Acclaimed American singer, song-writer and musician Josh Groban released his latest album yesterday. The album, entitled “All That Echoes,” is overall a mellow, deep, classic Josh Groban sound. Honestly, I was never the biggest Josh Groban fan. I have listened to his music, and he is widely popular and incredibly talented, but it really was not until I heard the first song on his new album that I was sold.
Groban started singing in the fifth grade; at once, everyone knew he was a great talent. When he turned 17, he was ready to start school at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was introduced to his future manager Brian Avnet and Grammy-winning produc- er David Foster. Foster was responsible for booking Groban to stand in for Andrea Bocelli at the 1999 Grammy Awards. It was at this point, where his music career really started to take off. His first album, called “Josh Gro- ban,” was released in 2001.
His second album, containing the song that everyone recognizes Gro- ban for, was released in 2003. His cover of “You Raise Me Up” was one of the most popular songs on “Closer.” In the months following the release of “Closer,” the album reached number one on the Billboard charts. Other no- table songs on his second album were “Believe,” from the movie “The Polar Express,” and a cover of Linkin Park’s
“My December.” Groban received his first Grammy Nomination for “You Raise Me Up” in 2005.
His new album follows the suc- cess of five previous studio albums along two live albums, one released in 2004 — “Live at the Greek” — that included the song “Remember When It Rained.” The second live album, “Awake Live,” was released in 2008 and had eight live versions of songs from his 2006 studio album, “Awake.” His newest album includes 12 songs, two of which are performed in Spanish, which is nothing new to Groban.
The first track on “All That Echoes” is “Brave,” a very powerful ballad that lets the listener know what they can look forward to throughout the whole album. The first couple of notes are what really sold me on lis- tening to the whole album. Groban sings, “Wake up, wake up, the sun cannot wait for long. Reach out, reach out, before it fades away.” He sings it in such a way that it really starts to motivate me and makes me unafraid, although I am still not sure what I am unafraid of. But, Josh Groban just told me that I have “a reason to be brave,” so it is probably true.
The ninth track, “Happy In My Heartache,” definitely has my favorite lyric: “Coffee is on the table, and I just can’t seem to wake this aching heart of mine.” This song really makes me sad, but his voice doesn’t really convey sadness, he almost sounds like he is smiling through the whole thing. This is fine because it can be seen as a meaningful break-up ballad, but just like many other people, he’s trying to find a reason to be happy in his heart- ache. The fourth track, “She Moved Through the Fair,” to me is the most powerful song on the whole album. He is actually showing some emotion and the listener can almost tell he is struggling when he sings the words “My own love said to me, ‘My Mother won’t mind. And my father won’t smite you, for your lack of kind’.”
There are points where I almost wish he would just completely let his voice go, and just show how much he is feeling the words. That is a common feeling I have listening to his voice; he keeps it so calm when I just want him to go crazy to show he has something there. Overall, the new album is all right, but there is really no denying that Josh Groban’s voice is something very special.
2 and 1⁄2 stars
