Search - Stéphane Pompougnac :: Hotel Costes V.11

Extremely Disappointed

Brett Barry | Cave Creek, AZ United States | 09/24/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the worst Costes Albums in the entire 11 disc collection. I have all of them, and I pretty much love them all, although some stand out more than others. I had VERY high hopes for this collection, but I gotta tell 'ya...this collection falls completely flat on 1st and 2nd listen. OK, the cover female art is cool as always...but that is the best part of this CD! It feels to me like Stephane had too many cooks in the musical kitchen, as the tunes are (generally) neither great chill nor as groovy as many previous (superlative) efforts. The mood just isn't there. Maybe Stephane has been out partying on the DJ circuit too much, but this has to stand out as (by far) the worst effort of the entire Hotel Costes project. I have the greatest respect for the creativity of past Costes CD's, and Stephane & crew were always able to surprise and enlighten me with many little gems that would make me want to close my eyes and just say..."wow, where did he find that." This disc has none of that, and will probably stand out as possibly the end of the Costes run, or perhaps (hopefully) just a big dud among some spectuacular efforts. The Lena Horne tune, "I want a little doggie" pretty much sums up this lame CD...woof woof.



By the way, if you want to find an KILLER new Chill CD collection - try the new Claude Challe "Select 2008 - Music For Our Friends." Now that is mindblowing chill in the Hotel Costes tradition. The baton has been passed."

Nothing to write home about...Not impressed!

lounge sound | Orlando, FL | 09/24/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Not impressed, another huge let down from Stephane but a slight improvement over volume 10. The sophistication of the music I loved in this series is now an amalgamation of mediocre talent and artists. Variety Lab is back with a mediocre track compared to their previous contribution, London in the Rain. Moreover, it seems Stephane did not even try mixing from one song to another; each selection simply fades out and into the next song or has such a short transition it's easy to miss the beginning of the next track.



Furthermore, the music seems to be all over the place but with same styles that have no business being jammed together on this album. However, the rhythmus seem to follow a pattern from song to song, again, BORING! I was deeply puzzled by the version of Broken Wings (not a song that should be messed with), and did not know what to make of rest of selection artists with monotone attempts to vocalize. Bring back DePhazz, Minus 8, Gabin, Cam, Big Muff, and Gotan Project. These artists are great and worth listening to. I suggest anyone who is a fan of this series to buy a copy of their work, it is worth the money.

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