David Guetta's third studio offering : POP LIFE

After 2002 Just A Little More Love and 2004 Guetta Blaster, David Guetta released on 18th of June his third album Pop Life and I naturally added this nice piece of electro pop dance to my CDtheque.

Not that I liked all tracks from his previous releases, I have always been mixed up between high standards like Just a little more love, Love don't let me go, You, Give me something, People come people go, Money, Stay, Get up, Time, and less poppy tracks like Distortion, Atomic food or Last train but as you see there has always been enough (and more) good songs to win in my heart against the other ones...
This time I ain't disappointed at all!
David Guetta and his partner in crime Joachim Garraud deliver good electro in pure pop format, what is to say for me songs that do not last over 4'30, are radio friendly, and with bonus cuts, this album extend to 16 tracks !

Once again, favourite vocalist Chris Willis is back on board and for the better, for 8 tracks, just half of the album. He's lead on the new single Love is gone, that is featured in its original edit version and in the radio remix, by Fred Rister & Joachim Garraud. His other performances are ALL great and I wish this man could have his own moment of glory with a full album under his name very soon... Check Everytime we touch, Tomorrow can wait, Don't be afraid & Take me away. The 7th song is the original version of his Ghostbuster's sampled radio mix (Never take away) My Freedom and the 8th the The Egg confrontation on Love don't let me go (Walking away).

From 2nd album has stayed other vocalist JD Davis who, this time, still sounds like Dave Gahan on Winner of the game but like Roland Orzabal on future single potential Always. His last collaboration This is not a love song has his voice so filtered that it's awful and maybe the only track of the album I skip each time!

But David invited new team mates too and what a team!
Ex pop star & now awarded worldwide hits songwriter Cathy Dennis wrote the lyrics to the first track and for sure next single Baby when the light, which features unknown vocalist Cozi on a production collaboration with swedish star Steve Angello. This one teams up with David & Joachim again and with fellow Sebastian Ingrooso on Everytime we touch and it looks like Ibiza's F**ck Me I'm Famous! star David Guetta is now a big name enough around the planet to get their partnership on a record... Fine for him and for our ears too.
Tocadisco, whose remix version was the radio one for The Egg single, is their partner on Tomorrow can wait and it sounds just like the previous hit...
Another unknown Thailand sings on the very Benassi influenced trashy electro cut Joan of Arc which closes the tracklisting at #12 before the bonus and Avalon's Juliet offered her vocal on the angry & repetitive Do something love. But it's from the other female vocalist invited, Tara Mc Donald, that comes the latest jewels : Delirious (a sure hit single again!) & You're not alone... There ain't no skipping on these ones!

So to conclude this new offering from Mr Guetta, there are still sounds that made him famous with his first hits but he has added the latest ones that got him back high in the charts a la Tocadisco and when some will say it's auto plagia, I'd say it's just declension : David is offering us what he is made of today and it appeals to me a lot.
I have to add to that that I can't thank him enough not to make albums full of epic 7' and over tracks that bore before gettin' to your heart like other DJ star release. The extended & remix versions are reserved for the club/CDmaxis and I like that!

A last word to say that Mr Jean-Baptiste Mondino himself shot the cover & booklet photos and Mr Guetta must have felt praised cos the booklet is nearly only made of that... lyrics would have been fine too!

Ultra Naté, 5th studio album : exception to the rules for a dance diva

When so many dance/house divas release a couple of singles and one single hit among them, and no album at all (or in certain successful cases, one collection of fillers around the hit and a remix package soon after), one of the finest house divas from America has just released her 5th (!) CD and there's never even been some best of or remixes collection in between studio albums.

Her name sounds already full of promises : Ultra Naté.
The Name she chose for her new album too.
It's called "Grime / Silk / Thunder" from a comment some music reviewer made of Nirvana's "Nevermind" CD saying it included all this and that was what a great record should be made of. So Miss Naté intended to match perfection with this long awaited new album (her last one is from 2001!) and, let's face the truth, she quite succeed!

With its 14 tracks, including two re-recordings of old 1989/90 tracks "Scandal" & "It's over now", a cover of the Pointer Sisters' hit "Automatic", her previous collaboration single with swedish Top producer Stonebridge (who mixed all the tracks here) "Freak on", a featuring from David Guetta's favourite vocalist Chris Willis and another one from previous B-Crew partner Dajae, a previous single produced by house wizzard Eric Kupper and inspired by Moroder/Summer's "I feel love", "Love's the only drug" and loads of other fellas and, to name a few, Quentin Harris, Lati Kronlund, Craig C., Louie Balo, Bill Coleman, Andres Levin or her past collaborators Mood II Swing, Ultra Naté couln't do wrong. She co-wrote and co-produced the whole package so you see she ain't no singin' puppet standing in front of the microphone for some studio masters and this album is all HERS.

Not that this was a change for the miss...
From the beginning, she took part of the making process and was already involved in her lyrics on her 1991 first album "Blue Notes in the Basement", which was produced by The Basement Boys.
Same recipe for her second offereing "One woman's insanity" from 1993 but D-Influence, Nellee Hooper and Soulshock, Cutfather & Karlin were added to the team. I can't help but remind you that Boy George's "I specialize in loneliness" were there magnified by Ultra Naté in an epic 7 minutes version of pure bliss.
But that wasn't until 1997 and her worldwide anthem "Free" - not to mistake with Rozalla's raver "Everybody's free (to feel good)", Ultra's song was going like 'Cos you're free... to do what you want to do... You've got to live your life, do what you want to do!" - that the whole planet knew her name. She sang with Amber & Jocelyn Enriquez the single from the discoïd movie Studio 54, "If you could read my mind" and charted again.
Her third album "Situation : critical" followed the year after with the same team as for the single, Mood II Swing, but still with D-Influence and Al Mack & Masters At Work for the sublime "Divine love". More single hits followed with "Found a cure" and "A new kind of medicine" and her fourth album in 2001, "Stranger than fiction" kept the pace but with less chart success, though still high quality, with singles "Desire" & "Get it up (the feeling)".

