Truly reviewed...
James Sanderson | San Antonio, TX | 02/15/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I get the impression that the second reviewer has not listened to the music. While we like to buy work by artists with whom we are familiar so that we have all of their oeuvre, we also want to know what we're buying.
This album is a bit of a departure from St.Pier's previous efforts. Perhaps a foretaste of this album can be heard in 'Ce Silence' on Longueur D'Ondes, the album that precedes Natasha St-Pier. That song opens with a rap, giving it an urban feel. Similarly, the first single released, 'Embrasse-moi', has an urban feel but not from a rap but with the use of a synth beat, which is catchy at first, but gets on one's nerves after a while. This is not the only song on which the beat is used. As I listened to the music throughout the album, I found the constant synth beat so heavy at times I swore it was interfering with my own heart beat. After a while I was ready to scream 'assez!' and eject the album, which would have been unfortunate because I'd have missed the last track, 'On veut plus que de l'amour', which has the sound that most us expect from St-Pier. The one other track that comes close is '1, 2, 3'.
I don't mean that the songs are not any good. Underneath that killing synth beat, lies the voice that many want to hear. The voice is beautiful as ever. In time I may be able to tune out that distracting pounding noise and focus on what matters.
Certainly, this album is different from her previous efforts. I don't know what Pascal Obispo (the producer) and St-Pier were aiming for when they created this album. Were they looking for a new sound? If so, on the surface, they succeeded. But the shame is that she certainly doesn't need a change with a voice as beautiful as she has. The songs would have had all the clarity of her previous work, and would have probably been every bit as good without that killer beat overlaid on the tracks. In the end, her fans get a middling CD, and certainly less than what they have come to expect through five albums.
If you would like to sample her songs for this album head over to amazon.fr. (And if you can read French, you'll see there's disappoint with this release over there, too)."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1
