Review's of Ancora

Stephanie · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 66

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/arts/music/30choi.html

Il Divo
Ancora
(Columbia)

Pop cheese comes in many varieties and grades. If Mr. Bocelli's "Amore" is a mound of mozzarella, "Ancora," the third album by Il Divo, the operatic "boy band" whose members are no longer boys and dress in pinstriped suits, belongs to a more common variety. The sounds of "Ancora" suggest the kind of heavily processed grated cheese found on supermarket shelves that's labeled Parmesan but tastes like sand.

The brainchild of Simon Cowell, the diabolical impresario of "American Idol," this British-based quartet, which sings mostly in Italian and Spanish, puts its anonymous stamp on the same kinds of songs found on "Amore" and in Reader's Digest anthologies of "great melodies."

"Ancora" leads off with "All By Myself," that grandiose 70's sobfest written by Eric Carmen with a lot of help from Rachmaninoff, and sung in Spanish. While the liner notes credit the Russian composer as co-writer, those for the following song, "Isabel," half of which consists of Faur?©'s "Pavane," omit his name. You will also find pop warhorses like Mr. Groban's "You Lift Me Up" and Mariah Carey's "Hero."

Il Divo's four singers ‚Äî David Miller (from the United States), Sebestien Izambard (France), Urs Buhler (Switzerland) and Carlos Marin (Spain) ‚Äî have real voices, but their distinctiveness is blurred by cluttered vocal arrangements and too much echo. Even Celine Dion, who appears for one ballad (sung in French), is half buried in the murk; like everything else, she is served au gratin. STEPHEN HOLDEN

xotic · Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:27 pm Post subject: Re: Review's of Ancora

Yvonne · Joined: Jan 24, 2006 Posts: 212

So do I, Nadine, we have one here in Australia, who always rubbishes the guys positions on the ARIA Cd charts.

So tell me, Mr Cameron Adams ( this is the critics name), how many Cd's have you sold eh???? Cannot answer me that one- bet he's not got a musical bone in his body. Nor ears by the sound of it. Nor any appreciation of the finer things in life.

Oh well, so be it.

xcept · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:18 pm Post subject:

I agree that this type of 'REVIEW' serves no purpose. It's a shame we had to read such acidic opinions, but 'each to their own ' I suppose. Wink

xotic · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:16 pm Post subject:

Personally I don't mind people having a different opinion on any of my favourite artists. And although I'd appreciate it if some of them would express their critisism in a more ... well ... polite way, I don't care to much about it. But what really annoys me is that those critics who discredit the work of an artist the most, often don't seem to be able to do their own work properly. They get names wrong, or song titles, or mix up other things. Maybe those should start to have a critical look at their own stuff first. Smile