She got us entertained with various collaborations since then :
"There is" with germans of Tiefschwartz in 2001, "Music came to save my life" with D-Influence's D-Vas project in 2002, "Brass in my pocket" in 2003, "A wonderful place" on Blaze's United For Dance 2004 album, along the same year with "Bittersweet melody", "Feel love" (which is included on this album) or "Time of our lives" with Gerry DeVeaux as Ultra Devoted.
But it was Stonebridge and her vocals on "Freak on" for his first artist album "Can't get enough" that led her back in the worldwide charts as their song was released as third single off his album.
Her collaboration with Def Mix ex keyboard player Eric Kupper "Love's the only drug" announced at the end of 2006 her BIG come back and now it's on.
The new single is "Automatic", a perfect disco housed anthem that has a sexxxy video to promote it as well (see it on my major MySpace profil page), and I can't see why "Falling", "Getaway" or "Give it all you got" wouldn't become the following singles as they're catchy as hell, while the rest of the album takes dance/house standards to a new level.

It'll be hard to top this release for the rest of 2007... Beware! Ultra's back for good .

http://www.ultranate.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ultranatemusic

Nouvelle Star 2007 : Tigane ou Julien?

Hier soir, j'ai passé ma soirée devant M6, comme chaque jeudi ou mercredi soir de diffusion de la saison 2007 de la Nouvelle Star (ou Pop Idol à la française).
A mesure que les primes se sont écoulés, j'ai vu l'étau se resserrer dangereusement autour de Julien et hier, il a gagné sa place en finale contre Tigane. Julien paraît être le favori de tous, ses prestations déchainent applaudissements, hurlements, hululements, cris déchainés et extatiques dans le public de Baltard. Notre jury préféré l'encense quasiment à chaque fois mais du côté de mon salon...

Vous pouvez répéter la question?
Ah pardon, j'avais oublié le coton que je m'étais mis dans les oreilles hier soir pour ne pas écouter Julien hurler de sa voix déglingée...

Si certaines prestations n'ont pas manqué d'originalité et se sont révélées être à mes oreilles réussies ("Like a virgin", "Moi... Lolita", et même le "Tainted love" d'hier soir), la plupart du temps, je dois avouer que non seulement il me passe totalement à côté, mais en plus, ses prestations m'insupportent et ne me laissent d'autre choix que de :
[TAPER 1] couper le son!
Merci Katerine, mais je ne veux pas remettre le son tant que le mec à la barrette est toujours à l'image, nan, nan!
[TAPER 2] zapper, mais entre le match de foot et le téléfilm des autres chaînes, j'aurais encore préféré la pub...
[TAPER 3] éteindre ma télé... comme de toute façon, il chante toujours en dernier quasiment depuis le début (ne me dites pas qu'il y a tirage au sort!) et que l'on sait qu'il sera repêché lors du supplice de l'enveloppe, y'a plus de suspense...

C'est vrai que je n'ai pas la fibre rock. A la base, moi, c'est la pop dance, bien cheesy, camp et disco, ou la house, la soul, l'eurodance, les ballades ou la variét' qui filent la gerbe à Manu Katché mais de temps en temps, je m'écoute ma dose de guitares (pas saturées quand même, j'ai le coeur fragile!) mais le problème est que Julien tient son inspiration de ces rockers ovniesques voire éthyliques (Iggy Pop, Joe Cocker, Jim Morrison, etc.) et que je ne vois pas l'intérêt :

Pourquoi infliger aux téléspectateurs (ou auditeurs) une chanson massacrée, à la mélodie oubliée, aux paroles revisitées (pour ne pas dire oubliées et donc improvisées), à l'accent anglais digne d'un niveau CM2 (formidable "Wizor Wizaut You" hier!), et aux effets de voix exaspérants... Vous voyez sûrement ce que je veux dire, quand il arrondit sa bouche comme s'il voulait sucer son micro et prend un accent autrichien, suédois ou de quelque contrée que ce puisse être avant d'éructer la fin de sa tirade et se déchirant les cordes vocales, tel un cerf en rut en train de bramer.
Ce doit être ce qui met Dédé Manoukian dans tous ses états (à moins que ce ne soit les mini-jupes et le minois de Gaëtane). ce qui plaît à Manu le teigneux, c'est bien évidemment qu'il fait du rock même avec les pires "daubes" variétoches et que c'est donc plus crédible pour l'image de l'émission que le grand public de la Star Ac'. c'est ce que se tue à répéter la divine Marianne d'ailleurs, qu'ils sont fiers d'être sur la 6 plutôt que sur la 1 (Benji, t'as compris le message?) même si c'est elle qu'il énerve aussi de temps en temps en singeant les grimaces d'Iggy. Quant à Dove, lui, tant qu'il y a du show, ça lui plaît. C'est vendeur et, que ce soit pour du savon, de la comédie musicale ou de l'audience, faut qu'ça plaise au public. Faut que les appels téléphoniques surtaxés pour défendre le chouchou des minettes prépubères qui le trouvent "Troooooooop biens" et dépassent le forfait SMS illimités de papa maman toute la soirée. Lui-même l'a dit : Julien ne laisse personne indifférent : il y a ceux qui adorent et ceux qui détestent...
Je suis encore étonné que les premiers soient toujours plus nombreux que les seconds et j'ai donc peur pour la semaine prochaine...

D'un côté, gagner la finale de la nouvelle star n'est pas gage de réussite pour autant (Jonathan Cerrada?). Ou en tout cas, ne pas la gagner ne veut pas dire non plus que c'est foutu. Amel Bent était troisième de sa saison qui a vu le rockeur Steeve Estatof gagner (mais un rockeur est moins vendeur qu'une diva de banlieue...) et qui se souvient encore du N°2, le beau et peu sûr de lui Julien Chagnon à part moi? Et Thierry Amiel s'en sort plutôt bien aussi. Pour rester sur Amel, elle a interprété hier soir en exclu son nouveau single extrait de son 2° album, "Nouveau français". La chanson, signée Lionel Florence / Pascal Obispo, la déporte sur le créneau de Nâdiya, plus pop R&B que pop soul mais surtout, on se demande ou Lionel avait la tête pour écrire un refrain aussi ininspiré (Nouveau français, français nouveau, nouveau français, sous le même drapeau... même Barbelivien aurait pu faire mieux et moins répétitif!). Quant à Obispo, c'est un peu mieux mais quand la chanson tourne à moitié en marseillaise, ça devient gonflant! Y'a un conseiller artistique chez BMG qui a du souci à se faire pour sa place vu le single qui va lancer l'album...

