Josh Groban in Concert [CD & DVD] - Groban, Josh (CD 2002)

This is a DVD and CD "2-in-1" package deal. The DVD is a live concert performance and the regular audio CD has many of the same songs from the concert (though not all the songs from the DVD) and both are sold. All the songs are from Groban's debut release, with the exception of 3 new songs: "Broken Vow", "For Always" (written by legendary movie composer John Williams for the movie "A.I.") and the traditional Christmas song "O Holy Night". In this sense, most of Groban's songs have now been released on disk 3 times, though now they are live.

The majority of songs here are aimed right at people's hearts... mid-tempo love ballads full of romantic emotion (some can get a little sappy so be warned). But songs such as "Alla Luce Dal Sole" and "Canto Alla Vita" (performed with the Corrs) provide a break from that with thier up tempo beats. But even with those songs that try to be different from the love songs, the overall tone remains somber... so there are really no happy/fun type songs at all.

As a singer, Groban has a rare combination of positive qualities that most pop singers never come close to having: First and foremost, a naturally pleasing and uniquely beautiful vocal sound (god-given, you can only be born with this quality). Second, excellent technique (can only be gotton from a few years of serious vocal training). Those 2 qualities can sometimes be found in the pop music world, but Josh has 1 more to add: musicianship. That means having an objective sense of what is good and bad and it's this quality that makes an artist above all else: refined taste and vision in HOW to interpret a song instead of just opening your mouth and singing whatever feels "good" at the moment.

As I listened and watched the live concert, I realized a few things... Though many of the songs are love songs as I said before, Gorban never falls back to the usual breathy clich s and exaggerated mannerisms you'd expect from a guy who's just trying to make girls swoon at his feet. Instead, Groban has a way of creating a sense of magic and fantasy that seems to rise above just wanting to be a hopeless romantic. I honestly can't think of any other singer who has come close to being as musically captivating with just their voice... melody lines rise and fall with grace and elegance, his vibrato is ALWAYS very tasteful and always enriches the song. For those who were brought up on sugery pop singers, THIS is what real singing talent is! ... and notice that talent ISN'T going crazy with up and down scales for no reason and mindlessly ad-libbing!

Yet with all those great qualities, not everything about Groban is perfect, he definitely has some weaknesses... First of all, his high notes are on the weak side. He definitely needs to develop some power in his high notes! Not that the way he hits those high notes now is bad, but they definitely need some more power and drama. For example, on "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring", it would have been awesome to hear a real burst of volume. Also, at the end of "The Prayer" when the 2 voices reach high notes, Groban again seemed like his microphone was set on "low". He needs powerful high notes to add a new dimention to interpretations and to balance out his well-developed middle voice. Also, on the studio version of "Let Me Fall", he manages a really good high-pitched tone that I KNOW had to be very hard to sing. But when he does this song live, he doesn't reach that high-pitch the same way and the result is less emotional.

The other weakness for Groban is his average diction on the Italian songs... "Un Amore Per Sempre", "Gira Con Me", "Alla Luce Dal Sole" "Canto Alla Vita" and "Cinema Paradiso" are all sung very cleanly and every word is pronounced perfectly. But no matter how polished and clear his Italian is, I could always hear his American accent coming through... so his phrasing never really seemed as meaningful as when he was singing in English. The only exception is the one song in Spanish "Alejate", Groban has PERFECT Spanish diction and feeling... so perfect you could swear Groban gew up in a Spanish-speaking country.

This is a hard thing to explain, but for most people who don't know Italian they won't even notice or care.

Another thing I noticed when listening to this CD, while Groban has a great sense of musicianship and interprets in a very unique way, there are a few songs that he uses almost identical interpretations... "O Holy Night" was an identical rendition to "To Where You Are", so identical I swore he just interchanged the lyrics and gave the same performance! Just how often he decides to just stick to a set formula for interpreting songs and just repeat himself instead of trying to come up with new ways to use his voice in the future is going to be interesting to find out. He'll probably always have the great sounding voice for years to come and always have the excellent technique... sure... but will he continue to be creative beyond what he has already done so far? This is really what separates true artists from mere celebrities.

There aren't really any unenjoyable tracks for me, except for this new version of "The Prayer" (a duet) with Angie Stone. I MUCH prefer the version with Charlotte Church on Groban's first release. Charlotte has a very sweet, breathy voice as well as some pretty soprano high notes. Angie Stone's vocal sound just doesn't fit this type of music.

Overall, the live Groban delivers... if you are a fan already, then of course this is a must have. I hope in the future Groban sticks with just English and Spanish. Given the fact that Groban is 20 and younger than even some boy-band members, it would be nice if young people that age could discover that great singing isn't how many flashing lights you have on stage or how many "oooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" you can cram into a song. (Wishful thinking I know)