Cdthèque recommandée & non-recommandée

Cheap Thrills (Re-release Bonus Tracks)- Big Brother & the Holding Company

Psychedelic and blues rock.

Now, obviously, this one benefits heavily from its 3 cover songs ("Summertime," "Piece of my heart" and "Ball and chain") and Janis Joplin's incredible capacity to put her energy in just about everything she did. She really knew how to render covers! Otherwise, the first few notes of "Combination of the two" and its Whoa, whoa, ahh, have got to convince you to listen to the rest. "I need a man to love," "Turtle blues" and "Magic of love (live)" are other great songs. But "Piece of my heart" remains the best pearl in the lot.    Pearl

Chocolate Milk- Charles & Eddie

Neo soul; that is, it's a definitely personal interpretation of soul.

Now, Charles & Eddie had the capacity to put their own imprint on their music! You cannot not love this type of music cos'...everybody loves good soul. That being said, the album is still too long to achieve the level of the duo's best. At least 6 songs are unnecessary. Nevertheless, there's more than enough on the truly good side to satisfy the criteria of any album: "24-7-365" (a cover of John  Farnham), "Keep on smilin'," "Piece of mind," "Jealousy" (a cover of Queen), "Sunshine & happiness" and "Your love."

The Clash (US)- The Clash 
Pure punk rock.

Humm! Have I already mentionned that this is my favourite band, ever?
Out of the 15 songs, only one is a true dingeling: "I'm so bored with the USA" ; at the time Strummer was bored with having so much America in England. Like we care!  And don't expect anything more than garage-sounds and garage-singing from "Garageland". But apart from these, my days! Among the 13 tracks left, 10 are some of their most famous and most played, 2 others are some of their best ("Jail guitar doors," their cover of Lee Perry's "Police & thieves") and "Hate & war" is good when you're doing something else and suddenly go: The Clash again, damn! They kept them coming...  Pearl

Cooleyhighharmony- Boyz II Men

A cappella, hip-hop beats, r'n'b style, soul power.

Pearl

Cosmo's Factory (40th Anniversary Bonus Tracks)- Creedence Clearwater Revival

Typical American rock with its typical country influences.

Had this album been shorter I would have called it a pearl. A few tracks are unnecessary; they don't add anything to the work. In fact, they would have been perfectly well on an album of their own, just a less remarkable one. Strictly musically speaking, they've got nothing lacking but they don't fit easily with the superior quality of "Up around the bend," "Run through the jungle," "Lookin' out my back door," "Long as I can see the light" and "Travelin' band (alternate take)."
Hold on a minute, now that I think of it, Cosmo's Factory is really almost-a-pearl. Really!

Dance This Mess Around: The Best Of- The B-52's

New wave with some post-punk influences...

...and they could have benefited from more of the latter. Upon first hearing, this best of is original, funny, happy; upon second hearing, it already runs the risk of becoming boring. That's because The B-52's tabled a lot on original vocals and hollers and having had to invent with every new song, they stopped creating and resorted to simply covering their own findings; they should have known that there's so much you can invent without having to reinvent yourself. Hence, with time their originality sounds forced. All songs are fairly good, some are great, but by the time you've gone round the best of, they all start sounding the same. No matter, it will be a good car album.  

Debut- Björk

No ! No ! No ! 

When she got made, I’m sure she was told she had a good voice for yelling but she sure shouldn’t attempt to sing. But she did! As if her normal whiny tone wasn’t bad enough, she reaches for the high pitch, as well; does she want us to listen or to mock? “Misunderstood” you’ll tell me, and I’ll answer “No, understood all too clearly; I heard her.” And I sorely regret it. This is another case of an album that broke with the musical customs of its time by doing, well,…rubbish, and was classified cult for that, and only that. And now, we’re just too shy when facing the ‘big’ names of the past to point out those who should really remain of the past. There are only 4 passable songs out of 12: 2 of them mostly because the music takes over her voice, the other 2 because she whispers rather than sings. I mean, the woman can’t sing! She can’t sing and not in a punk ‘I’m-yelling-at-the-world-hear-my-anger-I’ve-got-something-to-say’ sort of way, no! The sounds are mostly bad too, a kind of debilitating electronic music, and the lyrics, my my, amount to love songs, when they don’t simply indulge themselves in ‘my-words-don’t-make-sense-but-everything-is-bullshit-anyway’ songwriting skills. And that’s her debut (second album), as well; I won’t even try to imagine what her following productions sounded like. Nope, my ears won’t take it. 

Devotion (The Gold Edition)- Jessie Ware

An electric soul on a gripping voice.

Musically speaking a concept album, Devotion infuses an intimately urban ambiance which will slip through the cracks of your imagination. Consistent in style and sung with confidence, each song reinforces the impression that Ware is reaching her goal. This is the product of a professional singer-songwriter, stripped-down to the purest rendition, with a lush voice rather than lush vocals and a sound that steadily follows its way. The clever beats merge the electric, pop and soul genres together but are soulful enough to be noticed without taking over. “Imagine us” and “Running [disclosure remix]” are the only tracks which do not blend well her voice and the music, as if Ware and her producers had a sound and just borrowed her voice to fit it; those two pieces feel much more pop and this is clearly not where Ware’s talent shine. By contrast, “Wildest moments” and “Night light” shine so brilliantly that they even won over my mother… Pearl

Duophonic- Charles & Eddie

Neo soul.

Un bijou! Not one song to skip, no fault from start to finish; you can feel the vocal duo is driven and confident. "House is not a home", "N.Y.C.", "Would I lie to you", "December 2" and "Father to son" are some of the best, but it's very difficult to choose a favourite...until you reach that last title, "Shine", which overrides everything. This album is a self-assured, consistent piece of music which knows precisely what it wants and proceeds to deliver. For urban ears in need of comfort, mostly. Pearl