Carla Bruni - No Promises
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Music CD Cover Artist: Carla Bruni Edition: Music CD Audio: English (Unknown) Format: Enhanced CD Release Date: 2008-02-19 Music Label: Downtown Records Soundtracks:
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| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $9.98 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $4.54 |
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Free Music Notes for No Promises Album
Free Music Review: Shoot for the Stars, and You'll Reach the Tree-Top
Hit: 2 Stars
While I authentically respect Carla Bruni's prowess as a musician (try finding her amazing rendition of "Deranger les pierres" with Julien Clerc on video), her second album remains an oddity even in her reasonable musical arsenal. While her debut album remains to this day a breakthrough of sorts (remember this was before the general public even knew her much), this CD seems like a weird experiment that doesn't quite go anywhere.
Despite being a listener of mood music and concept albums such as this - Isobel Campbell being a prime mascot of the genre - I was half expecting some sort of masterpiece when I first got it. However, it has to be said that of all her albums, Carla is the most monotonous on this one. Her husky, breathy voice is reduced to a flat drill here, and it looks like shes actually struggling with her English language lyrics.
"Those Dancing Days are Gone" was the first single, and easily the most listenable thing here. However, once you reach Track 4, a certain sameness creeps in, and it all goes downhill very, very quickly. I think the problem is not the song selection, but rather the lyrics of these great texts being enunciated with incorrect syllable stress almost everywhere - Carla doesn't let these songs breathe - its evident shes laboriously reading off a page, and that isn't pretty.
Unlike Susheela Raman who took ancient Sanskrit texts, set them to blues and jazz, and in the process won huge fans from both the art circuit and the mainstream, Carla's experiment here is just an experiment. Its not very listenable. And mostly, its not very good (though I admit I did give it four to five listens to find something of any worth, but was unlucky)
The main problem also remains that the album actually gets even slower and duller as it progresses. The beauty of "Autumn" as a poem is totally lost, and by the time we get to the most lyrically intriguing song - "Ballad at Thirty Five", most listeners would have tuned out. I also must state that the two closing tracks - in particular the final track, is a sure cure for insomnia.
When Bruni does a ballad with class, she really nails it. "Ma Jeunesse" from "Comme si de rien n'etait" for example is a prime contendor for the kinds of songs she is good at, but give her a bunch of poems to set to music, and shes totally lost. I think even she probably gave up halfway on this record (which is perhaps why she has never sung any of these songs live or in concert)
Two Stars.