Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: never listened to Josh Groban? start with this one...
Comment: The best things about vocal music is the instrument never lies. You cannot cover up mistakes, you cannot hide amateur style with technical flair. The same can be said for the occasional virtuoso. The virtuoso can make someone hear what they feel like they normally would not enjoy, and do it with style. Josh Groban delivers a style unlike those of his typical pop counterparts, and does it with elegance.
Suppose you take the operatic style of say, Andrea Bocelli, and mix it with pop instrumentation styles (keeping with the orchestral traditional style). Some have tried this and succeeded i.e. Boyz 2 Men, and others took it to a further extreme by lighting up the stage with a traditional operatic style mixed with popular music lyrics i.e. Il Divo. Josh Groban does the same with this album.
At only 22 years of age, this album bridges the gap between a two styles of music where both sides have been in a continuous battle since Elvis Presley first shook his hips on stage in front of a national television audience. Those who listen to classical opera often seem haughty and distainful to those who listen to pop, who look uneducated and "lower class" to those who listen to classical. This album, while it isn't the first to use both styles as one element, certainly is the one which can be used as a starting off point to come to a common ground.
Key tracks on this album are "You Raise Me Up," "Oceano," and "Mi Mancherai." With another virtuoso Joshua Bell accompanying Josh Groban, I can't help but wonder if a full collaboration will ever be considered. I certainly hope so, and look forward to hearing more.
