The difference between the French and English has never been more obvious than on this offering from Jane Birkin, the woman best known for gasping her way through Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus).
Nine of the album's 14 tracks are sung in French and they are light, whimsical and lilting, echoes of a bygone age of romance. In comparison the five English songs are dark, sinister and depressing.
In Every Dream Home A Heartache, in which Birkin sings an eerie duet with Bryan Ferry, is almost industrial with sound-effects closely resembling a dentist's drill and just as annoying. Her duet with Placebo's Brian Molko, although entitled Smile, lacked the cheery cocktail party ambience of the French songs including La Grippe and Palais Royal.
Mostly made up of duets, this album tries to be too many things to too many people... and it fails.
Updated: 09:33 Thursday, April 15, 2004
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