Greatest Hits from Pop Singer, E. daho. Althought He's Been Very Popular Since the 80's, Daho Never Became a 'Commercial' Singer and Kept his Melodic, Catchy and Mellow Songwritting Style.
Greatest Hits from Pop Singer, E. daho. Althought He's Been Very Popular Since the 80's, Daho Never Became a 'Commercial' Singer and Kept his Melodic, Catchy and Mellow Songwritting Style.
CD Reviews
He's a big old cheeseball, but i can't get enough of him
William E. May | New York, NY United States | 11/27/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Really great pop music. This is a well-chosen selection of tracks from quite a varied career. He's gone from technopop to poppy rock to jazzy pop, and has done all exceedingly well. The only track I ever skip is the kind of silly St. Etienne collaboration. Avoid like the plague if you are averse to POP music, because he's about as pop as they come, as you can probably tell by the number of times the word "pop" has appeared in this review (6). There's a sprawling 3 cd package coming out someday soon that will surely better this, but this is a great single disc comp."
Interesting
D. Pan | 12/22/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was initially only familiar with Daho's more recent work - specifically, his wonderful album "Eden" - so it's interesting to get the opportunity to hear his music spanning two decades. As you'd expect, his 80s work sounds a little dated, so the compilation as a whole is not compulsive listening. If you enjoy Etienne's music, though, there's plenty here to delight."
Most-played French CD in my collection
A. J. Sutter | Tokyo, Japan | 09/15/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although I've had this album for five or six years, today I was finally inspired to play it in reverse order, oldest songs to newest. That in turn inspired me to post a review.
Etienne Daho is a welcome exception to usual trends of French pop music. French pop songs too often have utterly fractured melodic lines. The phrases start, halt on an upturn, move a bit more, halt again -- like a feather falling through the air. Combine with a predilection for noir-y moods and what I suppose is a French taste for tiny, breathless voices, and the results are often not very singable, even by pros. Most French pop seems to be the opposite of Italian pop, which favors broad, arching Verdi-esque melodic lines -- and more singers with better voices. (Indeed, many of the Francophone singers with stronger voices also seem to be of Italian origin, like Helene Segara, Elsa Lunghini a/k/a Elsa, and even Yves Montand.)
Daho's melodies may not be operatic, nor his voice like Andrea Bocelli's, but all these songs are very cheerfully "Euro". It's not easy to write such ultra-pop. For example, the opening song, "Idéal", manages to sound like an ultra-chic anthem -- no mean feat. As other reviewers have mentioned, this album is catchy, melodic, and singable-with (though you'll have to scrounge lyrics from other albums or the Internet). It's also sunny and fun -- and great in any direction."
Brings back memories
D. Pan | Washington DC | 09/24/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This compilation of Etienne Daho's singles from the early 80s thru 1998 brought back memories of listening to his songs on Belgian radio. The tracks go chronologically backward and starts with his more recent works, back to the beginning. You can tell the progression of his music and style over the years as his sounds matured and he experimented more with sound. But it is still a "pop music" album. All the tunes are great to listen to while in the car. The CD is a bit pricey since it's an import. But most of the 20 tracks are worth it, so it's a buy."
Une certaine renaissance
Constantin Declercq | 12/02/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"En 1998, Virgin s'est dit que Daho méritait une compilation. Bien sûr on ajoute deux nouveaux titres et un inédit extrait d'un concert, mercantilisme oblige. Les vingt titres ne donnent pas une image exacte du chanteur puisqu'il n'est guère cantonné qu'à ses succès -et Dieu sait que certains sont d'infâmes rengaines ! Néanmoins en choisissant un ordre chronologique inverse (le premier titre est le plus récent et le vingtième le plus ancien), le compilateur a eu la bonne idée de ne pas limiter Daho a la période des années 80 où il a eu le plus de succès. Au contraire, cette période s'estompe à mesure qu'avance l'écoute du disque. En clair, on commence par ce qui à l'époque était le meilleur de Daho, c'est-à-dire les années 1993-1998 : les deux inédits, «Idéal» et «Le premier jour (du reste de ta vie)», sont excellents, même si le deuxième doit son titre à une expression américaine traduite de manière hâtive un peu pitoyable. «Sur mon cou», l'inédit enregistré en public, a le mérite de parler un peu plus clairement de certaines choses. Ensuite on a deux très bons extraits de l'album «Éden» («Au commencement» et «Soudain») qui comme les deux inédits transcendent la philosophie niaiseuse qui les sous-tend. Cette compilation est aussi le premier disque du chanteur à intégrer sa magistrale reprise de «Mon manège à moi», étonnamment touchante dans la veine du «Grand sommeil», veine qu'il avait malheureusement semblé abandonner pendant les dix ans qui séparent les deux titres. Évidemment on a sur la compilation tous les titres révélateurs de cette époque-là, mais ils représenteraient plutôt autant de raisons de ne pas acheter ce disque."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1