|
| Ancora | 
 enlarge | Artist: Il Divo
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.98
You Save: $11.00 (58%)
New (49) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $3.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  159 reviews
Sales Rank: 634
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 76914
UPC: 828767691428
EAN: 0828767691428
ASIN: B000DZ94RC
Release Date: January 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new sealed. In stock in our warehouse, and ships right now. Case probably has a very small scuff or crack.
|
| Tracks:
| • | All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez) | | • | Isabel | | • | I Believe In You- featuring Celine Dion | | • | You Raise Me Up | | • | Si Tu Me Amas | | • | Hasta Mi Final | | • | Heroe | | • | En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor | | • | Esisti Dentro Me | | • | Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
There are those who will tell you that Il Divo, the multinational quartet of sharp-dressed crooners, synthesize Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion to concoct something worse. And they will not be entirely incorrect. Yet it's hard to argue with a sensation that has entrenched itself so deeply so fast, and a first spin of Ancora makes it harder still: while predictable selections like "I Believe in You," a duet with Celine, and "You Raise Me Up," a Spanish-sung Josh Groban retread, ratchet up the treacle, the foreign-language tracks that are truly foreign lend this foursome enough Euro mystique to redeem them. Particularly melt-worthy is "Poor Que Tu M'aimes Encore," the closer. Singing in tongues, on the face of it, sounds like a bad idea. Ancora counters that with bold voices, brimming hearts, and its cover--if the songs aren't quite enough to seduce you, the singers might just do the trick. --Tammy La Gorce
Product Description
2006 studio album that reflects the multi-national character of the group; the songs are not all sung in English, but drift between Spanish, English and Italian. However they are worded, all use the emotional Esperanto of love. The group's debut album, IL Divo hit the #1 slot on both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com after a breakout career-defining appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (April 5, 2005) where the quartet performed its interpretation of Toni Braxton's `Unbreak My Heart (`Regressa A Mi'). Highlights on Ancora include 'Isabel' a duet with Celine Dion and IL Divo's cover of Mariah Carey's 'Hero'. Columbia. More from Il Divo 
Il Divo | 
The Christmas Collection | 
Il Divo [DualDisc] | 
Sing the Songs of Il Divo [Karaoke] | 
Il Divo--Encore [DVD] | 
Il Divo [Sheet music] |
Album Description
2006 studio album that reflects the multi-national character of the group; the songs are not all sung in English, but drift between Spanish, English and Italian. However they are worded, all use the emotional Esperanto of love. The group's debut album, IL Divo hit the #1 slot on both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com after a breakout career-defining appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (April 5, 2005) where the quartet performed its interpretation of Toni Braxton's `Unbreak My Heart (`Regressa A Mi'). Highlights on Ancora include 'Isabel' a duet with Celine Dion and IL Divo's cover of Mariah Carey's 'Hero'. Columbia.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 154 more reviews...
 There should be some guidelines January 26, 2006
108 out of 133 found this review helpful
I am deeply offended by a review about this CD. I feel Amazon should have some guidelines about what people can say in their reviews. The reviewer who stated people who bought this CD should die should not be allowed to have his review published. I checked his other reviews and one said if you didn't agree with his opinion you should commit suicide. This drivel should not be seen by the public. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but most people are smart enough to give their opinions without offending too many people. Oh, wait--that was his intention. He wanted to offend people and get our attention. Well, he got mine. But his opinion just shows his lack of education and intelligence.
Enough about him (or her, or whatever). This is a good CD. It is so refreshing to listen to men sing. And that is what Il Divo does--they sing. They don't sound like they are having surgery without anesthesia as so many "artists" of today do. On this CD, the singers actually carry a tune. And, they have beautiful voices as well.
I am just sorry I had to read the hate-filled review. It pains me to be reminded of the terribly misguided people in our world today.
 As Average As Average Averages March 9, 2006
41 out of 78 found this review helpful
After listening to opera quartet Il Divo's latest release "Ancora," any listener worth their ears will realize that the state of popular music these days is in dire need of massive revitalization.
Upon giving the record a thorough listen, the only obvious revelation is that the material all fades together in one big adult contemporary goop, far surpassing the threshold of grocery store intercom fare. This is not to say these four young men aren't fine-tuned or classically trained. However, their sound is so stylized that it lacks sincerity and wallows in near-emotionless pretense.
It is thus hardly a surprise to know Il Divo is the brainchild of Simon Cowell, the man who knows better than anyone that the more vanilla an artist sounds is proportional to the likelihood of Americans to go out in droves to buy their CD. One only needs to look at Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood to realize this.
The disc begins with "Sola Otra Vez," a Spanish translation of Eric Carmen's 1976 smash "All By Myself" which Celine Dion covered with great success nearly a decade ago. For all their talent, the quartet makes their rendition sound more like a well-intentioned tribute to the original than notable in its own right. The same can be said of their Spanish adapation of "Hero," which Mariah Carey wrote and recorded to great fanfare back in 1993, as well as their take on Josh Groban's recent global smash "You Raise Me Up."
Dion has further presence on the record as well. The group performs her 1995 French hit "Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore," extracting all the sappiness from it. She also guests on the corny "I Believe In You," singing as awesomely as she ever has but still unable to help rescue the song from its clich?d trappings of bombastic pretense and ear-splitting violins.
All things considered, not a single song on the disc is enthralling nor spine-tingling. The biggest shame about all this is that Il Divo does have incredible talent, but the overall song selection and by-the-numbers production of the album makes it clear that this is intended to be a quick cash-cow for their record label, not a work of art. How else could such a talented group of singers put together such a dreadfully average and banal recording?
