Josh Groban releases Christmas album

This took a long time coming. The waiting, in my mind, probably took five years. But the Josh Groban Christmas album is finally here. Titled Noel, it is everything that Groban fans dreamed of these past years, an enjoyable blend of pop and classical songs performed by a voice that listeners believe naturally sparkles with the Yuletide spirit. Groban was born to sing Christmas and the CD is now here for us to enjoy.

This Christmas dreaming about Groban actually started when the young baritone burst into the scene with You’re Still You and To Where You Are. We instantly thought. This boy should be doing opera. But he did something better. The success of those songs forever changed people’s perception about classical singing. The change actually began when Luciano Pavarotti started dabbling in recordings of popular songs. He was not afraid of singing Volare while also doing Otello.

It took a bigger turn when the three tenors, Pavarotti with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo performed those themes from memorable films together in their shows. Think Moon River. By the time Andrea Bocelli came along with a rock/classical spin on the phenomenal Con Te Partiro, it was already a fact that big opera voices had invaded pop music. So when the then 19-year-old Groban came along, backed by the commercial machinations of chart genius David Foster, all it took was a little push to complete the big change.

Now there are always plenty of newcomers with good voices and nice looks around us and Groban himself, might have escaped notice had he surfaced a year or two earlier. But he came at the right time and he had a unique characteristic not usually found among classical singers. He was young and handsome. Rejoice, he was not balding and wearing a girdle. Suddenly it was also cool for kids to sing or listen to opera and for the girls to swoon over somebody who is not a rocker or a member of a boy band.

The Christmas association happened soon enough. It couldn’t be helped. Inspirational ballads like The Prayer got fans thinking of the Christmas album. Performances like one at the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center fuelled the fire. Then Groban recorded one, O Holy Night, which is in his live concert album. Nice, and we all thought that the full Christmas CD was next on the agenda. But it was not and I was a bit disappointed. I say a bit, because although the next albums were not Christmas, Closer and Awake, did turn out to be gems you can listen to again and again.

Now we can mark Christmas 2007 as the year we got Noel by Josh Groban. It does not have his O Holy Night but it has Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Ave Maria, Angels We Have Heard on High, The Christmas Song, What Child is This, The First Noel, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Panis Angelicus and O Come All Ye Faithful. It includes a new song titled Thankful and a French carol Petit Papa Noel, plus guest stints by Faith Hill, Brian McKnight and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The Foster posse is back in full force and the album is a producer’s dream come true. This is no surprise anymore. In fact, one of my favorite Holiday CDs is the David Foster Christmas Album featuring various artists. Great production. Noel once more demonstrates his uncanny knack for making the right choices.

How about having just Groban on the acoustic piano instead of the entire London Symphony Orchestra? Would it be OK to have messages from the troops in Iraq? Which Ave Maria should Groban do? Is there a new song that will work alongside the classics? Find the answers for yourselves when you get your copy of Noel. Elegant and majestic but also warm and intimate, it is an album that will be played for years and years to come.

Groban opens his two-night stint in Manila at the Plenary Hall of the PICC this evening. This show also took a long time coming and fans are glad that MTV finally snagged Groban for these concerts. I hope he will not think it too soon for him to sing a Christmas song or two. It may have seemed too soon in Australia where he was last week. But certainly not around here where Christmas music starts playing everywhere in August.