Customer Reviews

Something Dangerous

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!!!!

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.

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.

The album starts quite mellow and you feel like "it's the rhythm she forgot" and here comes the second one and there's no doubt , Natacha got the rhythm!! Trance global underground style sound and Natacha fits in just great (just turn the volume on and shake your body). The next few tracks still got the groove until Natacha tells us at her own way that "this is a man's world".
The "second half" Natacha is a bit slowing down , but the good part is that Natacha can be heard more in Arabic , unlike at the dance tracks, and that's fantastic.
That's actually the only 'problem' that i have with this album.
Wish there were more tracks with more oriental touch than just dance
and hip hop . But on the other hand , i wish we had more great albums like this one.
No doubt , this is Natacha's world and sounds like she's up to something ... dangerous ??

I certainly didn't expect this after "Ayeshteni" which came out 2 years ago. On that album, she mostly sounded like an Arab diva, a la Fairuz, with a modern pop sensibility. What a change an album can make!
It all starts with the album cover. Just looking Mariah Carey-esque cover, you know it's not your typical "Natacha Atlas album".
The album starts off with "Adam's Lullaby". Not a song you would expect to hear on a Atlas album, but it's actually very good. It's a collaboration with Jocelyn Pook, who composed "Eyes Wide Shut" score. It features nice string arrangements. It takes a while to get used to, but eventually I ended up liking it a lot.
Second song "Eye of The Duck", that has dancehall reggae written all over it, is not bad either. Well, damn, it's actually good, too. The problem is, it comes right after this totally serene, beautiful modern composition and leaves you somewhat disoriented. It features reggae vocals from Transglobal Underground MC Tuup and someone called Miss Juliana that accompanies some nice Middle Eastern melody, which Missy Elliot would definitely kill for.
"Something Dangerous" is OK. Not great, not bad. It obviously refers to the state of the world. "Something dangerous is goin' on.". Yes, indeed!
"Janamaan" has some decent Bhangra work, but Natacha Atlas's vocal somehow doesn't seem to work too well with the song. It's still good, though..
After the very successful "I Put On A Spell On You" cover on Ayeshteni, Natacha Atlas tries to work her magic on James Brown's "It's A Man's World". Not totally convincing, but not bad either.
"Layali" features more reggae mixed with Middle Eastern melodies and Arabic lyrics. It mostly works, and is one of the better songs on the album.
"Simple Heart" features the vocals of Sinead O'Connor (who seems to collaborate with everyone these days, Massive Attack, Asian Dub Foundation, and now Natacha Atlas). It doesn't really stand out, despite two great voices it features.
I really liked "Daymalhum". It has some nice electronic production, and Natacha Atlas's vocal gives the song an eerie atmosphere. It sounds great, although it doesn't have (maybe apart from the vocal) anything Middle Eastern about it.
Next song, "Who's My Baby", is another example of disorientation the album causes. This is a very good R&B song, but after "Daymalhum", it just doesn't sound right. It would certainly make a great Top 40 tune, if people were more open-minded.
There are couple other songs, which are OK but not very memorable.
This mostly good but messy album, produced by Sugababes producer Brian Higgins, seems to have his fingerprint on it. I can't imagine Natacha Atlas being a commercial success in US, but this is probably as close as it gets.

Mabrouk Natacha! I think your latest album have yet hypnotised me with more new styles and genres.Though, i did missed more of your "traditional" tracks.The fusion of "Aqaba " and" I put a Spell on You" were a couple of tracks of what i seeked.I was indeed extremely happy with "Eye of the Duck" and Something Dangereous.Shabas Natacha Shabas !

Keep Up the Good Work Natacha!~

in her new album "something dangerous" it seems natacha atlas is cornforming to what is popular. i felt maybe her record company told her to change her style to make it more "hip". the pop sound doesnt suit her. her voice is capable of beautiful sounds and this is not heard in the bland ,all beat songs of her new album.

This album has a little for everyone. It fuses many different styles and sounds. First you have Natach's voice floating in with a nice orchestral sound as if it were straight out of a love story in " Adam's Lullaby". There is a hindi track, "Jannaman" which is Bollywood all the way. Also the hard club dance song " Daymalhum" which is fierce. The rest of the album is mixed in with hip hop or R&b sounds. The Jamacacn song " Eye of the Duck" is one for any reggae fans. The rest of the album is somewhat soulfull R&B with some soft rap mixed in with Natachas Arabic vocal. It is very nice to hear her voice mixed in with such variety of music styles. It works very nicely and is a great listen. It is meant to appeal to a wider audieance, especially in the west. I think some songs could even be given a chance at American radio. Go pick this one up because you won't be dissapointed.

This cd is a good listen. Yes, alot of different styles are used, but it works. There is something for everyone on here. " Adam's Lullaby" is sweet and soft with a nice orchestral sound. There are Dance tracks, R&B, a Jamacan type track, Hindi song, very well mix of styles. It does open the doors to a wider western audieance, but still keepping with her Arabic roots as well. More the vocal than the production though. This album is meant to gain more appeal. In the end a great buy. I don't think that any other Arabic artist can pull off what Natacha has done with this album. It is very well deliverd. There will always be critics who down an album for its attempts at something diifferent or in this case SOMETHING DANGEROUS but they seem to forget to praise an album for its glory!

This is the first Natacha Atlas album I bought and I like it much. It's oriental pop music and if you like Ofra Haza or Sertab, then you might like this album too. It makes me wanna buy more Natacha music :)