Josh Groban is an anachronism, similar to Barbra Streisand. He found great success in the noughties putting out a series of albums that sound like the kind of pre-rock pop that crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or Johnny Mathis released in the mid-20th century. Twenty-five years after his debut album, Groban has released his tenth studio album, his first in six years. Titled Cinematic<\/i>, this set collects a selection of film tunes. It\u2019s an eclectic mix, ranging from 1942\u2019s Casablanca<\/i>\u2019s \u201cAs Time Goes By\u201d to 2017\u2019s \u201cRemember Me\u201d from Coco<\/i>.<\/p>\n
It would be a stretch to call Groban\u2019s musical taste on Cinematic<\/i> adventurous, but one doesn\u2019t listen to Josh Groban for musical innovation. The strength of his music lies wholly in his voice\u2014a large, voluptuous instrument that is infused with earnest emotion. It\u2019s a beautiful voice that rarely loses control\u2014the singer applies a studied, measured exactitude when singing. It\u2019s not a subtle way of singing, but there\u2019s a precision. It\u2019s an impressive handling of a gigantic voice but it can start to sound similar, stretched over ten tracks.<\/p>\n
Choosing to open the album with \u201cAs Time Goes By\u201d is a smart choice because it displays Groban\u2019s facility with pop standards. He doesn\u2019t bring anything especially novel to his rendition, but he cannot be blamed\u2014it\u2019s a song that has been covered so many times it has become cultural wallpaper. But it\u2019s a good starting point as the earliest composition on the record and one that would seem somewhat expected from Groban.<\/p>\n
He then follows that up with a cover of Adele\u2019s \u201cSkyfall\u201d from the 2012 James Bond film. That Josh Groban is covering a James Bond tune isn\u2019t all that surprising: what is surprising is that he never recorded an original Bond tune of his own. He is exactly the kind of singer that would shine. Like Shirley Bassey, Groban attacks a song with his full lung power. Unlike the other selections, \u201cSkyfall\u201d is penned by Groban\u2019s contemporary, though his musical point of view skews older than Adele. In his hands, in front of a lush, full orchestra, the song retains some of its ominous sinew (the brassy horns remain, reminding listeners that this is a Bond song).<\/p>\n
The other contemporary song on Cinematic<\/i> is another Oscar-winning hit, \u201cRemember Me\u201d from the Disney song Coco<\/i>. In the animated film, the song is performed in various renditions, from the sprightly uptempo version by Benjamin Bratt to sadder versions by other cast members, including Garc\u00eda Bernal, Gabriella Flores, Libertad Garc\u00eda Fonzi, Anthony Gonzalez and Ana Ofelia Murgu\u00eda. Groban\u2019s version is closest to the mournful \u201clullaby\u201d version in the film, but it isn\u2019t a particularly sad performance. Instead, it feels recast as a large, stately ballad that could have been performed at an Oscars telecast. It\u2019s a well-performed song but points to the main issue with Cinematic<\/i>: it\u2019s far too serious and sincere, leaving out humour, excitement, or electricity.<\/p>\n
When Barbra Streisand recorded a similarly themed album in 2003, she had the good sense to shake up her record with an unexpected rendition of \u201cCalling You\u201d from Baghdad Caf\u00e9<\/i>.<\/p>\n
There are no niche or surprising choices here, even if Groban takes meticulous care in representing several generations, thereby appealing to a large audience. It\u2019s clear that he feels very comfortable on swoony ballads, so he sounds typically excellent on classic like \u201cMoon River,\u201d \u201cWhen You Wish Upon a Star\u201d and \u201cUnchained Melody\u201d (which features an equally competent Jennifer Hudson).<\/p>\n
The closest Cinematic<\/i> gets to stirring things up is the inclusion of Phil Collins\u2019 \u201980s power ballad, \u201cAgainst All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now).\u201d Like the other songs on the record, this ballad is given a plush, orchestral makeover, so it fits into the sonic theme of the album. It\u2019s a shame because it would have been interesting to hear Groban take on the song but redone as a 2020s icy synth-pop ballad. Still, despite the respectable, elegant bombast of the arrangement, Groban sounds impassioned and gives a fiery performance in the song\u2019s climax, his heartfelt belting overwhelming the over-the-top orchestration.<\/p>\n
More interesting selections and committed performances like his take on \u201cAgainst All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)\u201d could have made Cinematic<\/i>something really interesting. Instead, Josh Groban chooses to be safe and the end result is a very beautiful if somewhat dull record. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":35511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6975],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-47411","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-josh-groban","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47411"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}