Customer Reviews

Sahara Blue

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

 

 

The previous reviewer (grantc from australia) was in error when he said that this release does not include two tracks with contributions by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance. He is most likely referring to another edition of this album, where there were problems attaining the rights to their appearances. Similar permission problems involved the contributions of David Sylvian. Rest assured that this edition does indeed contain the tracks "Black Stream" and "Youth", featuring Dead Can Dance.
Zazou's strength and versatility as a composer and director are unmistakable on this release. Sahara Blue is an excellent album well worth exploring. See especially the breathtaking contributions by Sussan Deyhim in two incredible tracks.

Forget the fact that there's an all-star cast on this, as on many other Zazou albums. And don't let the first track deceive you either, great though it is. Sure, starting an album with a Gerard Depardieu poetry-reading vocal over a disco rhythm with a pumping Bill Laswell baseline gets thing off on a flying start, but the rest of the album is much more quietly, electronically atmospheric, with some great French and English vocals from John Cale and Barbara Gogan especially. "Sahara Blue" is a collection of songs set to lyrics (some sung in the original French, some in English translation) by "poete maudit" Arthur Rimbaud. The album has an internationally oriented, ambient atmosphere with a bite that defies description. It may have something to do with the fact that Frenchman Zazou, who was born and raised in Algeria but was forced to move to France, appears to be uprooted and permanently caught between at least two worlds. He has been trying to unite the best of both worlds musically. "Sahara Blue" is a musical trip (in both senses), a mind-blowing experience that will leave you hungry for more. In that case, explore "Songs from the Cold Seas" with a similar all-star cast from around the North Pole Circle, "Lights in the Dark", Zazou's Irish record, or the hard-to-find "Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses" on Philips, with the most amazing vocals of all, weird and age-old-sounding vocals from Corsica, to which he provides an outspoken yet fitting accompaniment.

The concept for the album is pretentious and the list of guest musicians reads like a "who's who of art rock" and it's this combination that makes it work so well. Of course, Zazou's eccentric noodlings and dabblings help to add a sense of mystery to the whole thing.

There are a few tracks here that I habitually ignore. The opening track is very dated. Not bad, really, it just doesn't stand up to the test of time very well. As far as opening tracks go, this one does its job but suffers from a drumbeat that belongs in a C&C Music Factory song. "Hunger," too is a little too cliched for my taste. When you think "poetry set to music" and assume the worst, this track is probably what comes to mind. Besides these two frankly embarrassing tracks, though, everything else ranges from "very decent" to "intoxicatingly beautiful." The title track is a little "Twin Peaks-y" but that speaks more to the cultural phenomenon of Twin Peaks than it does to anything on the album.

It's refreshing, too, that this project doesn't get too bogged down in the pretentiousness and art rock trappings that it could have easily have been literally soaking with. There's a definite seriousness to the music but only in that it's clear that the people behind it actually cared. Zazou is not shy about being an experimental artist but he's also not self-conscious about it so it all flows in wonderfully - and subtlely - odd directions that have kept me coming back for more for 12 years.

As there are already two other entries for Sahara Blue I will assume that this one is intended to represent the original issue, which would be from 1992 (not 1998) and on Crammed/Made to Measure. This edition included two tracks featuring vocals by David Sylvian, To A Reason (#5), and Victim of Stars (#10). Due to contractual problems with Sylvian's label asked that these tracks be removed, hence the currently available edition with Youth and Black Stream (which feature Dead Can Dance). This is a very rare find, especially for Sylvian fans, as these excised tracks do not appear elsewhere.

Beyond this Sahara Blue is a tremendous album and features contributions from Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Cale, Sussan Deihim, Gerard Depardieu (yes, the actor), Bill Laswell, and many many other talented folks. A great album from Hector Zazou, an equal in collaborative genius to his Songs of the Cold Seas.

Addendum: Amazon has made an error in the track listing here. As I (along with a few others) previously noted, this listing originally represented the first edition of Sahara Blue whose track listing follows below. This version did not have the two Dead Can Dance tracks, but instead had two David Sylvian vocal tracks. I realize this is confusing, and Amazon has not helped the cause with their erroneous track listing above.

Correct track listing for first edition Hector Zazou SAHARA BLUE (MTM32) - 1. I'll Strangle You 5:12; 2. First Evening 6:31; 3. Ophélie 6:20; 4. Lines 3:33; 5. To A Reason 6:23; 6. Hapolot Kenym 4:59; 7. Hunger 4:38; 8. Sahara Blue (Brussels) 6:05; 9. Amdyaz 5:31; 10. Victim Of Stars 4:40; 11. Harar Et Les Gallas 4:28; 12. Lettre Au Directeur Des Messageries Maritimes 4:41

More information can be found at<...>

Hector Zazou is an enigma. How else can you describe someone with such an amibguous, unapproachable talent? Although undoubtedly skilled, his creative excesses sometimes frustrate the listener who is simply in search of "good music." The music here is extremely experimental. Probably the most noteworthy thing about it, from a casual perspective, is that there are two Dead Can Dance songs here that are very difficult to find - Brendan Perry's Black Stream is dark, vivid, and beautiful, and Ophelie finds Lisa Gerrard re-interpreting Rimbaud's famous poem. Beautiful stuff!

In the service of customer satisfaction I must correct a previous review: Dead Can Dance have nothing to do with "Sahara Blue". Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard do not contribute to the album, and neither is there a track called "Black Stream". It would be easy to mistake their presence, though, as the album revels in a variety of world musics, celtic included.
Their absence is not a disaster, however, as there is a plethora of extremely talented musicians working with Zazou. "Sahara Blue" still sounds magnificent nearly 10 years since its release. If you like challenging yet satisfying contemporary music this is one of Zazou's best.