Customer Reviews

Singles Best Of (W/1 Live Track)

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4 star:		(2)
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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.

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.

Anybody having grown up in France in the 1980s will probably have danced, kissed and loved all for the first time on some Etienne Daho tune. A versatile musician with a carrer that almost spans 20 years, Daho was in his prime from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, and there's something funny about hearing all the softened beats and gimmicks transforming from a Pet Shop Boys influence to the more "jungle" music composed with Saint Etienne. But, here's a secret: Daho is not only worth listening to for catchy tunes and danceability, it is also for lyrics, cryptically gay most of the time, but wonderfully light and romantic, with a consumed art of making plays on words ("oh tabou, son epaule est tatoo, ta-tout amoi"). Delicieux, isn't it?

I know, French and Pop may seem like oxymorons. Mais pas du tout! Ears are wide open with Etienne, and influences range from 60's femme fatale Francoise Hardy to EBTG (Walking Wounded period). This is like: I wanna put some Garlic singer to sound cool when my girlfriend comes to my flat, but I do not want to fall asleep whilst waiting for her. Well then, trust this number. You may even dance.