Friday, April 24, 2009

Calogero: fifth album, first listen

2009 is already a year which I will probably remember for almost all my favourite European acts releasing new albums....we're not even halfway through the year and it's already a vintage one for new releases.

Calogero is one of my favourite French singers of this decade, and this week he released his 5th album "L'Embellie". I've been over to www.fnac.com tonight for a preview and it sounds like a return to form.

Calogero's last studio album "Pomme C" was one of the first things I wrote about on this blog, but to be honest it was a pretty disappointing album compared to its predecessors. Therefore I was a little bit nervous about hearing "L'Embellie" however I need not have worried as, based on the short clips I've heard, it's a return to form. His style has never really changed: distinctive vocals, and a soaring dramatic pop-rock style which should particularly appeal to fans of Keane - I always hoped that they would collaborate some day as their music is remarkably similar.

One of the tracks "Il Conte" is sung in Italian (a nod to his Italian heritage I guess) and I really want to hear this song in full.

On first listen it might not reach the dizzy heights of "3" but I'm impressed with what I've heard so far.

More to follow.

3 comments:

Raquelita said...

L'Embellie is all over the Fnac shops at the minute- as you'd expect I guess.I've never heard any Calogero stuff before but will definitely check him out.

You know tons more about French music than me- any idea what happened to Christophe Willem's second album? I'm sure it was meant to be released 2 weeks ago but I can't seem to find it anywhere.Inventaire is still taking pride of place in Fnac like it's brand new.Odd...

Raquelita said...

OK so you've probably seen it by now,but if not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o2gYTUNH20 there's Il Conte in full.I really like it,it's pretty different to the Italian music I normally listen to.Which can only be a good thing,some might say :)

Laura (EuropeCrazy) said...

Aah, FNAC, memories....(!)

I think Christophe's album's been delayed till late May, if I can remember rightly, I think I read that somewhere. If it's as good as "Inventaire" it'll be a cracker - I still can't get through a week without a burst of "Double Je" and "Kiss The Bride".

Thanks for the link for that Calogero song. I'm surprised he's waited till now to sing in Italian but he's still kept that distinctive sound. Anyway you must point me in the direction of some decent Italian tunes, as my knowledge of Italian pop is pretty limited to Eros Ramazzotti and Nek, so I need to get updated :D