Il Divo takes risks on 'Wicked Game' album

Sometimes going back to the drawing board really does prove best.
That's what operatic-pop group Il Divo learned during the making of its latest album "Wicked Game."
The quartet, the result of an extensive Simon Cowell search about a decade ago, was knee deep into making the follow-up to the 2008 album "The Promise" when it scrapped all plans.
"We went into the studio three years ago and it was like a turn in our career," says singer Sebastien Izambard, who hails from France. "Like every artist, we reached a point in our career where we felt we were turning in circles, where we said we gotta find a direction. We didn't like the songs we recorded a few years ago and we decided we didn't want to put (the album) out."
Those original recordings included a cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" that "just didn't work" to Christina Aguilera's "Hurt," which was "beautifully arranged but too wordy."
The record label was pressuring the group to put out the album, but Izambard says Il Divo just wasn't ready.
"You go into the studio and you try things. That's the whole aim. We really wanted to nail it," he says.
Izambard says the band started from scratch with a new mission to find the greatest songs. One of the first it selected was Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," which helped set the tone for the album.
"I realized this was the type of song where we were taking a little bit of a risk and that's exactly what we wanted to do," he says. "For a lot of people it was unexpected but it sounded amazingly well to us and it gave a masculinity to our songs."
He says taking on "Wicked Game" was a challenge because he has always been a fan of Isaak, who wasn't too keen on Il Divo recording the song.
"He doesn't want a bad copy of his song, understandably. But his mother is Italian and a fan of ours and she said to let us try it. When he heard our version he said he loved it," Izambard says. "I read that in a newspaper a few days ago."
The album also includes "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Come What Me (Te Amare)," and "Crying." The Roy Orbison classic was recorded with Rebekah del Rio.
"My wife is actually a big fan of Roy Orbison and she heard the song 'Crying' sung by Rebekah and said it would be a great idea. We presented it to the record company and ended up recording it but we thought something was different. Rebekah was missing. We asked her would it be possible for her to record it with us. We went into the studio and it was just fantastic."
In addition to new song choices, the song arrangements are different, more mature with fresh elements brought in. such as French horns.
Il Divo's Izambard, Swiss tenor Urs Buhler, Spanish baritone Carlos Marin and Colorodo-bred tenor David Miller are a far cry from when the four voices first came together. Izambard says coming from four distinct countries initially proved difficult.
The language and cultural barriers were evident when they first hooked up in the studio.
"Even when you come from the same town it can be hard to understand each other," he says. "It took us time to realize this is a band and we have to work together. Instead of fighting over our differences we use our differences to make something special."

---