Thirty Tigers
Release Date: November 3rd 2023
Reviewed by: Joshua Andre
Il Divo– A Merry Little Christmas EP (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Aside from Pentatonix, Peter Hollens, Josh Groban, Jackie Evancho and Lucy Thomas (and to some extent Andrea Bocelli- artists in their own right and each artist well deserving of their success and acclaim!); I don’t think there’s many operatic/acapella style artists who have caught me by surprise and have wowed me on a consistent basis. I did review operatic group Veritas’ first two albums here and here (prior to be enjoying acapella and operatic music on a more consistent basis from around 2019 onwards), but I think I’ve been remiss a bit in overlooking one of today’s most accomplished international operatic acts. No, I’m not talking about the Ten Tenors (they’ve only really made it big in Australia!), but in fact it’s Il Divo. Comprising of David Miller, Steven LaBrie, Urs Bühler and Sébastien Izambard, this is classical and operatic music on another scale, and this is classical and operatic music in probably another stratosphere. While we will write more about the iconic group in our review of their 2024 album XX, in the interest of Christmas music still rattling around in our brains, let’s write our thoughts on A Merry Little Christmas EP, shall we?
And the consensus is… that this project is a complete miss. Of course, these four vocalists sing rather well together. And the music is ok-ish. But that’s about it. The four songs (all holiday songs and no originals) sound tired, and though there may be passion, it isn’t executed well. This latest batch of holiday songs (which sounds more like a money-grab with every passing moment) have been played to death a million times, and I’d rather listen to Tommee Profitt’s work of art instead. That’s all. Sorry Il Divo, I do appreciate your craft, but I think I’ll wait for XX! I’d encourage you all to do the same.
3 songs to listen to: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Score: 1/5
RIYL: Josh Groban, Lucy Thomas, Jackie Evancho, Peter Hollens, Pentatonix