Track Listing

1. One Heart Too Many
2. I Saw Your Face
3. Be A Heartbreaker
4. Unchained Melody
5. Sorry
6. How Will You Know
7. Inner Child
8. Condition Of My Heart
9. Doin' Things (We're Not Supposed To)
10. If You Wanna
11. Thinking Of You
12. Get Here
13. Timeless - Guarini, Justin & Kelly Clarkson

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74712 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-02
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Voted the top male vocalist on the first season of AMERICANIDOL by millions of viewers, Justin Guarini follows up on his televised success with his self-titled debut album. On this collection of songs, Guarini's penchant for soul and R&B is evident on almost every track, particularly "I Saw Your Face", "Be a Heartbreaker", and "Doin' Things (We're Not Supposed To)". On the opening track, "One Heart Too Many", flamenco guitar playing and subtle electronic flourishes complement the young singer's plaintive vocals, while an orchestral version of "Unchained Melody" shows off Guarini's ability tocarry a classic pop song. And, of course, the singer's first outing wouldn't be complete without a duet with IDOL's topfemale vocalist, Kelly Clarkson. Their song, "Timeless", delivers, allowing both performers a chance to belt it out andplease their faithful fans.

Customer Reviews

justin guarini debut cd
I was quite impressed with this cd, it is good quality r&b music,you would love it if you are into Joe or Brian mcknight. Some tracks stand out more like the brian mcknight penned condition of my heart. Justin's voice is very good and clear and the songs are catchy and beautifully sang. the duet with kelly is also a good ballad as well as the smooth how will you know. the midtempo numbers like one heart too many are also good. It is an overall good cd and I recomend it. Forget about the critics who trash artists from reality shows...what counts is the actual music,and not how a person got their deal.

Second best?
American Idol vs Pop Idol. No contest. As much as I actually like Will Young's voice, the two American finalists knocked spots off ours. I never watched American Idol series one, but I heard Kelly and Justin sing on some weird American show (they're all weird), and was impressed enough to want to hear more. Kelly's album was (I thought) a really good effort, so I was keen to see how Justin faired with his.

The overall production on this album is fine - you'd expect nothing less from a Clive Davis release, with a typical Babyface vibe throughout.

The cover versions present here will be undoubtedly aimed at fans of American Idol where I assume he sang these songs. They are adequate fillers, but certainly not the definitive versions. "Inner Child" and "Unchained Melody" are note for note copies. Stick to Texas and the Righteous Brothers. "Get Here" has a little bit of re-arrangement, but it certainly can't match the vocal acrobatics of the divine Oleta Adams.

"Condition Of My Heart" is a fine 'I will survive' track penned by the king of ballad writing Brian McKnight. Not his best, but a worthy track nevertheless. There are many ballads on this album which range from great to okay.

"Sorry" is just fantastic - quite an unusual fuzz guitar 'beat' and great great vocals which move from prime Justin Timberlake into absolute Michael Jackson (including Jacko's trademark wwooooo - ooohhh's).
Other notable funky number is "If You Wanna", which sounds like Justin Timberlake more than any other track on this record. JT could have even have sang it - both Justin's voices are quite similar with this type of song. Surprisingly JT does cowrite a track - but not this one - more surprising/promising is that it's Justin Guarini that has the co-writing credit.

The last track on the album is probably it's ultimate parting gift. "Timeless" is a duet with the girl who beat Justin to the title of American Idol in the first series - Kelly Clarkson. If anyone avidly watched American Idol 2, you may have seen the video to this song (taken from the bizarre forthcoming film "From Justin To Kelly" in which they both 'star'). This is a great great duet and their voices suit each other brilliantly.

I'd have liked to have heard more attempts at Justin's writing. There's nothing wrong with singers singing other people's songs, as long as they can add some emotional depth to it (Whitney Houston being a perfect example) - and I can understand people's frustration with performers like Justin Guarini (or any other groomed for showbusiness types) who lack experience. It's the difference between good karaoke and really owning a song. Hopefully Justin will be granted the opportunity to continue past his fifteen minutes of fame and deliver another good album with a bit more experience under his belt.

Maybe if Justin Timberlake hadn't released "Justified", this would sound a fresher and more worthwhile album, but the two are too similar in style and Justin Guarini just can't match it (but that is in itself a loaded compliment, as I absoutely love JT's album).

Now if it were a battle of the perms... Justin Guarini would win hands down.

Enjoy.

Quite good
I'm a big fan of the "Idol" shows. I never saw the first series of American Idol, however during the second season it showed a clip of "Timeless" Justin's duet with Kelly Clarkson. It opened me up to these two amazing vocalists.
While in America I bought "Thankful" > Kelly's CD, and later during thr trip I bought this as well after hearing a few clips in the record store. I am very happy I bought this.
Justin has an awesome voice. Sorry, One Heart Too Many, How Will You Know and Timeless in particular are amazing.
Timeless could have been a HUGE record had it been released, one of the best duets/songs ever! The rest of the album is all very good also!

So in summation, I think it's very good and you should buy it!