A New Day...Live In Las Vegas w/Bonus DVD Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Celine Dion recently released her first live English language album. "A New Day...Live In Las Vegas," debuted at #10 on Billboard's album chart and is the precursor to a fall tri-DVD release featuring the same concert. While fans will certainly find plenty to enjoy it is not difficult to realize that this release could have been made far more relevant.
Dion's performance is, from beginning to end, top of the line. However, the quality of the setlist is not. After opening with Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" she ill-advisedly rushes through two of her biggest hits, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "Because You Loved Me". Both from her Grammy-winning 1996 album "Falling Into You," they are performed in just under six minutes and lack all the power of their original studio versions. Also, her low-key interpretation of Peggy Lee's "Fever" is extremely weak and a clear waste of space on the disc; the song does not suit her.
There are some extreme standouts, however. Her rendition of Barbra Streisand's "If I Could," which she dedicates to all the children and parents of the world, is heart tugging and inspired. Furthermore, her upbeat performances of her 2002 single "I'm Alive" and Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" perfectly demonstrate her versatility and vocal prowess. In fact, she displays it quite well throughout the entire performance, obviously without the use of any sneaky tricks or lip-syncing as she did in the past on her "The Colour of My Love Concert" DVD.
One problem with this release, nonetheless, is the blatant lack of Dion's own material. Of the thirteen tracks culled from the concert, eight were already made famous by other singers long before she ever sang them. She has enjoyed a rare career longevity and has had many well-deserved hits, such as her first stateside single "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" which hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100, and the fact that only a droplet of those hits are represented is ultimately dissapointing, especially since there are exactly nineteen minutes of space on the disc where no music resides. On top of that, fans will be left irksome after noticing the obnoxious FBI "Unauthorized Duplication" warning stamp on the back of the album artwork and on the disc. Apparently, Dion has a penchant for intrusive logos, as was also evidenced by the shameless Chrysler advertisement included in the artwork for last year's quickly assembled "One Heart" album.
The addition of a bonus DVD that includes footage of Dion filming her "One Heart" video and in the recording studio as well as two lip-synced performances rounds out the package. It also is adorned by the FBI logo, and will only be part of the album's initial pressing. What still makes this worth your hard-earned money, though, are the two new studio recordings included at the end of the disc, "You and I" and "Ain't Gonna Look the Other Way". They are both perfect performances that prove that she is a world-renowned singer for a reason and that she is only getting better with age.

Click Here to see more reviews about: A New Day...Live In Las Vegas w/Bonus DVD

New Day: Live in Las VegasCeline Dion Label: Sony Release Date: 6/15/20041. Nature Boy 2. It's All Coming Back to Me Now 3. Because You Loved Me 4. I'm Alive 5. If I Could 6. At Last 7. Fever 8. I've Got the World on a String 9. Et Je T'Aime 10. I Wish 11. I Drove All Night 12. My Heart Will Go On 13. What a Wonderful World 14. You and I - (studio, new studio track) 15. Ain't Gonna Look the Other Way - (studio, new studio track)

