anthem at the World Series. If you want one of America's best, if not THE best voices, you ask for Groban. This CD does not contain a lot of songs Americans can identify with, yet it still was a huge seller. That's how good Groban is, and how rare it is today to find male voices as good. Like Andrea Bocelli, Michael... more info
John rocks!:
Groban's voice is so gorgeous! Incredible voice for such a young artist. Hope we get lots more like this.
Remarkable debut:
Josh has a different voice here, literally, from Josh Groban: Closer and Awake. Either he had his vibrato under control better or it was engineered out; it was my one, extremely small quibble about this CD. I like the way he sounds live, vibrato or not, and I didn't think he needed to have his amazing voice fiddled with. Some of the songs here didn't appeal to me at first, a couple still don't now, but for a debut CD, it's exceptional how many of the songs are just really good. There's an intriguing... more info
Worth it for O Holy Night alone:
Groban has recorded what is easily the most beautiful and touching rendition of O, Holy Night - ever. This album is truly worth the purchase price for a copy of that bonus track alone, which is not available anywhere else or as an MP3.
