Andrea Bocelli - Under the Desert Sky - [CD]

Universal Classics presents a spectacular new DVD/CD combo package from Andrea Bocelli, featuring his first-ever pop concert performance taped live at the Lake Las Vegas Resort. This special holiday package will include music from AMORE, Andrea's platinum selling CD, along with exclusive bonus content including duets with AMERICAN IDOL finalist Katharine McPhee, Tony Award winner Heather Headley, Stevie Wonder and Chris Botti.

It's impossible to hear Andrea Bocelli singing Perry Como's "It's Impossible" without being overcome by a sense of utter enchantment. As the ripe-hearted have known since 1997's Romanza, though, Bocelli's French perfume-like appeal generally lingers well beyond a single song, suffusing entire love-struck evenings with its richness and warmth. And so it goes with Under the Desert Sky. Recorded at a floating concert venue near Las Vegas (thus the title), Bocelli's first CD/DVD combo plays like an elaborate seduction. Cue up the DVD, and the crossover classical tenor, outfitted in black velvet, tortures the besotted with visible sincerity and knockout performances alongside David Foster and the elegant Heather Headley. Spin the CD and the songs come spilling out like elegant reminders of the swoon-worthy live performance. Several of the nine songs on the CD--"Cuando Me Enamoro," "Canzoni Stonate," and "Somos Novious (It's Impossible)" among them--are available on other Bocelli discs, but that shouldn't deter the faithful. For one thing, "Can't Help Falling in Love," a dazzling duet with American Idol's Katherine McPhee, can't be heard elsewhere. For another, outside of a few vintage Julio Iglesias albums, you just won't find this much feeling packed into a single 33-minute disc. It's impossible. --Tammy La Gorce