Anyway. So when I was sent the latest CD by Il Divo, the pop-operatic quartet formed by American Idol nasty man Simon Cowell, I wasn’t really sure what to think. Cowell formed Il Divo after hearing duets between Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli and realizing there was a market for pop/classical vocal crossover. He calculatedly put together a quartet of attractive, multi-national (members are from the 
The answer -- at least in reference to their latest CD, Siempre -- is yes. For all their slick appearance -- all four of them are very attractive and look like they’re auditioning for “The Bachelor” -- their vocals are frankly incredible. The cynical part of me wants to scoff at their manufactured nature, but the music-lover in me smacked the inner cynic around until it hid under the table. I have interesting weekends.
While the production and engineering is competent (albeit slick and a bit bloodless), Il Divo’s song selection is really what makes them work. They mix originals written in a folk song or classical vein (“Come Primavera” and “La Vida Sin Amor,” both of which are excellent) with Italian-language covers of pop songs rearranged for the classical voice. It works surprisingly well; “Nights In White Satin” takes on a whole new life and John Miles’ “Music” is great.
A cover of “Without You,” written by Pete Ham of Badfinger -- admittedly, one of my favorite songs of all time -- is magnificent. Il Divo only falls short on Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Loved A Woman?,” although since I do not like the original song, you may need to take that opinion with a grain of salt.
It would be easy to dismiss Il Divo as a manufactured phenomenon. It would be easy -- and it would be wrong. Far from being a NPR-friendly version of a boy band, Il Divo is talented, powerful, and definitely worth checking out.