While "Ancora" does make for decent background music at dinnertime, the fact is that it is even more sleep-inducing than the Food network or Rod Stewart's gravely voice singing standards. If you really want the best of what modern day light opera has to offer, try Andrea Bocelli's 1999 effort "Sogno" (which, coincidentally, also features Dion) instead. And prepare for goosebumps.
simply sensational January 20, 2006
19 out of 23 found this review helpful
this album is fabulous. the duet with celine dion soars into the stratosphere, and pour que tue m'aimes encore is breathtaking. i have read a review of this album in People magazine and they have no idea what they are talking about. they gave it two stars out of five, and gave the Notorias B.i.G. cd 3-1/2 stars. I am in a rage that they can give a rapper almost four stars and il divo, a professionally trained - mostly operatic voices two stars. Don't read professional reviews and trust me, this album is simply sensational! I bought it from amazon.com/u.k. a few months ago and still listen to it every day and still get shivers up and down my spine. Their voices are strong, emotional and powerful, not bombastic as People magaine states. Run and buy it.
 "Ancora" leaves much to be desired, unfortunately. January 25, 2006
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
To be honest, I was not a big fan of their first two albums, however, I did purchase their first single "Regresa a mi" (I enjoyed the video more). This album lacks of variety and new songs that we could enjoy, to get to know "Il Divo" better, after all, they are barely beginning. In this album they cover 5 songs of other artists and have only 5 new songs. When you are going to cover that many songs you need to include more tracks in an album, a perfect example and since she is included in a song, CELINE DION. Her "Falling Into You" album has 6 covers (2 of them translations of 2 of her own french songs) but a total of 17 songs. Its all about variety. The album is enjoyable but left me not feeling fully satisfied. Here are the songs one by one.
1. All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez): This is a cover of Celine Dions "All By Myself (Sola Otra Vez)" who at the same time covered the English version from Eric Carmen. Clearly they are trying to re-create the suspense and excitement of that famous high note Celine hit in her version; they fail.
2. Isabel: This is actually a great song about heartbreak and begging that one lost love to come back. I love the tempo and the lyrics, they need more songs like this one. One of my favorites.
3. I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi) duet with Celine Dion: I enjoy this song very much, not only because I'm a great Celine fan but because they both sound so good together. I heard this song for the first time on Celine Dion's "On ne change pas" compilation and fell in love with it, a great song with a great message.
4. You Raise Me Up (Por Ti Sere): Another cover, the Spanish version of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up". You know, I can't be too negative, its a good Spanish translation but my problem with it is that I can totally see Josh Groban going onstage saying "No, no, no...THIS is how you sing it". The music sounds too much like the original, I hear Josh Groban here, not Il Divo.
5. Si Tu Me Amas: I like the lyrics but I think they could have worked a little bit more in the accent, I dont know if the non-Spanish speakers were explained what the song was about because the feeling was definitely not there.
6. Hasta Mi Final: This is another one of those "why couldn't they record more of these songs?" type of song, I love it, in Spanish its more about the lyrics and the feeling. They nailed it.
7. Heroe: The spanish version of Mariah Careys classic "Hero". The beginning of this song is good, towards the end it just sounds over-produced and leaves you asking yourself "why?".
8. En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor: I listened to this song a few times and I don't seem to have an opinion about it, sounds like they took some movie soundtrack and just recorded lyrics over it.
9. Esisti Dentro Me: Good Italian song, a little more uptempo, once again they let you taste a little bit of what they are really made of.
10. Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore: Ok, this is one of my favorite Celine Dion songs of all time and they didnt do justice to it. They tried to imitate Celines intonations instead of bringing their own style to it and I think thats what did it. I love the music but maybe if it was a new version by Celine herself.
All in all the album is OK, hopefully next time they will have more original stuff so they can start making their own hits and maybe someone else will cover THEIR songs.
Il Divo Part II January 28, 2006
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I was in an HMV store in the UK last November when I heard this beautiful music playing. I asked who it was and was told it was the new Il Divo CD which had just come out that day, so I got it.
Much like their debut, `Ancora' is filled with lush, romantic love songs, performed in English, Spanish and Italian. If there is any change from their debut, it is that this features (just a bit) more guitars, and more subdued percussion. If you're looking for something edgy and groundbreaking, this isn't the CD for you. However, if you like beautiful, touching music performed by four excellent vocalists, you just might like this.
`Ancora' features covers of Mariah Carey's `Hero', The Righteous Brother's `Unchained melody', Eric Carmen's `All by myself', and Celine Dion's `Pour que tu m'aimes encore'. Celine Dion duets on `I believe in you'. I'm not really a fan of Ms Dion but this works much better than I expected.
`Isabel' is simply stunning. Lush strings, delicate percussion, and the four tenors rising to a crescendo towards the end in an achingly touching vocal performance. Definitely my favourite!
Other standouts include the tender, yet dramatic `Si tu me amas', `Hasta mi final', the largely acoustic/string filled dramatic `En aranjuez con tu amor' (superb vocal performance and the most operatic sounding song), and `Esisti dentro me'.
The UK version contains `Ave Maria' and a lush, sweeping rendition of `O holy night'.
|
|
|
Proud member of the JimmyKat Network. Make sure you check out these other great JimmyKat network sites:
Lyrics Database
Celebrity Blog
Celebrity Thing
Celebrity PC
Celebrity Latest
Celebrity Pro
Travel Photos
Quotes
Flash Games
|
Is there a better
price available?
Find out:
|
|
|
|
