On The Road Again: Natacha Atlas

Mostrando las entradas con la etiqueta Natacha Atlas. Mostrar todas las entradas

jueves, 16 de marzo de 2023

Belinda Carlisle "Voila"

Voila is the seventh studio album by the American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in 2007. It was Carlisle's first studio album in over a decade, and is a covers album of "classic French chansons and pop standards", much different from Carlisle's previous English language pop records.

The album was critically praised however did sell moderately. Although all of the songs are sung in French, many of the musicians featured on the album are Irish. The album features keyboard arrangements from Brian Eno.

In an October 2006 press release describing the album, Carlisle said "After I moved to France, I became familiar with the classic French chansons and a lot of French pop music. I realized there was a whole world of artists and singers I was not familiar with. As I discovered all these amazing songs, I came to love this music and wanted to record some of them with a playful, contemporary feel."

Describing how music can transcend any language barrier Carlisle stated, "You don't really have to know what's being sung to know that 'Avec Les Temps' [sic] is a devastating love song. When I heard that song the first time, it broke my heart."

Upon the album's initial release, a limited edition version was available with a bonus second CD featuring four additional tracks sung in English. Despite the favourable reviews, Allmusic wrote "... not just a rewarding detour but one of her best album", in the US, the album sold a modest 3,000 copies in its first two weeks.

Track listing

"Ma jeunesse fout le camp" Guy Bontempelli 3:16
"Bonnie et Clyde" Serge Gainsbourg 5:15
"Avec le temps" Léo Ferré 4:06
"Sous le ciel de Paris" Hubert Giraud/Jean Dréjac 4:42
"Des ronds dans l'eau" Pierre Barouh/Raymond Lesenechal 2:55
"Pourtant tu m'aimes" Françoise Hardy/Jimmy Cross/Johnny Cole 3:27
"Ne me quitte pas" Jacques Brel 3:17
"La Vie en rose" Édith Piaf/Louis Guglielmi 4:23
"Contact" Gainsbourg 2:57
"Merci Chérie" Udo Jürgens/Thomas Horbiger/Baker Cavendish 3:34
"Jezebel" Wayne Shanklin 3:18

miércoles, 13 de diciembre de 2017

Jean-Michel Jarre "Metamorphoses [EU, Epic Records, EPC 496022 2]"

Métamorphoses is the thirteenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released by Sony Music on January 24, 2000. It was released in the U.S. on Disques Dreyfus in 2004.

This album was, to fans, a surprising break from his previous works, as it makes extensive use of vocal elements, as well as house, techno, trance, dance-pop, breakbeat, and downtempo sounds. The vocal elements are not short, sampled pieces as highlighted in his album Zoolook, but longer, more integral parts of the work, and thus quite surprising for an artist known for his instrumental works. Métamorphoses is also Jarre's first album to contain actual songs with lyrics. Jarre's own voice is heard through a vocoder in many of the songs, but the album contains several other singers as well, mostly female singers. "Rendez-vous à Paris" features Sharon Corr on violin. "Rendez-vous à Paris" and "Bells" are the only largely instrumental tracks on the album; in the former only the track title is repeated in rhythm, the latter does not have intelligible lyrics. Although the album was generally not badly received by critics, and despite the collaborations and a number of single releases ("C'est la vie" and "Tout est bleu"), Jarre did not achieve great mainstream success with this album.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jean-Michel Jarre.