De l'autre côté, Julien, qui avoue ne s'être présenté aux castings que pour faire de la pub pour ses groupes, ne veut sans doute pas gagner et subir la pression de la maison de disques. Il préfèrerait garder sa liberté artistique tout ensurfant sur sa notoriété acquise lors de l'émission. Avis aux SMSeuses!

Reste Tigane alors... Si mon favori du début était la gueule d'ange Soma (pour son "Ain't no sunshine" magnifique des castings), ses déraillements vocaux des primes m'ont fait retomber l'intérêt aussi vite qu'une douche froide, d'autant que j'ai découvert au premier show le talentueux et vocalement impressionnant Pierre avec sa reprise de Michel Jonasz. Mais il était finalement trop lisse pour attirer les SMS, et ses performances à chaque prime n'y ont rien changé. Il aurait peut-être dû faire un coming out à Baltard, ou violer Marianne en coulisses, ou montrer son cul à Jérôme Pitorin, ou... Enfin, j'espère franchement qu'il saura tirer son épingle du jeu. J'achèterai son album les yeux fermés.
Tigane, donc, s'il a la voix un peu grave à mon goût, sait distiller en tout cas un magnétisme lors de ses prestations qui capte l'attention et, avec les bonnes chansons ("Love's divine", "On s'attache"), il pourrait trouver son public. Il manque un interprète soul comme lui à la scène français.

Résultat la semaine prochaine mais on fera le point dans un an pour voir les débuts sur CD des participants de cette année.

“L’album de l’année” ou en tout cas le millesime 2007 de Christophe Willem

Puisque le thème cher à Christophe est la grande distribution, je vais détourner une célèbre pub de chocolat pour vanter son premier album en une phrase : Christophe Willem, c'est une peu de délicatesse dans un monde de brutes...
Une seule écoute suffit à s'en rendre compte;
Alors, fermez les yeux, détendez-vous, bienvenue sur Turtle Airlines, le vol durera moins d'une heure... PLAY!

1/ Jacques a dit (Zazie / Jean-Pierre Pilot / Olivier Schulteis) 3:49
L'album commence par une délicatesse sonore où l'on reconnaît la patte de Miss Zazie, tout en douceur et beauté avec nappes de cordes, notes de piano égrenées rythmant le refrain, et Christophe jouant de son organe jusqu'à prendre son envol final : beau départ...
Un remix ferme l'album en plage 15/ avec force rajouts de scratches vinyls pour une ambiance un peu plus moite mais finalement pas si dissemblable.

2/ Quelle chance (Zazie / Jean-Pierre Pilot / Olivier Schulteis) 4:15
"Quelle chance" commence tout en délicate continuité avec le titre précédent mais le refrain arrive sur un riff de synthés salué par une foule lointaine et le pied bat la mesure d'une morceau qui vous file la pêche et vous donne envie de taper des mains en rythme avec Christophe, ambiance soirée happy friends.

3/ Elu produit de l'année (Matthias Debureaux / Bertrand Burgalat) 3:16
Cordes et caisses enregistreuses commencent le 3ème titre et premier extrait avant qu'une ambiance swingin' disco ne décolle et n'accompagne Christophe sur des paroles 3° degré, avec jingle promo Monoprix, et choeurs sucrés sans l'être trop non plus. Bertrand Burgalat s'est surpassé et s'est fait plus grand public que d'habitude.

4/ Double je (remix) (Zazie / Jean-Pierre Pilot / Olivier Schulteis) 3:18
"Quand je s'rai grand, je s'rai Bee Gees..." entame Christophe en voix de tête en guise d'intro sur une melodie très rythmée aux arrangements synthés electros qui paraît dès la première écoute être un futur single obligatoire ! (EDIT : Quand est-ce qu'on m'embauche comme conseiller artistique? J'avais raison!) Comme sur "Quelle chance", on reconnaît Zazie dans les choeurs soufflés loin derrière la voix planante de Christophe et l'on se dit décidément que c'est une bien belle collaboration... !
La version originale moins electro est inclue en plage 14/ mais ma version préférée reste le remix.

5/ Chambre avec vue (Natacha Le Jeune / Christophe Willem) 4:31
Premier et seul titre composé par Christophe présent sur le CD, "Chambre avec vue" est une ballade symphonique interprétée au piano par Christophe lui-même, qui vous enveloppe de ouate et vous berce tout en douceur comme un intermède de calme et de paix... Encore! Encore!

6/ Le lycée (Philippe Katerine) 3:22
Rythmique syncopée plaquée et gimmicks acids psychés démarrent ce premier titre de notre grand échalat aux sous-pulls collants roses flashies préférés et le couplet passe doucement jusqu'à ce que le refrain sautillant nous emmène avec lui et je baisse les armes pour dodeliner de la tête en rythme en même temps que Christophe chante "Billy Jean de Michael..." Même si le titre me paraissait moins immédiat, j'ai été conquis dès le premier refrain!

7/ Intemporel (Benjamin Kerber / Bertrand Burgalat) 3:59
Départ tout doux au piano voix pour Christophe avant que les cordes à nouveau et les percus ne mènent finalement la danse pour un titre intemporel (ça tombe bien), entre funky et disco, qui cette fois laisse les effets de voix de côté et constitue un bon titre, sans plus.

8/ Safe text (Zazie / Jean-Pierre Pilot / Olivier Schulteis) 3:59
Rythmique sautillante et appuyée très en avant par rapport à sa voix tout en douceur, "Safe text" se la joue emblème de notre génération portable avec un refrain plus enlevé niveau voix et des paroles judicieuses sur ce thème, et où, encore, l'empreinte Zazie se fait sentir sans être pour autant pesante pour Christophe qui se l'approprie et la conclue tout en douceur encore une fois.

