Customer Reviews

Hotel Costes, Vol. 12

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Yea yea, requires several listens to "grow", I heard that crap before.

I listened to it three times. These are my findings:

The album has an outstanding start with the Unforscene chill acoustic guitar mix "Alright"

Then goes into a big hole of trashy tunes (read wanna-be songs/poor selections) and to my ears

doesn't recover until the outstanding Latin track "Tu no quisieras ser yo" (You Wouldn't Want To Be), reminded

me of the Colombian songstress Andrea from the band Aterciopelados.

From track 13 on, the album is on a roll! The Ben Westbeech blockbuster "Get closer" is to my ears the best

selection of the album. Track 14 "Beijos" is an intimate chill tune, reminded me of Argentinian singer

Federico Aubele, featured in previous collections. Tracks 15 and 16 "Ether" and "Plage Ensoleillée" are chill songs

nicely sung and arranged.

Recommended tracks:

Alright ***

You Wouldn't Want To Be ****

Get Closer *****

Beijos ***

Ether ***

Plage Ensoleillée ***

This CD takes the number twelve spot on my CD player and that's about where it falls when compared to the eleven other Hotel Costes CD's that preceed it. I guess it was to much to hope for that S.P. could keep it up. The selections don't have the range of quality and ability to keep you interested in listening to it more than a time or two...even this may be more of a morbid fascination-playing it the second time, but being such a fan, evenso, after I got it I played it about ten times trying to get into it thinking it was just me, well there is just too much synthasized low quality junk here. S.P. has had the knack to find innovative one hit wonders and under used oldie but goodies for his prior work but these "artist" must have given him this stuff for free in hopes of getting some of their otherwise unsellable CD's sold...and what's with putting pieces with profanity in there? Maybe next year...

Since we have come to expect greatness from Stéphane Pompougnac, this disc is a HUGE disappointment. Not at all "cool" or "lounge-y," it comes across as distracted and disjoint. Perhaps SP is too busy traveling the world to take time out for the studio: if so, he should just skip a year, rather than put out such a poor compilation. Save your money for something else; Hotel Costes 12 does not deserve its place in the HC collection.

I've bought every Hotel Costes CD, less this one. I've kept all except #8 and #11, which I thought were lame for the most part. I haven't bought this one yet, but listened to the preview clips here and it seems as lame as #11. Should I bother?

There's something cool and yet not "hipster cool" about French chillout music. It's nice to come home to after a bad day at the office, or as background music while you're watch the world go by outdoors.

The Hotel Costes series has sort of gone downhill from Volumes 9 through 11. It just seemed like Stéphane Pompougnac has been putting out less than great albums as of late. Don't get me wrong, they're still good - but lacked the awesomeness that you've come to expect from this series.

If you're looking at getting into this series, Vol 12 is a great starting point. It's great background music, and it's something I enjoy listening to before a power nap. This album is one you'll want to have on your mp3 player to make commuting more tolerable.

A friend asked me to include this in a bundle of CDs I was buying from Amazon to save postage. I gave up on Costes after Vol 11, but she was still hopeful. She put the disk on for the first time at a small party and the swearing on track 8 did not go unnoticed. The CD was immediately removed. Now I'm by no means prudish, but I ceased to think of foul language as being particularly artistically clever or witty when I was about 18. My friend gave me the disk to dispose of and I listened to it a couple of times. Tafubar's 'The Wicked Thoughts of You' is an echo of the time when the Hotel Costes albums were great. The rest is pretty abysmal. You'd be better off spending your money on groceries. My friends CD is temporarily residing in the recycling bin awaiting the trash collectors.

As an avid fan of lounge, chill, dance, etc., and an owner of all of the Hotel Costes series, this one is garbage. If I waste anymore time on this review, I'll lose even more money and time. I'm angry enough I bought this terrible CD.

I own all previous 11 volumes and Hotel Costes 12 is one of the best. It has a nice flow from each track into the next and changes the mood several times during the CD. Exactly what the Hotel Costes series of CD's were intended to do. The CD is great. You won't be disappointed.

I love cds 1-11 but what happened with this one? this is definitely not as good as the other ones, hopefully 13 will be better.

Stephane Pompougnac's albums are getting worse and worse. And this is his most unlistenable yet. Music is unoriginal and pretentious. You know one of those chill out albums that tries to be cool when it really isn't? Yeah this will be one of those. I will stop snapping up his albums until he starts coming up with something good.