Customer Reviews

Boucan D'Enfer

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

 

 

I love this CD. I bought it when I was in France during the week that we went to war with Iraq, and the songs now seem like a soundtrack to the many protests and marches that I saw and occasionally became swept up in. No singer/songwriter in the U.S. has written a song about 9-11 like "Manhattan-Kaboul," which describes the similarities between a Puerto-Rican man who died in the Twin Towers, and an Afghani girl who died in her bombed-out village in Afghanistan. Other songs focus on Renaud's battle with his dark side (Doctor Renaud, Mr. Renard), his daughter's coming of age (Elle a vu le loup), and even his dog (Baltique). This CD is especially valuable for students of French who want to pick up some expressions in Parisian street slang. I'm not familiar with Renaud's earlier work, but this CD holds its own.

It is true that Renaud has changed since his career reached its apogy during the early to mid 1980s, nevertheless the album 'Boucan d'enfer' offers an in dept exploration of the enigmatic soul and lifestyle of an artist for whom I have always had a great level of admiration. The songs in this album (mostly balads)revolve around his battle with alcoholism, his decision to withdraw from the world and hide-out in seedy Parisian cafés and the departure of his wife of over twenty years.

It is a rather stark and sinistre album that fans who have come to know Renaud's life and ideologies throught his music will definitely enjoy. The only up-tempo song featured on this album is the radio-friendly 'Manhattan-Kabul' duet with french singer Axelle Red. The song reminds us of a not so distant period (Fall 2001-winter 2002) where the entire world (oh yes... even the French!) expressed their compassion and sympathy towards the United States of America.

Definitely worth listening to .

I have a lot of sympathy for RENAUD who used to be one the greatest french songwritter of the 80's.
And I hate the word that I'm gonna use to describe him but he really is an "has been".
This album is a caricature of what he used to be, he when through very hard times in his personnal life, and some people come back stronger from those times, but unfortunetaly, Renaud doesn't.
So, if you are not familiar with RENAUD and are willing to discover him, listen to his early recordings-Marche a l'ombre, amoureux de paname,...and you will discover a real rebel.