9/ Kiss the bride (Remy Lacroix / Pierre Demarty) 3:53
Electroïsant façon années 80's, ce premier et seul titre interprété dans la langue de Shakespeare, cette scie rythmique et presque dance-rock (avec même un pont vocoder façon Daft Punk) nous donne envie de remuer du popotin, de lever les bras au ciel et de chanter à tue-tête avec Christophe qui, faut-il le préciser, manie l'anglais avec un parfait accent.

10/ Pourquoi tu t'en vas? (Valérie Lemercier / Bertrand Burgalat) 3:26
Bertrand Burgalat est de retour aux manettes sur cette Xème plage et cette fois l'inspiration est à la ballade aux sonoritées seventies chères à son label Tricatel et pour le coup, sa copine Valérie Lemercier s'est invitée aux paroles et aux voix pour un duo plein de charme où leurs voix se répondent en alternance. Faut-il rappeler qu'en 1996, Valérie avait publiée sur le label du sieur Burgalat un album de 10 petites perles kitschisantes aux savoureuses paroles et qu'elle s'était ensuite déjà offert un beau duo avec Mister Neil Hannon de The Divine Comedy. Cette fois, les paroles sont plus sages et l'ambiance même plus aérienne, presque, comment dire, oserais-je?, ennuyeuse... Heureusement, la fin chuchotée nous fait retrouver une Valérie Lemercier capricieuse face à un Christophe à la voix toute émoustillée .

11/ Demain (Pap Dezlel / Benoit De Villeneuve) 3:18
On reste dans une ambiance seventies, voire même sixties, je ne sais pas, j'étais pas né . Bertrand Burgalat est toujours aux manettes et comme pour le titre précédent, ça s'entend. Les cuivres ont la place belle et cette chanson se termine par un Christophe en impro presque swing & jazzy mais ce n'est vraiment pas ma préférée... Elle semble être d'une autre époque mais sonne vieillotte. Comme quoi on peut parfois paraître moderne en s'inspirant du passé mais... parfois, on est pris à son propre jeu!

12/ La tortue (Philippe Katerine) 2:52
Second titre de Katerine qui l'ouvre de ses choeurs reconnaissables présentant comme un Monsieur Loyal du pauvre "la tortue". Les paroles ont été écrites sur mesure, bien évidemment, et accompagnées d'une ritournelle mélodique plaisante et rythmée, permettent à Christophe de décrypter ce surnom en n'en gardant qu'une explication de texte à son avantage, avec assez d'humour pour que ce titre n'embarrasse cependant pas son répertoire d'ici quelques années comme un boulet.

13/ Bombe anatomique (Zazie / Jean-Pierre Pilot / Philippe Paradis) 3:07
Syncopée et une fois n'est pas coutume avec Christophe, pleine d'humour, ce dernier titre flirte avec le R&B, avec une human beat box digne des castings de la Nouvelle Star 2007.

Bonus Internet / OpenDisc : Des nues (version piano / voix)
Autre titre de monsieur Willem apparemment, malheureusement non inclu sur le CD mais disponible via la plage OpenDisc du CD ou en téléchargement légal en titre bonus (EDIT : ainsi qu'en face B sur le CD single N°1 des ventes "Double Jeu"). Ce piano voix tout en délicatesse nous fait témoin, lorsque survient le refrain, de l'envolée presque lyrique de l'organe cristallin de Christophe et vous file la chair de poule des pieds à la tête... Quel dommage qu'il n'y ait pas eu plus de moments d'intimités comme celui-là sur son CD.

- Euh, dis Christophe, sur le prochain, tu pourras inclure un CD bonus avec des titres piano voix uniquement, des titres que tu auras composés ou des reprises de tes chansons préférées, pour que l'on retrouve un peu aussi le Christophe des primes à Baltard ? S'il-te-plaît! 15 titres c'est déjà pas si mal, je sais, mais c'est trop court... Allez, hop! J'appuie sur la touche REPLAY!

Pour conclure donc, je crois que cette album,
- même s'il oublie d'inclure "Sunny" (mais tout le monde avait acheté le single, non? et puis, une page s'est tournée),
- même s'il n'y a pas assez de chansons intimistes où Christophe nous la joue solo au piano,
- même si je pense que Christophe s'est laissé aller à inclure des chansons écrites sur mesure pour lui par des personnes qu'il admirait (ça fait toujours plaisir, c'est sûr, et elles sont plutôt bonnes aussi) et en a oublié de se battre pour ses propres titres ou même a fait son Laurent Voulzy en prétextant le manque de temps pour s'y mettre vraiment,
- même si vers la fin, il y a quelques chansons moins immédiates ou moins accessibles (EDIT : mais qui à la fin de la course, soit au bout d'une dizaine d'écoute, sont devenues aussi indissociables du reste de l'album dans mon coeur!),

je crois néanmoins qu'il est bien partie pour être, à l'unanimité dans la Hotlist de ma chaine hi-fi (et de toutes celles de mon quartier et peut-être même de plus loin encore), et pour rendre justice à son premier extrait bien sûr, élu produit de l'année 2007...

- Parce qu'il est rare qu'un premier album soit aussi abouti et que collaborations rîment avec perfection,
- Parce qu'il est bien parti pour continuer à nous épater longtemps avec sa voix d'ange tombé sur terre et cherchant, quoiqu'un peu désabusé, à remonter au ciel, même qu'à travers le chant,
- Parce qu'il est difficile de débuter dans un petit rôle sur grand écran et sur une simple plage de bande originale (Ah, ce "Pourquoi j'ai mal"!), puis de se faire connaître via une émission de télé-réalité, de conquérir un public tout en restant sincère, de prendre son temps dans ce métier difficile, de se faire plaisir et de faire plaisir au public en même temps tout en restant soi, humble et sans grosse tête,
- Parce que j'ai acheté l'album ce soir en rentrant du boulôt, le jour de la sortie, et qu'en l'espace d'une soirée, je l'ai déjà écouté 3 fois... (Faudra que je pense à m'en acheter un deuxième, au cas où le mien soit usé avant le mois prochain...)
- Parce que rares sont ces artistes ou ces albums inter-générationnels qui plaisent aux grand-mères, aux mères, à leurs enfants et aux enfants de ces derniers...
- Parce que...

