Josh Groban - Closer

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 vocalists 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 it's predecessors more overt classic-light 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 it's operatic inspiration, but "Oceano" and "My Confession" quickly showcase the singer's 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. A special edition of Closer includes two new tracks, the EPK and exclusive footage of "the making of" the album.

1) Oceano
2) My Confession
3) Mi Mancherai - Joshua Bell
4) When You Say You Love Me
5) Per Te
6) All'improvviso Amore
7) Broken Vow
8) Broken Vow
9) Caruso
10) Remember When It Rained
11) Hymne a L'amour
12) You Raise Me Up
13) Never Let Go - Deep Forest
14) Mi Morena
15) She's Out of My Life
16) The Making of Closer [DVD]