Thanks to a fortuitous intersection of talent and fate, 22-year-old Josh Groban hasn't finished his senior year in performing arts school but has already released his sophomore effort on a major major label. Fans of the young vocal phenom's debut will find much to enthrall them here, even if it nudges the singer closer to the center of producer/mentor David Foster's MOR pop sensibilities. Eschewing much of its predecessor's more overt classic-lite pretensions and pop-rock covers for a slate of dramatic, Eurocentric ballads that serve as a showcase for the singer's inviting baritone, Groban shrewdly positions himself as the American alternative to the Bocelli-Watson crossover axis. "Caruso" may find the singer falling short of its operatic inspiration, but "Oceano" and "My Confession" quickly showcase his true dramatic range (which seems to all but yearn for a bona fide Broadway musical challenge), while a vocal take of Bacalov's graceful "Il Postino" theme uses classical virtuoso Joshua Bell's violin flourishes to good effect. To his credit, Groban displays some promising efforts at songwriting collaboration on the bittersweet "Per Te" and "Remember When It Rains," while the ambient/ethnic soundscape of Deep Forest's "Never Let Go" offers a teasing alternative to the record's otherwise melodramatic production formula. Groban has found commercial triumph via Foster's mentoring, but there remains a nagging sense here that he hasn't truly pushed himself as an artist--yet. --Jerry McCulley
Following the best-selling album of 2007-the #1 Pop, quadruple-platinum Noël-singer, Josh Groban headlines a new CD+DVD set, featuring live versions of several of his hits plus appearances by Angelique Kidjo and Lucia Micarelli. Filmed in 2007 in Salt Lake City, in honor of his first arena concert, which was held in the same city where he performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, Awake Live raises up ever higher the most popular young Adult Contemporary star of our era.
No Description Available No Track Information Available Media Type: CD Artist: GROBAN,JOSH Title: JOSH GROBAN Street Release Date: 11/20/2001 Domestic Genre: ROCK/POP
