Josh Groban: Josh Groban : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Having seen operatic Brits such as Sarah Brightman and Charlotte Church swoop onto PBS and squirrel away our dollars, the U.S. music biz has schemed to generate some classical crossover action of its own. Enter Josh Groban, a twenty-year-old cherub with alterna-rock curls and a baritone trained to belt Bach and Brahms (minus the usual belly or beard). The man pulling the strings, Popstars schlockmeister David Foster, flips from teen pop to classical-lite with the same enthusiasm for formula. The risk-free outcome encompasses Richard Marx balladry ("To Where You Are"), quasi-operatics (former Celine Dion-Andrea Bocelli duet "The Prayer"), demographic-conscious covers (Don McLean's "Vincent") and other easy digestibles. Rhys Fulber of Delirium enlivens a couple of cuts with refreshingly incongruous beats and synths, but otherwise Foster's arrangements suggest the warmth and intimacy of Les Mis on Ice. Groban's croon is serviceably dramatic, but this is a man destined to sing over the credits of future Disney hits.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 897 - June 6, 2002)