Collideoscope

Josh Groban's much anticipated Christmas CD, Noel, sounds like, well Josh Groban singing Christmas songs. That is to say if you like Groban and you like Christmas songs, you'll love the record.

But that's making it too simple. The unsung (and maybe not so unsung for all I know) hero of this record is Groban's producer, David Foster. I thought that pretty much everything that could be done with Christmas music had been done. Foster proves otherwise.

It is the music of this record, more than the vocals, that will keep you coming back for more. For example, I have long loathed the song "Little Drummer Boy". I never got the point and it seemed to always drag on endlessly. In the Groban/Foster version, I was in tears by the time the song hit its crescendo (which rocks another long held belief of mine-that words are superior to music. This song proves me wrong).

All of the usual Christmas songs are here with one original and a rarity or two, and Brian McKnight, Faith Hill, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir show up as well.

This is a record you'll want to add to your collection as a way of reminding yourself that it is the lyrics and the music of Christmas time that are timeless treasures.