Search - William Sheller :: Best Of: Tu Devrais Chanter

French singer-composer worth a U.S. and British listen

Thomas G. Kohn | Dayton, OH USA | 10/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Even though this singer-songwriter was born in the U.S., William Sheller is little known here. Undeservedly so! His popularity is strong in France, where he leads a busy life of concerts and recording. The double album "Tu devrais chanter" shows his breadth and depth, both as a composer of popular song and as a poet of haunting situations and intricate thoughts.For the most part, the CD is thoroughly produced, even though Shiller uses just a synthesizer or a small group of instrumentalists. His strongest works are intimate, those produced with only the accompaniment of Shiller himself at the piano. The textures of the songs with more production are fondly reminiscent of the Beatles in that middle period before "Hey Jude", with a few excursions into the higher intensity of "Yellow Submarine" ("Rock'N'Dollars") without being imitative.My favorite song is "Un homme heureux" in which Shiller's complaint about the similarity of lovers and their isolation is also a paean to their tranquility and stability."