It seems to me that I’m the only one who’s interested in
\nreviewing so-called “fluff” albums on “The Daily Vault”. Sometimes
\nI get intimidated by all the upper-world revelations some reviewers
\nhere and on HitsWorld seem to get from all sorts of albums by
\neveryone from Tool to Nirvana. Hey, I like my material; I just want
\nsome fun, not the meaning of life.<\/p>\n
Because once in a while in the “fluff” hierarchy, an album comes
\nout that screams “I’M AN ARTIST!!!” and perks up my faith in
\n“fluff” (or using Vault lingo, a “gem”). At this precarious time
\nfor “fluff” when artists Mariah Carey is preparing, Whitney Houston
\nis going down, Toni Braxton is disappointing, and Spice Girls are
\noverplayed, Celine Dion releases an album that captures her
\ntrademark live performances in one neat package.<\/p>\n
Don’t be turned off by the thirteen out of fifteen French
\nlanguage tracks. Jean-Jacques Goldman works perfectly with Dion, so
\neven if it
\nis<\/i> essentially a Dion-Goldman concert, it doesn’t take away
\nanything at all.<\/p>\n
I understand only rudimentary French but this album still took
\nme into a state of stupor. I’ve seen Celine Dion in concert
\nrecently (Seoul performance), and I’m amazed at how perfectly the
\nfeeling is captured into disc. The layout is the only disagreeable
\nfactor; “J’Attendais” was never my favorite Celine Dion song
\n(Celine, you’re a “fluff” artist! Enter with Goddess-like pose!)
\nand “Vole” isn’t a good way to end a concert. I was very
\ndisappointed that “To Love You More” was not a live performance,
\njust the studio version, released for the sake of the Americans (it
\nwas previously released in Southeast Asia and Europe).<\/p>\n
But that’s it on the negatives. “J’Attendais” kicks into
\n“Destin” which happens to be one of my favorite songs on her
\nD’eux<\/i> album. Everything about this song is perfect for
\nCeline Dion live; she sings it with much more passion than she does
\nin the studio.<\/p>\n
It’s really too bad about “The Power Of Love”, the song
\neverybody either loves or hates. Without the high polish gloss
\neffect of the studio, her stark belting is less emotional.
\n“Regarde-Moi” and “River Deep, Mountain High” do the requisite
\nlet’s-perk-the-audience bit and I get a little afraid for her; this
\nlady sings with no reserve whatsoever. What if she loses her voice
\nin the middle of the concert? It amazes me because here’s one of
\nthe thinnest singers on Earth and she flies around the stage for
\nover two hours, faltering not one bit.<\/p>\n
It took me some time to realize that “Un Garcon Pas Comme” and
\n“Les Autres (Ziggy)” were the same song (it’s actually “Un Garcon
\nPas Comme Les Autres (Ziggy)”). I gotta say this here; the French
\naudience is amazingly in tune when Dion invites them to sing the
\nchorus.<\/p>\n
“Les Derniers Seront Les Premiers” is my favorite song on
\nD’eux<\/i>, so my anticipation was high as I listened into this
\nsong. It’s around a hundred times more exicting than it is in
\nD’eux<\/i>; when Jean-Jacques Goldman suddenly added his vocals
\nto Dion’s during the second chorus, electricity went through my
\nskin. He was a little shaky at first, but that’s part of the
\nmagic.<\/p>\n
Then Dion goes “Are you ready to rock and roll!” And she gets
\ninto “J’Irai Ou Tu Iras”, another duet song featuring Goldman. Dion
\nmakes a sharp contrast with the following “Je Sais Pas”, much more
\nchilling than its childish English-lyric counterpart “I Don’t
\nKnow”.<\/p>\n
“Le Ballet” is a much longer edit than its album version (ten
\nminutes and thirty something seconds) because Dion introduces her
\nband members during a much extended bridge section. It’s also a
\nfascinating study on the interesting sounds Celine Dion can make;
\nespecially when she does imitations of the intruments she’s
\nintroducing or that weird breathing sequence she does on 6:56 and
\n7:38. Only someone with French influence would be able to produce
\nthem (you’ll hear what I mean).<\/p>\n
“Priere Paienne” can be easily overlooked in
\nD’eux<\/i> but thanks to Dion’s formidable background singers,
\nthat’s impossible. Sit back and enjoy the gorgeous harmonies going
\nin the background … preferably late at night driving fast on a
\nhighway with the roof down (convertible required).<\/p>\n
The audience goes understandably berserk when Dion opens “Pour
\nQue Tu M’aimes Encore”, another exquisite song on
\nD’eux<\/i> later to be butchered in
\nFalling Into You<\/i> when it was translated into English (“If
\nThat’s What it Takes”). I’d like to extend a gratified smooch to
\nCeline Dion herself; thank you for singing this song, especially
\nfor singing it
\nin French<\/i>. No matter what happens during the rest of the
\nalbum, nothing will destroy it.<\/p>\n
So it’s sad that she had to end it with “Quand On N’a Que
\nL’Amour” and “Vole”. The former has the “fluff” laid on too thick.
\n“Vole” was a very unwise choice for an encore; it’s just plain
\nboring to hear in studio or live. And how was I to know that
\n“inedit” in English meant “studio version”? “To Love You More” is
\nher best English track to date (which is saying a lot), but it
\ndoesn’t belong on this live album.<\/p>\n
Regarding
\nLive a Paris<\/i> as a package, it’s near-perfect; Dion is better
\non stage than in the studio and she knows it.
\nFalling Into You<\/i> didn’t deserve the Grammy for Album of the
\nYear, and that disappointing album unfortunately overshadows
\nLive a Paris<\/i> in CD stores everywhere. Not buying
\nFalling Into You<\/i> is perfectly understandable, but
\nLive a Paris<\/i> deserves more attention and respect than it is
\ngetting now. It simply is the best Celine Dion album to date. And
\nisn’t that reason enough?<\/p>\n
For we “fluff” fans, the answer us YES!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5686],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35562","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-celine-dion","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35562"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35562"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}