ET BIEN PARCE QUE!

ET P'IS C'EST TOUT!

ACHETEZ-LE VITE, Y'EN AURA BIENTÔT PLUS DANS LES BACS et vous n'aurez que vos larmes pour pleurer d'être passé à côté de la révélation de l'année dernière, de cette année, de l'année prochaine et de la suivante sûrement, la révélation du siècle à n'en pas douter... La chanson française a une nouvelle star, qui va briller de plus en plus au firmament des interprètes, entre Brel, Piaf et Aznavour, regardez bien, cette étoile là va briller longtemps !

Lisa Scott-Lee's long overdue album finally gets a release ...in South Africa

It's been exactly 4 years that ex-STEPS star Lisa Scott-Lee started her solo career with her fantastic single "Lately".
In STEPS, there's always been 3 respected vocalists, Faye Tozier, Claire Richards & Ian 'H' Watkins, who were given the biggest vocal performances on records. For poor Lee Latchford-Evans, it has always been a BIG question to know whether he could sing a note or not... till he got his "Turn around" song on their third and last studio album "Buzz" or sang some Lou Bega sound-a-like party song on tour.
Lisa's case was more sensible as she got her part in vocal duties, both in studio and on tour, but some always complained that she was less talented than the other two girls and that her voice sounded very nasal. Sure she ain't got the voice of a diva (think Jocelyn Brown, Claire took this job in the group with her roaring parts in the songs) but her voice was the sexiest and fitted best in the sensuous songs. It was an obvious choice then, to launch her solo career, to use this skill on sexy disco housed tracks with a full on sophisticated kitten dance diva image. If you wonder how this could sound, think of Kylie's Fever re-invention and you'll get it .

With "Lately", She got to #6 in the UK Charts on the 19th of May, 2003. The following single was 4 months later with "Too far gone" and a #11. She was working at the time with the production team Point4 that includes ex PWL mix engineer Peter Day and there was an album in the making with some of its tracks gettin' leaked from the "Unleashed" promo sampler : The rumoured following single, the sweet ballad "I'll wait for you", "Sleazy", "Obscenely delicious", "Boy on the dance floor" and the Poptastic "Back in time" (on which another ex PWL master of the mix, Pete Hammond, worked with his actual partner Bruce Elliot-Smith).
Both singles were remixed by Top of the cream remixers : Soda Club (aka Love To Infinity/Andy & Pete Lee), Stella Browne, Almighty Associates or Bimbo Jones. Although they could be named as hits, it seems that these chart placings were not enough for her record label, Fontana, and her album was shelved... Another rumoured track, a cover of Strike's 1995 #4 Hit, "U sure do" was recorded too, completed with an Almighty remix, but then again, it was never released.

Instead, "Back in time" was recorded by another dance act, Angel City, fronted by vocally equally talented Lara McAllen, on their album and it's a damn SHAME neither of these versions have been released as a single 'cos this song is really an instant HIT!

Over a year passed by till we get to see Lisa back in the charts, as a featured vocalist this time, on Intenso Project's third single, "Get it on". This was a real dance labelled single release, with a sexy video clip and full disco house arrangements but it only reached #23 in the UK charts at the end of November 2004. It is interesting to note that this one was released in France the following year and entered at #38 before sinking down the charts.



Then, there was another featuring on "Sunshine after the rain", a Berri cover version by Bel Air, but it remained unreleased, so Lisa's latest single was her UK comeback #13 "Electric", that charted in October 2005, but failed to make it to Top Ten and was then rumoured to be her goodbye release...
Written by Robbie Williams' ex writing partner Guy Chambers with ex boysband A1 babyfaced Ben Adams, this one added some guitars to the dance orientation and should have been bigger in the charts. The CD single includes two more unreleased songs, "Make it last forever" and "Don't U want my number?", as if Lisa already knew it was the only way to release to her public all the new songs she recorded for her always rumoured album...

Having failed to succeed in getting at least some UK Top 5 Hit after gettin' exposed on TV in shows like MTV's Totally Scott-Lee or Dancing On Ice, Lisa Scott-Lee disappeared from the UK music scene and it looks like her UK music career is over now.
So it came as a real good surprise to see her long awaited album "Never or now" finally gettin' a release ...at least, in South Africa!



The tracklisting doesn't look that promising as there are 9 old well known recordings among the 13 tracks but HEY! you better think of it as some sort of a Could've been-Greatest Hits :
1/ Lately
2/ Too far gone
3/ Electric
4/ Back in time
5/ Obsenely delicious
6/ Boy on the dance floor
7/ Give you my love *
8/ Make it last forever
9/ Sleazy
10/ I'll wait for you
11/ You're no good for me *
12/ Rush *
13/ Never or now *

The cover artwork recycles the "Unleashed" cover too but it is only fair as all its material is included here.

So there are only 4 tracks (marked with *) that I didn't know and I don't like them so much as her old tracks. "You're no good for me", "Rush" and "Never or now" are pop-rock songs and that must be why they've been put at the end as it is a departure from the style of the rest of the album. "Give you my love" though must have been recorded at the same time as the "Electric" single tracks as it still is dance .

Yes, I know, this album could have been so much better with a 17 or 18 tracks list including all old tracks ("U sure do", "Get it on", and some other rumoured tracks like "Bad girl" or B-sides "That's that" and "I'm burning") and more new recordings and maybe some of her best remixes, Soda Club's remix of "Lately" and the Almighty remixes of "Too far gone" & "U sure do". THAT would have been heaven on earth.
Now seeing Lisa's album finally gettin' a release and laying in my personal disco is already some nice piece of heaven .

