Customer Reviews

Arabesque

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With an arabian twist to the usual French pop sensibilities and fine vocals the effect is a subtly seductively exotic album filled with delights. It's almost like Ferrero Rocher ( I don't know if you guys get them ) but you feel as if " you're really spoiling us " with this collection. This has to go down as a first rate tribute to the great Serge Gainsbourg and also a first rate live album too. A must have for those interested in something different and are not bothered by a different language

This album is a rare opportunity to hear the fascinating and hypnotic violinist, Djamel Ben Yelles (also spelled Benyelles) whose work has been undervalued for years. One of his skills lies in floating a musical liferaft for singers with very small voices, and he does this wonderfully here for Jane Birkin, who only stays afloat in several numbers thanks to him. If you are not a Birkin fan, you may find her contribution unbearably irritating. However the numbers where Ben Yelles's violin soars (as in his own immensely popular "She Left Home") are well worth listening to.

Well, I'd just heard, not listened to, a piece of one of the Arabesque's song in a TV spot, here in Spain.
I was enchanted by the music and I started to look for the title and the singer through internet, when I found her, Jane Birkin, I read her biography and about her professional career and I decided to buy one of her albums.
As I previously had bought products to Amazon (and I already knew the efficent way they work)it was the first place I visited to buy the cd.
Of course they had it, and I got it in less than six days.
I truly recommend it to all the readers who enjoy life, sunsets, sunlight, moonlight and fresh air.
Elisa, the song with which the album starts, it's simply heavenly.

JANE BIRKIN'S voice remains a matter of taste,and if you did not dig her before,chances are you won't appreciate this live tribute to SERGE GAINSBOURG,her late husband.I for one appreciated many relectures of GAINSBOURG's songs like LES DESSOUS CHICS and AMOUR DES FEINTES in an ORIENTAL setting,which gives them an unique look,quite original in it's own way.Unfortunately,i do not like everything here.Sometimes,i feel like i am in THE FLOWER DRUM SONG,the RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN 1958 musical.It's a mixed bag.If your new to GAINSBOURG,don't start with this one,it would be a mistake.

Jane Birkin does an excellent performance of combining Arab rythm with ode to her late husband, Serge Gainsburg. Simply outstanding.

Excellent CD. If you are interested, notice that there is also a beautiful DVD version, which presents the entire live performance recorded at L'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe.

After so many years searching, jane Birkin finds herself in the most intimate work I've lately heard. Open in spirit, seduction, joy, sadness she gives it all. A tribute to her late husband and her late nephew, a tribute to great songs. The arabic twist makes the trick and turns the most simple 70's french pop into deeply emotional pieces. I love Jane, she's done her best work in this album.

The melodies are perfect. The songs in the beginning are wonderful, then, it changes. She seems to be droning on about something. And at the end of the album I lose interest.

While Jane Birkin is surely legendary in her own right, her vocal abilities are poorly matched to the wonderful, and demanding, underpinning instrumental score. Her voice often seems on the verge of breaking, sometimes off-key, other times, weak and breathy, but never sultry. This album may work well as an instrumental version, or, redone by the likes of Natacha Atlas, Alabina, Fairuz, etc... In retrospect, Dalida, for example, would have seemed perfectly matched for the vocal demands of this album. Bearable numbers include "Elisa" and "Fuir le bonheur".

I bought this item as a gift for a friend. However, it arrived in a broken CD case. The crack was very visible beyond the plastic wrapping. It means that the company does not care about the quality of the products it ships off.