THE TIME OF OUR LIVES - IL DIVO WITH TONI BRAXTON
While pop-opera quartet Il Divo’s second album, “Ancora,” debuted at No. 1 in the United States, the cheese whizzes have had little impact on adult contemporary radio, and with good reason — there’s a difference between melodrama and over-the-top absurdity. “The Time of Our Lives,” a duet with diva Toni Braxton (whose “Un-Break My Heart” Il Divo covered on its first album) does have camp appeal, if only because Braxton’s eight-cylinder vocal is slathered atop the guys’ butterball vocal assault. She somehow manages to hold on to the wheel despite the inevitable train wreck of hollering that ensues from her tuxedo-clad accompanists trying to reach a crescendo. Radio? Not likely. But for fans of the ever-captivating Braxton, “Time” — the official song of the 2006 FIFA World Cup — is a (cautious) must-listen that is delicious in its bad taste. Billboard
