Andrea Bocelli, the world's most popular tenor (and Best selling) and pop sensation as well, has recorded The Best of Andrea Bocelli, Vivere what is a wonderful collection of his crossover (semi classical pop) songs and is a must for every Bocelli fan. Every song on the CD is wonderful and all the hit songs have been re mastered (or remixed) and sound better than ever.

The Songs include a nice selection of some of Bocelli's best work (it would take a 10 CD set to give us all of his best work-both clasicl and Popular); Bocelli has a very beautiful voice, that expresses much emotion. His tone and diction are excellent and his Volume is much better then the critics claim, he voice is always moving, his singing touches one's heart and goes righ into ones soul. The tracks include Songo; from the Songo album; It may be his best song ever. IL Mare Calmo Della Sera from the Romanza album (and an Earlier Album with the tital IL Mare Clamo Della Sera); this was his first hit and was used my Todd Eldridge, figure Skater, in the Olympics and US championships. Canto Della Sera, from the Songo album; Besame Mucho, from the Amore album; Mille lune Mille Onde, (included on the Delux edition as an extra track and is the song used in the Brilla Pasta advertisement) from Cieili Di Toscana; Time to Say Goodbye-Con Te Partino (with Sarah Brightman), from the Romanza album; Vivo Per Lei (with Giorgia who is an Italian pop star with a wonderful voice) from the Romanza album; Melodrama from the Cieli De Toscana album; The Prayer (with Celine Dion, from the Songo Album and the Quest soundtrack, (as well as Celine Dion albums;) and Because We Believe from the Amore album, the great theme for the Olympic's in Italy.

The songs also include a new English/Italian version of Vivere called Dear To Live; with Laura Pausani a popular Italian singer. A wonderful song called La Voce Del Silenzio; a beautiful song called A TE; A very cool classical song with Lang Lang, on Piano, called IO CI SARO; and another song, very contemporary, called BELLISSIME STELLE which may be my favorite song on the CD.

The Deluxe edition comes with one extra songs as I mentioned above and also a bonus DVD that was 8 live songs from Bocelli's Statue Of Liberty concert, which was recorded back just after the release of the Songo album; and just after His Father died, the concert is very emotional and very beautiful. You can see the wonderful New York City in the background and the Twine towers standing proud. It is a wonderful DVD it looks fantastic and sounds fantastic. My only complete is that its not the whole concert. The whole concert has only been available from PBS as a VHS tape. The 8 songs are La Donna E Mobile; Di Quella Pira; Brindisi-Cavaileria Rusticana; O Soave Fanciull; Santa Lucia Luntana; Torna A Surriento; O Sole Mio; And Brindisi-La Travita. If you can I would pop the few extra bucks for the Deluxe edition and get the DVD.

This is a great CD (and or set) for any Bocelli fan, for the fan because it has the 5 new songs (4 new and one alternative version). And is a great set for new fans because it has many of his hits. this would be a good first CD for someone new to Bocelli.

This cd isn't a compilation only, you can find some new songs. It's incredible that I could find this cd in Argentina some days before its release in America, and in that country it can fe found in two versions: the italian and the spanish version. The content of both versions are

similar, with very few differences. For the known songs, there's nothing new, and in general terms, nothing wrong with the songs selected.

The new songs ("La voce del silenzio", "A te" and "Bellisime Stelle") are just beautiful. The only real surprise is a new version of "Vivire", sung as a duet with Laura Pausini, with a new english lyric in the italian CD version, where Laura sings in english while Andrea does it in italian, this is the only thing I don't like too much. In the spanish CD version, both Andrea and Laura sings in spanish, which has much more sense. The arrangements are also different compared with the version appeared on the "Romanza" CD, which I prefer to this new.

If you buy this cd, you won't regret, it's a nice work.

...is to go song-by-song (or rather, track-by-track).

1. La Voce del Silenzio: This is a cover of an Italian love song previously recorded by Mina and Dionne Warwick, and the first of five new recordings made specifically for this album. Simple, but lavish.

2. Sogno: Track 3 on the 1999 album of the same name. It's sweet and sentimental at the same time, and Bocelli's performance only adds to it instead of taking anything away.

3. Il Mare Calmo della Sera: The opener of his true debut (1994 album of same name) and Track 4 on

. Powerful, but very well sung.

4. Dare to Live (Vivere): This is a reworking of Bocelli's own duet with Gerardina Trovato, from the 'Romanza' and IMCDS albums, this time with Laura Pausini singing the newly translated English lyrics. Different from the original, but good...possibly the best on this CD so far.

5. Canto della Terra (Album Version): Opener on 'Sogno.' It pays tribute to humanity and the earth itself (as the song indicates). This is a 'new mix' by Humberto Gatica, as is one of the older songs below. Well done.

6. A Te: A self-written composition that employs smooth jazz instrumentalist Kenny G for the second time in Bocelli's recording career (they'd worked together on the song 'Mi Manchi,' from the

CD). This is good, too.

7. Besame Mucho: Taken from the 'Amore' album, this is one of his few attempts at a 'sensual' number. It's actually very soothing more than sensual, and a well-timed interpretation to boot.

8. Mille Lune Mille Onde: A 'Cieli di Toscana' selection that doesn't appear on the standard American release of this album, but is available on the Deluxe Edition and other releases of this CD. Mellow, sensual, and appealing.

9. Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro) (with Sarah Brightman): Everyone knows this song. It was his first of three #1 hits (he recorded it solo first), but not even the most curmudgeonly listener can deny it's just as brilliant as it was back in 1995-97.

