album review: josh groban, illuminations

I first discovered Josh Groban when I was in the first year of high school, back in 2001. I remember sitting in my mother’s car one morning as she drove me in, and listening to The Prayer, a collaborative piece between him and one of my favourite artists at that time, Charlotte Church. Having been bullied not too long ago for not knowing who the Backstreet Boys were, I assumed that this was just another voice whose face I was not acquainted with, but my God, what a voice it was. He also scored brownie points when I found another collaboration – Canto Alla Vita, that he had done with another of my favourite artists, The Corrs, and a cover of Vincent, a song which never fails to make me cry.

Being the lazy, disinterested person that I was/am, I failed to follow up on an artist whose voice had so enchanted me. I gave it little thought until my first year of tertiary education, when I commenced my life abroad on a separate continent from where I grew up. A college friend of mine handed me a CD one day and said “Jo, I think you may like this, it’s your kind of music”. I snorted; I can barely work out my own music taste, let alone take another’s word for what it might be. Since the name rang a vague and distant bell, I decided to put it on, and there it was again, that haunting voice belting out Never Let Go that carried me through what would otherwise have been an impossible year for me.

Fast forward another few years when, after an immensely painful break-up, I found myself lost and wandering one day when I decided to lift my moods by doing what any girl would do in my position – impulse buy. The cosmos must have realigned itself for at that very moment I made that decision I was standing before a CD rack in Borders. Being the special height of five foot nothing, it was not hard for anything sitting at eye level to catch my attention, so imagine my delight when I found ‘Awake’ begging to be picked up. By the way, anyone who thinks classical music is boring is wrong. I ran the Adelaide’s City to Bay race to the tune of Machine on that album and I defy you put it on while running and not break into a sprint.

Just recently while browsing in the CD collection at my local library, I found not one but two Groban CDs, ‘Noël’ and ‘Josh Groban: A Collection’. Serendipitously, it was a couple of weeks before Christmas, so it was quite a timely discovery. By this stage, I was well acquainted with this name, so I had no qualms about picking them up. Gleefully I treated my housemates to the Little Drummer Boy (supplemented with Hayley Westenra’s Mary Did You Know) over and over and over, accusing them of being androids devoid of Christmas cheer if I heard so much as a breath of complaint.

Shortly after, while I was visiting Freya (housemate of the lovely Miss Dunja) on New Year’s Eve despite swearing off alcohol for the night, I was delirious when I saw sitting on the coffee table, ‘Illuminations’. Since I am more prone to imagine it was an older album I had missed rather than believing I can actually be at the forefront of any sort of musical development, I was surprised to see it came with a Sample Product Not For Sale sticker, astonished to see a release date of 2010, and dumbstruck when I was offered the copy for my perusal. I also believe this is why I am now writing about That Josh Groban Guy. Despite having not a whit of music reviewing skills, I badly wanted the CD, and having spent the last half an hour browsing Professor Google I was horrified to know that I have more or less unknowingly followed the progression of this chap’s career quite by accident.

This album is similar to all his previous ones, a blend of the operatic, pop and rock styles. I was surprised however, that this album featured only three non-English songs; in my opinion half the fun lies in listening to a beautiful tune sung in a different language and hunting down the lyrics to translate. My favourite song Você Existe Em Mim happens to be his first attempt at singing in Portuguese. I have always felt that some of Groban’s love songs bordered on the religious and Galileo, Hidden Away and Au Jardin Des Sans-Pourquoi are stellar examples of such a description.

In addition, perhaps as a reflection of my own mental evolution, but I felt a much stronger political undertone with this album, with Higher Window, War At Home and London Hymn carrying anti-war sentiments and hope for redemption. Then of course, since deliciously depressing pieces are staples of any good playlist, there are Bells of New York City, L’ora Dell’addio and Love Only Knows.

I am not sure if I have listened to an entire album more thoroughly and repetitiously than I have this one, and I promise you it was not because I had to write about it.