Click here for more information about A New Day...Live In Las Vegas w/Bonus DVD

Taking Chances Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Celine Dion has returned to the recording studio and this is her first English studio album in over four years.
It is supposed to re-launch her career and to mark her re-birth and the beginning of a new era : a total makeover in music and in looks, like a calculated attempt to capture new listeners.
That is the meaning of the title, I assume, one simple, quick look at the CD's scary front cover is enough to understand what she is up to.
"Taking Chances" sees Dion teaming up with a host of internationally renowned songwriters and top, most expensive producers that have produced some of the biggest pop hits in the last five, ten years to produce yet another album of her signature over-the-top ballads.
Amongst the list of luminaries who twiddle a knob, knock out a lyric or strum a guitar for her are the all-conquering Timbaland, king of R'n'B balladry R Kelly, ex-Evanescence axe wielder Ben Moody, Christina Aguilera and Pink co-writer Linda Perry... and the always entertaining Dave Stewart, whose influence stretches cheekily so far that there's even a lyrical snip of The Eurythmics' "Here Comes The Rain Again" woven into the title track The Ultimate Collection
Returning from her self-imposed recording exile in Las Vegas, and after such a long time she has disappeared from the pop charts, she wastes no time in taking on the pretender divas who have sprung up in her absence, yodelling like Shakira on "Eyes On Me" and indulging in some robust caterwauling in the vein of Pink and Kelly Clarkson on the title track, written by Dave Stewart .
The album begins in surprisingly restrained fashion, with Dion crooning softly over a near-acoustic musical backdrop, but the soft rock bombast kicks in soon enough.
She doesn't have the sensitive, raw touch to pull off her cover of "Heart's Alone" and to match the emotional and unparalleled version by Ann Wilson but she enters into the gutsy rhythm'n'blues feel of "That's Just the Woman in Me".
Elsewhere, Dion sticks to her bombastic power-ballad comfort zone, warbling away in the upper echelons of her range, smashing and crashing with her superpowerful pipes -- unnecessarily fully unleashed -- all the small feelings and emotions and nuances out of her songs, and riding those key changes with that air of barely suppressed insanity and tasteless, hystrionic record-setting vocalism which she and Mariah Carey have made all their own.
"Taking Chances" doesn't quite do what the title suggests, it's pretty predictable, overpolished and overdone (the perfume sample in the deluxe collector's edition is simply soooooo cheesy and tasteless).
One thing you can say for the Canadian balladeer is that you can always tell it's her. Mainly because of that cold, hard gargling noise she emits at the end of notes, making her sound like she's trying to swallow an ice cube. In her latest series of unconvincing over-emotings, the woman who gave us the theme song to "Titanic" Titanic (Three-Disc Special Collector's Edition) again proves the singing equivalent of a capsized iceberg: 90 per cent on the surface, 10 per cent beneath it.
My overall impression of this CD is that she is trying hard, but not succeding.
The album gets three stars from me. The extra star is because, well, it's because...I liked her first two or three CDs...who remind me of the years of my youth.
Essential Heart

Click Here to see more reviews about: Taking Chances

Brand new 14-song studio album featuring such songwriters and producers as John Shanks, Ben Moody (formerly of Evanescence), Linda Perry, and Ne-Yo.

Click here for more information about Taking Chances

Good Charlotte: Fast Future Generation (2005) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Very well done DVD and very entertaining to watch. It was worth the price. I would definitely recommend it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Good Charlotte: Fast Future Generation (2005)

Get 11% OFF

Click here for more information about Good Charlotte: Fast Future Generation (2005)

My World 2.0 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Look, I think some products should be reviewed from the perspective of a kid not an adult and this is certainly one of them. Our 9y/o daughter loves JB and will be so excited to get this on x-mas. She listens to his songs on demand and at her friends houses. As parents we may not like his songs or may think his lyrics are silly singing about love at 16. However, when I was a kid it was New Kids, N Sync, and Backstreet Boys. So try to put your self in your kids shoes when reading the reviews for this album. It's marketed for tweens and teens not for adults. His songs are up beat and catchy which is why the kids love it. The price is fair as well. If you have a teen or tween who is a JB fan then get this, I am sure they'll love it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: My World 2.0

Teen Island star Justin Bieber's newest single, "Baby" featuring Ludacris is the newest single from his forthcoming album, MY WORLD 2.0. Justin just appeared at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards telecast on CBS-TV and joined fellow Def Jam artist Rihanna and an all-star cast of NFL players at the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam LIVE concert in South Beach televised on VH1. MY WORLD (released November 17th) crossed the RIAA platinum plateau in just seven weeks, for U.S. sales in excess of 1 million units.The album contains his premiere quartet of Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, "One Time" (certified RIAA platinum), "One Less Lonely Girl," "Love Me," and "Favorite Girl."Justin is the first solo artist in history to send four songs from a debut album into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 prior to his album's release. Now plans call for MY WORLD 2.0 to be issued on March 23rd."Baby" is the first new track to be released from that upcoming CD.Meanwhile, Justin has surpassed 100 million YouTube.com video views (the first 50 million of them as an amateur starting in 2007, posting renditions of his favorite hip-hop and R&B songs).Born in Stratford, Ontario, Justin Bieber is a multi-talented pop/soul singer, and a self-taught musician on drums, guitar, piano, and trumpet.His manager Scooter Braun intro¬duced Justin to the music industry in Atlanta two years ago.There he met multi-platinum superstar Usher, who signed the 13 year-old to his first professional deal and formed the RBMG joint-venture label with Braun and Antonio `L.A.' Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.

Click here for more information about My World 2.0