Claude Challe's Buddha-Bar, Vol. II compilation has elements of Far Eastern spirituality, African song, European electronica, and Spanish spice. The first album, Buddha-Bar, is very mellow for the most part. Deepak Chopra and Demi Moore, far and away the most recognizable names on the album, do a spoken word ditty on love and self-worth. People who are not fans of new age doctrine will appreciate artists such as Oliver Shanti and Consuelo Luz, both of whom contribute songs that manage to sound musical, spiritual and ethnic at once. The second album varies from hallucinatory to groovy to fairly high-energy. "Tears Inshalla" will appeal to fans of Eastern-influenced trance. Lyrics are of almost no importance on the album. They do exist on most tracks, but they bounce around from English to Portuguese to Arabic. Bits and pieces and snatches of phrases come through here and there -- just enough to make a listener feel in sync with it all. This music is intended to be an ambient journey, and while a few of the tracks seem to stray off into Never Never Land, the majority of them should appeal to fans of worldbeat. ~ L. Katz

2004 reissue of the second installment in the Buddha Bar series. After the success of the first Buddha Bar mix by Claude Challe, the customers at the Paris bar may pay less attention to what's on their plate, concerned more with the background music and ambience which accompanies it. Challe proposes with Buddha Bar II the pleasure of reliving at home the insane nights of a magical place. He becomes a master in the art of interbreeding the ethnic rhythms of India, the Caribbean and North Africa mixed with electronica as if it were a postcard of an epic voyage.

The music oscillates between the lightness of talented De Phazz or Nino and the energy of Suba and Soul Ascendants. Much like the Café Del Mar series whereby Challe is the Parisian counterpart of Jose Padilla. Originally released in 2000. Wagram.


  Carmine Meo CD
  by Emma Shapplin
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CARMINE MEO is a pop-classical hybrid by opera singer Emma Shapplin. Every year or two somebody from the classical world gets the bright idea to record a classical album with a little something extra for the groundlings: some percussion, some sound effects, maybe some strings. Sometimes the result is insulting, sometimes it's just gilding the lily, and sometimes it works. Carmine Meo, however, sidesteps this problematic phenomenon altogether by making up its own classical music and then turning it into pop. That's right, most of the numbers on the album, even though they sound like lush, romantic arias, are originals.

And despite the disheveled-hair packaging of Emma Shapplin and the truly bad poem she contributes to the liner notes, it works. Why? Because Shapplin, notwithstanding her less-than-opera-caliber voice, sings with absolute conviction, and because her team is determined to entertain. So what if "Cuor Senza Sange" borrows its opening from Peter Gabriel, or if the synthesizer from "Favola Breve" is right off of Who's Next? None of that matters because "Spente le Stelle" truly reaches for the stars, and so do many of the other tracks. To be sure, the classical music aficionado is going to hear this album as slightly "off" in much the same way that "Adiemus," for all of its glorious aspirations, sounds slightly "off."

The composers, producers, and Shapplin are to be congratulated on creating something better than the alt-rock perversities and syrupy ballads that seem to have dominated the airwaves. Excelsior! [The U.K. edition includes 12 tracks.] ~ Kurt Keefner


  Une Autre Univers CD
  by Tina Arena
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2005 studio release (in French) from the Australian singer is as stunning as it is eclectic . With a cool blend of acoustic guitars, eastern strings and driving rhythms, it's probably Tina's most ambitious work to date not only as a French language record but as a contemporary, progressive album mostly co-written by Tina herself. Despite the variety of styles that make up the 13 track offering, the album is greater than the sum of its parts and is held together beautifully by its greatest asset - Tina's voice

  Early Stages: The Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-1987 CD
  by Marillion
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Strictly limited six CD box set that brings together officially for the first time much sought after unreleased live recordings from the British Prog band, recorded during their years fronted by vocalist Fish. Features concerts spanning the years 1982-87 . including shows recorded for BBC Radio 1 and Radio Clyde. The set itself features cover artwork from artist Mark Wilkinson, who designed the artwork for all the Fish era Marillion albums, housed in a clamshell box with each CD contained in its own designed pouchette. The booklet features relevant memorabilia from each gig represented, plus an introductory note from Fish.

55 tracks. EMI.
Liner Note Author: Derek Dick.


  Christmas With Nana Mouskouri CD
  by Nana Mouskouri
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CHRISTMAS WITH NANA MOUSKOURI is a holiday album by the international heralded Greek singer. Mouskouri's high soprano treats favorites like "Ave Maria," "Silent Night," and "Little Drummer Boy," among others, in English, French, and Greek.

1972 holiday album from the best selling female artist of all time worldwide. 12 tracks. Phonogram

  Eternelle CD
  by Edith Piaf
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EMI's U.K. collection of Edith Piaf, titled Éternelle, is quite a nice set that includes many of Piaf's numerous hits, such as "La Vie en Rose" and "La Goualante du Pauvre Jean." Overall, Éternelle is comparable to the U.S. mainstay on Capitol Records, The Voice of the Sparrow: The Very Best of Edith Piaf, but with only seven of the 18 songs overlapping. ~ Gregory McIntosh


All tracks have been digitally remastered.

  Histoire De Melody Nelson CD
  by Serge Gainsbourg
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Brimming with lust, drama, and dark humor, HISTORIE DE MELODY NELSON is widely acknowledged as Gainsbourg's masterpiece. The 1971 release was criminally ignored outside France-despite the godfather of French pop's decade of cutting-edge songwriting. It's now something of a cult classic, and artists as diverse as Air, Nick Cave, and Portishead have all cited the album as an influence.

Don't be put off by the "concept album" tag. There are no goblins here. Instead, Gainsbourg concentrates on his favorite subjects-sex and death. The story line concerns a chance meeting between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl that develops into a passionate affair. Never one to shy away from controversy, Gainsbourg plays his character with consummate sleaze. Remember, this man wrote the playfully obscene "Les Sucettes" for young, innocent France Gall (who thought she was singing about lollypops). Most of the lyrics are intoned in Serge's seedy seductive whisper, intertwined perfectly with the cinematic music. From the slow, smoky funk of "Melody" through intricately arranged ballads and the final apocalyptic "Cargo Culte" (featuring a 70-strong choir), there's never a dull moment. In lesser hands, this would be an overblown mess. MELODY NELSON, in its subtlety and invention, remains a testament to Gainsbourg's genius.

Spin (p.95) - "[A] bizarre, beguiling concept album....With progressive composer/arranger Jean-Claude Vannier's cinematically swooning strings, loping bass, and twangy guitars." Q (p.44) - "[N]ow a firm cult favourite, this bonkers slice of Gallic dirty-talk offers a very different kind of French lesson." Magnet (p.114) - "HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON's skeletal, jazz-like structure - with bass frequently playing the role of lead instrument - influenced a generation of indie-rock tastemakers."


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