10. Io Ci Saro: Chinese pianist Lang Lang's performance on this song, when paired with Bocelli's vocals and backed by an almost movie soundtrack-resembling score, makes for another timeless musical number on this track.

11. Romanza: Title track of 1997 album. Again, well arranged and well sung.

12. Vivo per Lei (with Giorgia): Bocelli sang this song with many different women (who in turn sang them in their own native languages). This is the all-Italian version, which he would sing with Heather Headley on his 2008 release,

], and it's still as good as it was when he originally sang it with German singer Judy Weiss on his 1995

CD.

13. Melodramma: Taken from his 2001

album, this song captures his heartfelt emotions about lost love in 4 minutes. Brilliant.

14. Bellissime Stelle: The mood suddenly shifts to midtempo funk dressed with symphonic styles and even a full choir heard at the end, but the end result is amazing, as usual.

15. The Prayer (with Celine Dion): Second track on the

CD. Very sentimental, indeed, but remarkable.

16. Because We Believe: The closer on the 'Amore' CD served two purposes - one of which was as the theme to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, and the other of which became 'Ama Credi e Vai' as a duet with Gianna Nannini for the 2006 World Cup. Its powerful message and soaring, almost Viennese Waltz-style arrangement, make this a winner and a fantastic finish to this album.

FINAL VERDICT: I don't seem to find anything wrong with this Greatest Hits album (the second he has not counting his 2000 Japan-only 'Per Amore' release), and whatever may be wrong with it is practically miniscule. Although nothing from his 'Andrea' album is included here, the Japan release of this album (available on Japanese online stores) has 'Dell'Amore Non Si Sa' with Hayley Westenra and 'Somos Novios' with Japanese singer Rimi Natsukawa, both as bonus tracks. Overall, this just might be his second best album only to 'Romanza,' and maybe the best album by a male artist released at any time in 2007, but all of his pop albums have been top-notch. You have to give him credit. It's not like he's doing stuff that will turn away so many of his fans forever.

Final Grade: A (in everything)

As usual this CD was not a disappointment. I hadn't heard many of the songs he sings but was over joyed with power and rich,ness of his voice. I too enjoyed some of his old familar tunes. For those of you who enjoy Bocelli's music as I do, this CD is a must.

Rosanne Nashua NH

Andrea Bocelli, the blind and popular Italian tenor who, since making his stage debut in 1994, has sold millions of CDs worldwide, has released a collection of his greatest hits.

Never mind that he is "not very good" and his high notes can evoke "strangulation".

You might pity some music critics, who were faced with a nasty dilemma some months ago. Were they to fall in with the many fans of Mr Bocelli for whom he is evidently the next Pavarotti and echo their adulation? Or should they write what they believed - that his singing is flawed - and be accused of snobbery?

After a concert, the New York Time critic quoted "The tone is rasping, thin and, in general, poorly supported... "Even the most modest upward movement thins it even more, signalling what appears to be the onset of strangulation...

To his credit, Mr Bocelli sings mostly in tune. But his phrasing tends toward carelessness and rhythmic jumble, and the little barks and husky vocal expletives that are the mother's milk of Italian tenordom sound faded and unconvincing. The diction is not clear".

"Passion? Yes. Power. No," wrote a reviewer of the Associated Press.

"Bocelli's voice - though robust in spirit and precisely in tune, even in the upper register - had a thin quality that never opened up".

But he made sure simultaneously to acknowledge the unwavering loyalty of Mr Bocelli's fans. "Was the audience disappointed? Not in the least. They loved it".

A flawed voice, after all, can be corrected in the cocoon of a recording studio and hence perhaps the success of his CDs.

His first was released in 1995, one year after he appeared live for his debut in Verdi's Macbeth.

Yet, pulling Mr Bocelli from future live performances might not be recommended. If his voice can be thin, his force of personality apparently isn't.

It is an appeal based in part on the attractiveness of someone who has overcome obstacles. Born with a rare form of glaucoma, Mr Bocelli lost his sight entirely at age of 12 after a football accident.

This short diversion - about his LIVE performances at the Opera and his studio recordings - aside, for the first time during his historic career the world's best selling tenor, Andrea Bocelli, has just released an excellent collection of his greatest hits "Vivere" (Italian for "to live"), which marks a decade of chart-topping albums that have made him a household name and beloved cultural figure the world over. Four new tracks have been included.

On this collection Andrea Bocelli, as on his previous CDs, shows his nice blend of operatic talent and sincerity, without the same operatic style to obstruct the ability to enjoy the music or his voice.

..."There are some engaging, even captivating techniques in the arrangements which demonstrate distinct skill: textures are built up slowly and with patience, the harmonic variations verse-to-verse are sometimes imaginative, and the orchestrations - from the string writing to the Bond-esque glissando bass guitar - are occasionally classy..(BBC)

While some compare him to Pavarotti or other more famous opera singers, I'd have to disagree in that there's something more heartfelt and less forced about Bocelli's style. This man takes pleasure in singing, and it clearly resonates through every song he sings.

He brings light and shade, purity of tone and technical assurance to the tracks, and to the duets with Italian Laura Pausini, Celine Dion and Sarah Brightman, among the others.

After listening to this album non-stop about twenty times over, I'm completely convinced that Italian is the most romantic language on the planet; of course, Andrea Bocelli's beautiful voice doesn't hurt either...

Get a hold of this disc and treat yourself to something subtle, passionate and musical.