So if you want to purchase a copy of her CD album like me, go to this south african site : http://www.kalahari.net/mus/product.asp?sku=30543775 where you can get it at a good price but with equally expensive p&p charges (for Europe at least) . Or you can choose to wait as it is said it will get released in belgium AND a UK download only release, both on 18th of June...

www.lisascottlee.com
www.myspace.com/lisascottleeaus
www.myspace.com/point4

L'eau à la bouche : macarons faits maison

Je ne peux résister à l'autosatisfaction culinaire, après plusieurs heures passées dans ma cuisine ce week-end, et vous présente sur mon blog (ça change des critiques musicales) la photo de mes macarons faits maison, aux couleurs aussi diverses que leurs parfums (de gauche à droite et de haut en bas : pistache, framboise, chocolat, citron, pain d'épices, choco/coco, clémentine, fraise tagada). C'était mon premier essai et même si j'ai hésité encore sur la taille ou le temps de cuisson parfois, le résultat est globalement réussi :



Je ne saurais que trop vous conseiller, pour peu que vous sachiez manier la poche à douille et la spatule à blancs en neige, d'aller jeter un coup d'oeil sur le site où je me suis procuré la recette de ces délicates gourmandises : www.puregourmandise.com
Clair, précis, aux multiples parfums et aux alléchantes photos, ce site dédié aux macarons mais pas seulement, vaut le détour !

Falling in love with Mike Rizzo's new mix of Kenne's unreleased song

What's in common between the following people :
- ex PWL Mixmaster & british pop hits producer Phil Harding,
- UK G-A-Y favourite remixers Almighty,
- US latin club act Roc Project,
- US Circuit God Jonathan Peters,
- german Culture Beat producer Doug Laurent,
- London based club remixers Sharp Boys and
- US Top10 remixer Mike Rizzo ?

you don't know?
let me help you out...

He debuted in 2004 with the best sing-along feelgood pop-dance song of the year ("Everybody Happy"), remixed at Almighty for the clubby crowds, and then released a following single covering one of New Order's best song ever ("True Faith").
He recorded further songs nowhere else than at PWL ex star Phil Harding's own recording studios and although these jewels stay commercially unreleased, they have been unleashed in various mix combinations on his own MySpace page and have pleased our ears with perfect dance-pop style, sometimes disco-housed, sometimes more tribal house, always fun and energetic.
There have been years since these songs were talked about on some PWL fans forums and then we finally get to hear them there so I couldn't be less thankful to that special underground (but sooner or later going to rise to global club stardom) friendly singer of ours than to dedicate him a page in my pop & dance music reviews pages...

His name is KENNE and you must remember his first video clip where is blondie head emerged from the ground singing "everybody happy, everybody feel fine..." between the legs of people dancing in the discotheque, walking on the beach or on the grass...
The clip was hilarious (thankfully, Kenne changed back his color of hair into black!) and the song, released with its leading Almighty radio version, an instant hit on the floor at the G-A-Y Astoria, London, moving hands up in the air and bimbo boys showing off their bodies with T-shirts all away... mmmm, good old memories .

Then there was the True Faith dance cover version (promoted under another alias Jukka) that was a radio Top20 in France where Kenne filmed his video and although New Order songs are never easy songs to adapt, Kenne's version is one of my favourite ones (with dutch Sita's accoustic version of "Bizarre love triangle").

After these tracks were recorded with german producer Doug Laurent (who worked for eurodance superstars Culture Beat) and both remixed by Almighty team, Kenne chose to make his dream come true and flew up to London to meet and work with Phil Harding, the never forgotten first and only Mixmaster at PWL studios, home of star producers Stock Aitken & Waterman and hundreds of worldwide hits in the 80's & 90's.
He recorded 4 new tracks with him, the two firsts of which he co-wrote, "Take Me Back", "Touched By Love", "Falling In Love" and "I Still Love You" (a song the dutch boyband Get Ready previously recorded on their Harding & Curnow produced album "The Mission" in 1999) but the record companies were becoming more relunctant in signing new "pop" artists and it got tougher and tougher from then on so the only place where we can listen to these songs (from now on) is here :
http://www.myspace.com/kennesongs

It is interesting to note that since they were created with Phil harding, they have inspired some US star producers and we can listen to a fantastic storming mix by Mike Rizzo of "Falling in love" which could never sound better and up-to-date than in this edit : the perfect track to re-launch Kenne's career in US clubs. A featuring on some independant film soundtrack a la Circuit or Queer As Folk would certainly be enough for that as this song is an instant gemm you can't help but fall in love to in a second... the least for a song named "Falling in love" .

But there's more chocolates in Kenne's music box to pick up and treasure : the Sharp Boys mix of "You are a star (this is your night)" would not sound out of place in today's european clubs & radios, mixing electro disco sounds & pop appeal and I would love to see an animated videoclip to promote it heavily on music channels for example. An Almighty remix of "Be your lover", another Doug Laurent song, is so catchy I can't understand why (oh why!?) it hasn't been released nor promoted... And I have to admit my personal guilty pleasure is to listen to "Everybody happy", the Almighty radio edit, over and over again .

From the names that have decided to work with him without big record companies to invite them, it seems clear Kenne's pop appeal and instant music seduction is inviting so all I can do is to advise you to go to his MySpace page, listen to the numerous tracks airplayed to the visitors' delight and as you'll undoubtly like them, become a new Kenne's friend and leave him comments and show him your love for his music, talk about him to your friends of same tastes and make his MySpace page such a hit his music can get noticed by some record company that will finally got his stuff released so that we can, at last, get a real CD album by Kenne in our hands.
THAT would really make me happy!
"Everybody happy... Everybody feel fine..."

Eurovision’s 2007 Show in Helsinki review

It seems that each time I write here about Eurovision, I'm on the brink of suicide... Not really of course, but I'm in total despair after the results tonight...
Not really because of this year's winner, but because of the little points my favourites, UK contestant Scooch, have got from all countries, meaning 0 points, except for Irish 7 & Maltese 12 points...

Thursday's semi-finale should have warned me a bit as the pop geniuses of Netherlands' Edsilia Rombley & Denmark's "Drama Queen" and even the fame of swiss DJ Bobo & all his vampires crew couldn't be enough to make it to the final... I already feared for my lil' Scooch & their cheesy camp pop number...

