OK, we'll make that one chunk and four hunks. As a Valentines Day Gift for my wife we went out last weekend to NYC for a romantic dinner, a little shopping for her and an evening at Radio City Music Hall with Il Divo. It was everything she expected and more. I enjoyed it too.

My wife became acquainted with this handsome foursome, who all look to be models and just happen to be quite musically talented too, through some television appearances they made in the last half year.

First let me mention my wife and I have enjoyed the sound of The Three Tenors, Adrea Bocelli, and Josh Groban over the last number of years. Simon Cowell of American Idol fame is a very smart dude. He saw the trend of people wanting an alternative to the music that is on the air in music shops and starting to listen more to opera type music. Simon had a worldwide search looking for four men who would have talent of voice in opera style that would compliment each other while also having, good looks and stage presence. The man "made it happen". Though these guys aren't perfect live, they did put on a good show.

Four Men, Four Countries, One Sound

The four men who make up the group are...

David Miller an American from Colorado, born in San Diego, a Tenor.
Sebastien Izambard is from France another Tenor.
A Spaniard,
Carlos Marin is the lone baritone and the last of the group is
Urs Buhler from Sweden another tenor.

Though I have heard words about this being just another boy band I have to say two things, first they are not boys their ages are 33-38. Second they are quite talented and by looks and the sounds of their voices it seems to me that each one could make it on their own without this "set up" and the fact is they were all working successfully in the music business prior to "the search".

All have fine voices with Carlos' baritone filling in nicely to develop a sound that's easy on the ear with voices complimenting each other rather than singing louder than each other, a feeling I do get at times when listening to the Three Tenors.

"One Disc, Two Experiences"

That's what the packaging states and it's true. This is a two sided disc that offers the full album of 13 songs on one side and all the songs again on the other side in PCM Stereo. The best part is the second side also has a video of them singing five songs Live at Gotham Hall. Another added treat is the video of their Unbreak My Heart music video. This is all on the one disc.

The song list on both sides is as follows.

Unbreak My Heart (Regessa A Mi)in Spanish
Mama in English
Nella Fantasiain Italian
Passera in Italian
Unchained Melody (Senza Catene) in Spanish
Every Time I Look at You in English
Ti Amero in Italian
Dentro Un Altro Si in Italian
The Man You Love in English
Feelings in Italian
Hoy Que Ya No Estas Aqui in Spanish
Sei Parte Ormai Di Me in Italian
My Way (A Mi Manera) in Spanish

A booklet comes with the album with fine photos of the group and individual head shots. The lyrics of all the songs are posted but following along with some that are printed white on black background are nearly impossible to read because of the small size and poor contrast. Black on white is so much better. Thankfully there is more of the latter than the former print.

The songs on the video portion include Unbreak My Heart, Mama, Nella Fantasia, Passera and My Way. The filming of the video was done at a live performance. The set was much as I saw live a few nights ago. The set uses much back lighting and that makes a clear, sharp and bright video nearly impossible. I suppose it gives a romantic and mysterious glow to the four males singing for the ladies that make up a huge part of the audience.

The actual Music Video of Unchain My Heart that closes the set is of good quality giving a story of a sort of rags to riches, or unknown to popular acclaim.

My Thoughts

The songs as the list indicates are sung in four languages. I was surprised they didn't sing anything in French. They set is pretty well balanced with many songs starting softly and ending in stirring voices and attitude.

Unbreak My Heart opens the album and is the perfect choice. It's a familiar tune and it has been well received being their first video breakout. A few other covers are on the album including Unchained Melody. It's fabulous and perhaps my favorite even if it is sung in an unfamiliar language. I wish they had the video of that song on the DVD side of this disc.

If I had any complaint about the album it would be that many of the songs, though different, start to sound a bit the same to me as they build up at the end. I found this prevalent when I could not understand the words.

I understand that these guys, though talented are not up to opera star quality in tone but they are very good together. A song like My Way that the Three Tenors sang for Frank Sinatra was fine but at the end they seem to be trying to be louder than each other rather than blending together. Il Divo's rendition I thought was a bit more in harmony. I liked it. They did seem to get into some "shouting matches" on some of the songs though.

I found Carlos Marin's baritone the easiest to listen to and David's voice was simply beautiful. They were all fine individually and I wish they would showcase a bit more. They do start lines of songs separately to give a taste of their talent.

The fact is many of the songs are romantic in tone and are what many people are looking for, after all most of the public are not as discerning as the "Opera Set" and this pop/opera blend should satisfy most people.

All in all I believe this is a fine album to own. It's good listening and fine viewing.


Il Divo, Encore The five song live performance, one hour interview and two video songs in one package.





Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving