Retail Music Store : Noel - Josh Groban

Overly dramatic,

October 9, 2007

By	Patrick (Wisconsin, USA)

I gotta say, I'm sadly underwhelmed by this album. Josh sings all of the songs beautifully, but the arrangements take away from the intimacy of a lot of the songs (Silent Night) due to David Foster's overly dramatic style. Not everything needs to be a power ballad. His work on Celine's Christmas album was much better. I did enjoy a number of songs though. Particularly "I'll Be Home For Christmas" where soldiers serving over seas got to send Christmas wishes back home. I thought that was very nice that they got to be a part of something that will be listened to by millions of people for many Christmases to come.



Amazon.com
The Grammy-nominated, twenty-something, pop-classical phenomenon's fourth studio album is an expertly accomplished entry to the holiday marketplace. Noël tackles the familiar sounds of holiday music with a charmingly eclectic array of guest vocalists and a wide range of material. The songs range from the sacred to the secular, while Groban--buoyed in spots by none other than the London Symphony Orchestra--soars in his duets with Brian McKnight, Faith Hill, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. There's even a song with a gospel choir directed by Kirk Franklin. Produced yet again by crossover maestro David Foster, the arrangements never overwhelm the songs. Groban's smooth and supple vocals can be hard to categorize--seeing how his range is somewhere in-between a high baritone and a low tenor--but he always finds and emphasizes the emotional core of these songs. And whether they have origins in pop or classical music seems not to matter. The addition of messages from troops stationed in Iraq on top of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is undeniably heart-wrenching, while the album's highlight is its most spare song, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," which finds Groban alone at his piano, sounding very much like some kind of angel. --Mike McGonigal