Sure I was right!

I was going mad during the results coming one after the other to see that they were stuck at the bottom end with nul points. I jumped up when their got their first 7 points from neighbour Ireland and felt really pleased to see Malta still had good taste in music by giving them their 12 points...
That makes them finish ex-aequo with our awful untasty frenchies and that means too much! I feel so pleased for the latter's underperformance and so sad for the first ones' injustice!
Well, in fact, I did my best and I, who never ever before had taken my phone for any TV programm, have phoned twice (!) to try to get UK in the french points ...with no success : I must have been the only one in the country to have phoned for them
But what could I expect? In 2007, cheesy pop is dead and it looks like eastern Europe ain't the place for it to ressucite...

So what will I remember from this year's euro millesime?

First, that the winner's singer, though looking like a fat boy next door type lesbian and having 5 backing vocalist with brushed up hairdoo showing no piece of flesh at all (!), did a pretty good vocal performance and I won't complain about the good response she got in the votes.

On contrary, I can't understand that her leadership in the televoting could have been disputed by Ukrainian awful robotic man supposed to be vamped as a drag queen... Danish DQ, who was a real lady must have suffocated hearing this pastiche was supposed to have the same dressing goal... or are women in Ukraine that ugly? I have always felt drag-queens were all about glamour, glitter & beauty. Verka had only glittering outfits. The rest was only ridiculous and I don't even talk about the song!

My TOP songs from this year's entries have nearly all underperformed in the results though gettin' incredibly good performances by their artists and I won't talk any more of my poor Scooch...

- Edsilia Rombley did her best Anastacia impersonation in the semi-finale with a roaring vocal performance that should have led her to the top finalists and a tune that has HIT written all over it... Being robbed by some east european contestants of her place in finale is a real SHAME! I understand that she has even not stayed in Helsinki for the saturday night show and was back in her country showing her face while giving the votes.

- Danish DQ did a good job with his/her dancers on "Drama queen" and the song stayed glued in my head till the end of the show. I'll sure keep on listening to this tune some more!

- DJ Bobo tried his best to be Lordi's follower but although the song was memorable, maybe his performance suffered from too much dance and not enough breathing and no more studio's autotune... I'll still be adding his soon to be released album to my discography

- I liked the Belgium's entry from the CD but the performance was overall bad : it si hard to aternate high notes & low ones in live but the disco funky music was refreshing.

- Norway's spanish flavoured pop reminded me of carola but lacked a little thing that woudl have made the difference maybe.

- I fell in love with the Hungary's blues and would have thought it would finally finish higher in the finale. That girl really can sing with her heart! I'd be curious to hear a full album from her... On the same accoustic side, I really loved the german Sinatra boy : it even sounded like an english standard!

- I discovered Georgia's diva Sopho sounding like Björk would have sounded to me if she hadn't had that awful voice. Though a little too ethnic/tribal, the techno arrangements and the beautiful voice & chorus made me belt out some "My story, his story" in my flat as if I were his personal backing vocalist And she was really cute too. I'd like to know if she has some more music of that style available to check this a little more.

- Andorra tried a neopunk entry by sending a McFly/Busted boysband that failed to win a ticket to finale and Latvia's 6 tenors did a pretty good job at replicating Il Divo but it wasn't enough in the finale though...

- Greece & Turkey did their best to try to sound the same with Tarkan sound-a-likes Sarbel (young cute boy that would have performed better maybe if he had been a little more shirtless ) and Mr Dogulu, dressed in red and shaking it, shaking it too.

- While I'm in for real sex symbols & supposed ones, Spain did a wonderful job giving us 4 stallions dressed in white with a perfect dance pop song but there again they were maybe not showing enough chest or abs to get noticed. Belarus' Lady Di hidden son gets higher showing his torso with his John Barry sounding magical song.

- On the girlies side, Russia won the top place with the sexy trio Serebro but their song failed to get to #1. Other Short dress were used to different results by other female contestants and I will only thank Karolina's hair stylist for his wonderful work between the two shows : it was the least she could do to keep her shampoo publicity contract after the awful hairstyle she had on pre-finale. Moldova's miss Barbu chose leather pants to differ but I still wonder why nobody has ever explained to her that a song need to be sung ...not shouted, nor screamed! My hears are still bleeding from her performances...

Well, I think I'm finished with the ones who need a review... I just want to talk about some more contestants for their unabilities to gain any interest from me : Malta was so old fashioned that her two half-naked dancers were the only reason not to shut the TV down, the varied tribal & pop-opera influenced ones bored me, the old-fashioned rockers with long haired even more, while the Teapacks from Israel irritated me to push the mute button quickly after their chorus and the irish lullaby made me have a good sleep even before 22:00, which is a first EVER in my life!

Now I think it is high time for me to stop here and go to bed... It is starting to get late (or early in the morning?) and as I have nothing to celebrate tonight, there is no more reason to stay up all night partying...

Luckily I'll be making pleasant dreams of tomorrow UK chart placings, with Scooch entering the Top Ten maybe at the highest place? Who knows? I've ordered my CD single anyway and I'll keep playing it surely for a long time !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sunday 13 May Edit

Incredible but true... They've made it to #5 in this week's UK Charts !

Some european people out there still love POP, I feel better now...

Marc Massive finally unleashed his Ego !

After years and years of performing his art on stages & on several singles, Marc Massive, frontman of his multi-partners music entity Massive Ego, has finally released his first Long Player CD, "Nite Klub Skewl" (on underground dance label Klone Records), and it's... em... MASSIVE!


The tracklisting of 13 tracks includes his previous singles and known songs as well as new anthems and after pre-ordering it back in January on Amazon and beeing delayed again and again, I've cancelled my order and bought it elsewhere to finally receive my CD full with a nice coloured booklet with photos, notes & credits yesterday. I've put it in my CD player and discovered the new tracks as well as the older ones and I must say that I LOVE IT at around 85% for there are 2 songs near the end that I, for now, don't like as much as ALL the others... That's a good rate anyway for a dance album... It's just that the title track is maybe more hard edged techno dance than other tracks and it'll take me longer to get into it and I'm so in love with the original version of 1996 Belvedere Kane's unreleased promo single "Never felt as good" (a work of ex-PWL Jewels & Stone) that I can't bear their cover version after just three listens.

