Star [Import]

Francoise Hardy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 14, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI France
• ASIN: B0000076DW
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,195 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Star

2. Chanson Sur Toi et Nous

3. Enregistrement

4. A Vannes

5. Flashbacks

6. L' Impasse

7. Ton Enfance

8. Je Ne Suis Que Moi

9. Drôle de Fête

10. Fatiguee

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contains one of my three favourite songs., October 2, 2001

By 

darragh o'donoghue - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star (Audio CD)

In the 1960s, Francoise Hardy was the chanteuse of choice for those of us who dreamt of Paris, Gitanes, black polo-necks, existential paperbacks and the films of the New Wave, inflecting American pop with a heartbreaking Gallic cool. With the 1970s, however, Hardy faced many of the problems that dogged singers from her generation, notably a decrease in the quality of material, and, more damagingly, an 'improvement' in production techniques that actually resulted in smooth, super-slick, soulless, session-player, bass-slapping muzak of the sort that polluted wine bars in the 1980s.

Hardy's albums from the period were patchy, but infinitely better than most. Although I wouldn't recommend 'Star' to the tyro listener (whom I would direct towards the recently released 'Vogue Years' compilation, two CDs of sheer heaven), there is much here of wistful beauty. The best songs relive the glory days of the 60s, with their minor-key strings flourishes and dramatic melodies, such as 'Chanson Sur toi et nous', 'Fatiguee' and 'L'impasse'. 'Ton Enfance' is a strange, but effective adn moving fusion of musette and country.

But the line between breathless and bilge is very thin - 'A Vannes' survives the muso production because it is a strong song, but 'Enregistrement' and 'Flashbacks' are dispiriting blueprints for yuppie soul. 'Drole de Fete' begins with the stark classical piano that was the signature of Hardy's sublime late 60s ballads, but soon deteriorates into horrible prog-rock, sub-Kate Bush wibbliness.

The album, however, is essential listening for anyone who believes that only music can embody the deep sadness of the heart, because of the title track, a seven-minute, muted ballad with just an acoustic guitar and Hardy's glacial yet emotionally brimming voice, intermittenly weaved with gently insistent strings - the tragic tale of a celebrity's rise and fall becomes a story of universal heartbreak, and is, I think, along with Jobim's 'Insensatez' and Abba's 'The Winner Takes it all', the most heart-brimmingly beautiful song ever written.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tres belle, November 22, 2006

By 

Alex Riggle (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star (Audio CD)

I don't speak a word of French beyond tourist phrase-book niceties. I discovered this album when I was an undergraduate, in the Undergrad listening library at the University of Washington (Seattle). I love the sound. Still do. My music tastes range from Metallica to Vivaldi to the Carter Family, and this album has its own special niche in my heart.

5.0 out of 5 stars Francoise in a different setting but still one of her best, November 20, 2010

By 

Lloyd J. Peasley (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Star (Audio CD)

I wasn't too excited about this one at first - the cold, sterile, and brittle sonics put me off - but further listens have convinced me that this is one of Francoise's best-ever albums. For one thing, there is more variety than is usual with her. Even her greatest fans would probably concede that her music has a narrow range - exquisite as this range may be - and an album's-length of ineffable, ghostly, uncomplaining sadness may be just a little too samey to digest in a single sitting ("La Question", for instance, is breathtakingly beautiful from beginning to end but by the concluding bars I'm ready for a counteracting dose of blaring metallic noize to bring me back to the real world). This album, however, takes her into unwonted territory but - and I emphasize this - it doesn't betray her essential character. Throughout she's still the same inimitable Francois, delivering the melodies in a simple, direct, and completely unaffected manner, never "emoting" but letting the songs speak for themselves.

The album is keyboard dominated apart from the long opening track which has her traditional combination of a shy, hesitant, diffident vocal backed by limpid acoustic guitars and strings. She continues the melancholy with the lovely "Chanson Sur Toi Et Nous" although the instrumental textures have changed to Bacharach-like piano and strings. Up to now - twelve minutes into the album - it's typical Francoise but on the following "Enregistrement" we're jolted into unfamiliar terrain - the stabbing electric piano and fretless bass of le jazz-rock! I hated this track at first but have grown to cherish the way Francoise artlessly intones the melody over an animated but emotionally numb accompaniment. It's a bit like Steely Dan but with much better singing. "Drole De Fete" is also a first for Francoise because it takes her into near-Stadium Rock territory with a subdued and pretty melody combined with a lung-busting chorus - almost reminiscent of Journey although Francoise's singing is about as far from Steve Perry's histrionics as it's possible to get. "Je Ne Suis Que Moi" likewise has a beautiful melody with a big chorus and the producer wisely gives this to some male singers who fill it with the gusto it deserves but he makes it really special by having Francoise's delicate tones enhance the chorus at the climactic point.

But of course we come to this singer for her particular brand of thrilling melancholy and there is still plenty of this on this album. It's just that it's set off here by being presented in different (but musically complementary) ways rather than being continuously voiced in the traditional gazing-out-at-the-lonely-sea setting of her earlier albums.