Something Dangerous

Natacha Atlas | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 2011)
• Original Release Date: May 19, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mantra
• ASIN: B00008PW4M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,592 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > World Music > Middle East > Arabic

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's quite extraordinary how Natacha Atlas can seamlessly combine so many languages and genres. On Something Dangerous, while singing in Arabic, Hindi, English and French, she draws her musical backing from drum & bass, Parisian vaudeville, R&B, ambient dance, pop, rap and film music, and never once do her sonic movements feel remotely gratuitous. Indeed, every track here is of the highest quality. In this, she's undoubtedly aided by a stellar guest list. Atlas is more than ready to step back and leave room for a love-hungry rap from Princess Julianna ("Just like a Dream"), some punchy positivist soul from Niara Scarlett ("Who's My Baby") and an insistent lament from Sinead O'Connor ("Simple Heart"). Add to these the grand orchestrations of Jocelyn Pook, the wacky Gem keyboards of Gamal Awad and the mournful trumpet of the late Sami El Babli, plus the efforts of Jah Wobble, Count Dubulah and Transglobal Underground and you have a collection that never veers from the classy. As a round-the-world excursion, Something Dangerous has more in common with Peter Gabriel at his coffee-table easiest than with the wild wanderings of Kate Bush. Nevertheless, for those who like their chill-out music to rise above the bland, there's much here to enjoy. --Dominic Wills

Product Description

Natacha Atlas' Something Dangerous is a bit slicker than her last, lightening up the beats and sexy intensity of Ayeshteni for more radio-friendly pop electronics, occasional vocal harmonies reminiscent of Destiny's Child, and lots of guests. Not that you could tell from the first cut, the gorgeous "Adam's Lullaby," on which she's backed by a gently playing Prague Symphony Orchestra string section. After this peaceful opener, the pace picks up with the dancehall-style "Eye of the Duck," featuring fellow Transglobal Underground member Tuup. Then the title cut gets a little funky while Atlas trades off vocal duties with the rapping Princess Julianna. A little later, Atlas takes on "Man's World." While her voice is lovely for it, the cover doesn't quite recapture the magic of her last album's success with Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You." The collaboration with Sinéad O'Connor, "Simple Heart," is a high point, and the album really hits its stride in the songs that follow, with especially good interaction between Atlas and Niara Scarlett on "Who's My Baby," before mellowing out into closing ambient cuts.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Natacha use your Atlas and come home!, November 2, 2003

By 

Orenda (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something Dangerous (Audio CD)

Die-Hard Natacha Fan since Transglobal Underground days....
This album is hardly worthy of Natacha's name, its totally unlike her former albums in which the thing that stood out most was the beautiful melodies intoxicating rhythms
and Natacha's pristine vocals.
The whole style is unrecognizable, the only track being "When I close my eyes", is reminiscent of the Natacha Atlas style. "Daymalhum" is very transglobal and not bad.. "Adams Lullaby" was sweet but lacking some traditional Natacha Spice.."Jaanaman" was cute, kinda...."Simple Heart" is nice but just boring...
"Layali" forced me to do something unprecedented in Natacha fan history...Skip to the next song. "Its a Man's World" is just a simply offensive song to begin with, patronizing and ignorant..
but to hear it sung in such a weakling mediocre vocal by Natacha is baffling....where did her spunk and power of her voice go?
The Nightingale has morphed into a regular mocking bird.
I hate the new direction she is going in; the empty soulless music of pop, interjections which interrupt the singing but offer nothing of value in return....leaving you insulted. Rehashed lyrics again and again. "Something Dangerous" being a perfect example.
She uses some of the same lyrics from Gedida, as well as other former songs, in the entire album but sings them a little differently...."Eye of the Duck" with ugly idiotic Shaggy-style rapping trashing the quality of the album.....how dissappointing!
Remember the good old days of Transglobal Underground when the rapping was actually poetry? There's just nothing original about this album.
Hoping she returns to the artistic/creative root from whence she came, shame to waste such a gifted voice!!!!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Natacha Does It Again!, June 17, 2003

By 

Zekeriyah (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Something Dangerous (Audio CD)

Wow! This CD is a wonderful new move for Natacha Atlas. She retains her beautiful voice and wonderful unique style, but somehow this CD is new and different. I think theres a bit more influence from western pop styles on this CD (as opposed to some of her earlier releases), but it still is filtered through Arabic/Middle Eastern styles. Featuring contributions from Tuup, Princess Julianna, Kalia, Z, Myra Boyle, Sinead O'Connor, Niara Scarlett and Mona, this CD adds everything from hip-hop to Bollywood to Natacha's already ecclectic style.
The CD starts off with the nice, mellow track "Adam's Lullaby" where Natacha shows off that wonderful voice of hers, and goes straight to a reggae track "The Eye of the Duck", which sounds alot like some of the new stuff from Jamaica or Africa (but still has a very strong Egyptian pop influence on it; actually, maybe it sounds a bit like Bhangra too). "Eye of the Duck" was simply amazing. The title song, "Something Dangerous", plays up on the exotic and the mysterious, keeping Natacha's characteristic Middle Eastern style, but making it more appreciable to western ears. Another track "Janamaan", was simply amazing and borrowed a lot from Bollywood musicals. Personally, its my favorite track on the CD. "Just Like a Dream" and "Man's World" show off the amazing range of Natacha's beautiful voice. "Layli" was a very smooth, slick hip-hop number, showing another side of Atlas. "Simple Heart" is another nice dancey track, followed by the moody, atmospheric "Daymalhum" and the rhythmic rapping of "Who's My Baby". "When I Close My Eyes" seems to call more on Egyptian/Arabic pop music (which is always appreciated), as does "This Realm". I liked "Le Printemps". Its a very nice atmospheric song, highlighting Natacha Atlas's wonderful voice. Finally, the CD closes out with "Like the Last Drop", another slow ephemeral song playing up on Arabic song.
Ultimately this was a wonderful CD, and a must for fans of Natacha Atlas. If your new to Atlas, you might want to check out one of her earlier releases like "Gedida", but you'll still appreciate this CD. It seems to be a new move for this incredible and remarkable artist (after all, how many people could fuse Arabic/Egyptian pop with techno-dance beats, reggae, hip-hop and bollywood musicals?). I have to give her credit. This was an amazing CD, and completely different from what I was expecting, but still a wonderful addition to my CD collection. Few artists could have successfully pulled something like this off. Go out and buy this CD and I garuntee you will be moved, even if you have never been exposed to Arabic music in your life.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An Unfortunate Disappointment..., June 1, 2003

By 

"harpsikid" (Newport Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Something Dangerous (Audio CD)

Having been a fan of Natacha Atlas' since her first album, I have to say I'm seeing something of a hearbreaking decline.. But before I even go into how little I like this album, I should say in all fairness that I'm just not at all a fan of rap or R&B in English or any other language. Natacha implemented these both in past albums in varying degrees, but this present album seems far more focused on those styles than any of her previous works, which hurts its entertainment value for me. Whereas before the Arabic sound was in abundance and the Western influences secondary, the current album reverses the trend and seems to supplement hip-hop and R&B songs (performed many times by guest artists) with some occasional beautiful singing from Natacha.

This is certainly a diverse album, and I'm hoping that was Natacha's sole intent -- to show us she's capable of this style as well. There is no denying that she is easily one of the best vocalists in music today, and the fact that she is also so active in the actual song writing process also serves to bring her a step above many of the other artists. With that said, I hope her future releases will revert to the old creative fusion of traditional Arabic and modern Western influences so many of her fans -- myself included -- loved. This album, unfortunately, gives us very little of that.