And to talk a little bit more of the two greater fantastic producers/remixers that started their career at PWL, I have got to add that Barry Stone is one of Marc's partners in crime here as there are three other songs linked to him, the Gingell/Stone song "Murder", "Wrecked", he co-wrote with Mr. Massive himself, and the cover version of Duran Duran "Planet Earth", that he produced.
Among the other cover versions, there is naturally their Dead Or Alive version of "My heart goes bang" of which I owned the CD single of 2002, and dare I say that Marc Massive could have been the musical son of Pete Burns... Inspiration is not enough to call this. Marc must have had a musical crush on dead or Alive when he first turned up the TV and Barry Stone has collaborated with Pete too .
Then there are The Beloved's beautifully danced up "Sweet harmony", Cerrone's "Supernature", Divine's "You think you're a man", Depeche Mode's "Master & Servant", Animotion's "Obsession" & The Adventures' "Broken land". Marc co-wrote one more track, "Fight the feeling", which sees 80's Scarlet Fantastic beauty Maggie DeMonde feature (and here again another name picked up from Barry Stone's agenda I know but surely a singer Marc Massive gets inspiration from too) and it is one of my favourite ones! (with "Wrecked"). This original has HIT written all over it and it's got to be released as a single for me, and it'd change from the previous cover versions.

So Marc co-wrote 3 songs out of 13 and he co-produced 3 tracks too. The other major music directors are Barry Stone and Klone wizzard Ross Alexander. Other Klone relatives are invited on backing vocals, Jacquii Cann, Dusty O & Teresa Marie and the whole project sounds like a very good Klone release, which means
you gotta like your cover versions being danced up,
you gotta like your dance track to be camp pop & Hi-NRG inspired,
you gotta like to dance around your bedroom with your hands up in the air and the bassline on your hifi playin' loud & heavy,
you gotta like to be (or try to be) the singer's additional backing vocalist 'coz you can't help sing along with Mr. Massive when he does his Pete Burns on the mic
and...
that's all folks!

YOU GOTTA BUY IT
'cos it's better to buy a good dance album on an underground dance label than buy the latest cheap compilation at your local HMV to help the music we like to stay alive and to get maybe sooner than this one a second album full of pop lil' stars.

So don't stay away from these links :
http://www.myspace.com/marcmassive
http://www.massiveego.co.uk
http://klonerecords.com/releases/moreinfo.php?ID=271
where you can listen to their songs and buy the album.

Hugh Grant en Star Pop! dans le film

Bien sûr, je ne vais pas dire que Hugh Grant est le meilleur chanteur de l'année,
Bien sûr, je ne vais pas dire que "Le Come Back" (Music And Lyrics) est le film de l'année,
Bien sûr, je ne vais pas dire que "Pop! goes my heart" est la chanson de l'année,

...mais ce soir, après avoir profité du Printemps du cinéma à 3€50 pour aller voir ce film tandis que les giboulées de mars sévissaient sur ma Bretagne d'adoption, je ne peux m'empêcher de chantonner depuis le refrain de ce titre :
I never thought I'd ever lose my head but then POP! goes my heart...

Pur délice pastiche des année 80s servant de titre phare du passé pop du rôle interprété par Hugh Grant dans le film, celui d'Alex Fletcher, star improbable d'un groupe à mi chemin entre ABC et Wham!, il va pour le moment squater mon lecteur mp3 en attendant que je me procure la BO du film de toute urgence.
Pour mettre en valeur cette addictive composition, le réalisateur a concocté un clip digne de ces années berceau de ma culture musicale (et la votre?) et je n'ai pu résister à l'ajouter sur ma page pour tous ceux qui n'ont pas vu le film.

Hugh Grant est, comme d'habitude, irresistible dans ce film et, coaché par Martin Fry, le leader d'ABC justement, il a posé sa voix de manière tout à fait convenable sur les 3/4 des titres de la BO du film.
A retenir également, la ballade clef du film "Way back into love", qui aurait pu être écrite par Diane Warren et qu'il chante avec Haley Bennett, jeune actrice américaine qui explose dans le film avec des déhanchements lascifs mélange de Britney Spears et Shakira.

Le plus étrange est que ce faux groupe POP! rappelle aussi par certains aspects un passé moins lointain comme ce quatuor des années 2000 managé par Pete Waterman qui s'appelait lui aussi POP! ou les fameux STEPS dont le clip de "Chain reaction" avait une scène inoubliable dans un hopital comme celle du clip ci-dessus. Alors je rêve que les vrais POP! se reforment et relancent leur carrière... Jade McGuire, leur chanteuse principale avait une voix formidable et c'est dommage de ne plus l'entendre. "Without the boy" sera pour longtemps l'une des plus belles chansons d'amour teintée de mélancolie restant sur mon baladeur mp3... Et ce n'était qu'une face B !

Mais revenons au film...
Bon d'accord, une fois l'excitation post séance retombée, les chansons ne sont pas si inoubliables que ça mais le film est une agréable comédie romantique comme on les aime qui vous fait oublier les soucis, a fait rire plus d'un spectateur tout du long, et vous fait quitter la salle le sourire aux lèvres et une seule mélodie en tête : I never thought I'd ever lose my head but then POP! goes my heart...
Au fait, je vous conseille de rester pendant le générique de fin ; il s'accompagne d'un titre interprété par Haley qui ne figure pas sur le CD, "Invincible".

Pour finir, pour pouvoir l'entendre partout sur les radios et faire plus de buzz autour du film, je rêverais que "Pop! goes my heart" soit sorti comme single du faux groupe Pop! dans lequel Hugh Grant partage la vedette avec le craquant Scott Porter . Dommage qu'on ne le voit pas plus dans le film... Il est à croquer!