It seems no one knew what to expect when Josh Groban teamed with super-producer Rick Rubin for the singer's fifth album, Illuminations - least of all Groban and Rubin. Fittingly, the results both defy and exceed any possible expectations as each of the collaborators stepped out of his zone and together they created an entirely new zone, one where folk meets classical, where art meets intimacy, where immediacy meets timelessness and where, most importantly, Groban, who co-wrote 11 of the 13 songs on the collection, was free to express himself more fully, more truly than ever before.