Celine Dion Taking Chances The Sessions Review

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(More customer reviews)I was thrilled to find this DVD on the shelves at my local Wal*Mart, where it was part of a 2-pack exlusive with the full 'Taking Chances' album.
As a video DJ in a local bar, I've had several requests for Celine's version of 'Alone' which is featured on this DVD as in-studio footage. It's a great substitute until she releases a real music video for it (if ever).
However, upon purchasing the product and watching the DVD, I was disappointed to find that only three of the songs featured are presented in full, even though the video of the whole studio sessions has leaked online and is easily accessable with every song in full. It would have been nice to get all of the songs on this DVD in full.
That said, the best quality song on this DVD is 'Alone' which is the studio footage with the full completely mastered audio from the 'Taking Chances' album. The rest are completely unretouched 'live' recordings, where the audio comes off weak and sometimes muffled. This is especially noticable on 'Eyes On Me' (the official seond single).
It's good to have for 'Alone' but unless you're a die hard fan, you can probably skip this DVD. Buy her DVD for 'A New Day...Live In Las Vegas' instead. You won't be disappointed there.

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This DVD takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Taking Chances"-her newest English studio album. Recorded during the summer of 2007, this is Celine's first English album of new material in almost 4 years. Meet the world-class songwriters, producers, and executives that help create Celine's most challenging and rewarding album to date. Watch exclusive in-studio footage, interviews, and candid moments with Celine as she sings such songs as the rock drive "Alone," the eastern-influenced "Eyes On Me," and the blues-rock anthem "That's Just The Woman In Me." It gives you unprecedented access to the world's biggest selling female artist and what it takes to record such an album.

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Taking Chances Review

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(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

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

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Taking Chances (CD/DVD) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unfortunately they do not tell you that the DVD is only a preview of Live in Las Vegas which I bought at the same time!!! If I knew that I would not have bought this CD! I was looking for DVD's not a CD - beware!

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Album + DVD collection of excerpts from the forthcoming digital release of Celine's Las Vegas show "A New Day". Also includes never before seen backstage footage and bonus material.

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TAKING CHANCES WORLD TOUR: FRENCH VERSION Review

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(More customer reviews)I went to see Celine peform in August 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts (which ironically, is where this dvd was shot from). My sister is a die-hard Celine fan, and she had another ticket, so I obviously went. We had fourth row seats at the Boston Garden, which made me both happy and nervous; nervous because I had never been so close to a musical superstar before. Before Dion came on stage, the whole venue was going nuts. Beforehand, a video was shown of her being all over the globe, and since Boston was her first North American stop in over a decade, you could say the anticipation was high. Long story short, Dion did not dissapoint. Her vocals were perfect and she was very thankful to the fans. She sang all of her greatest songs, and rocked the Garden like no other "diva" on earth. If this dvd is anything like the actual concert (which I think it will be, since, again it was filmed in Boston), then fans and non-fans, alike will be more than content with the end result...which is the one of the world's most celebrated vocalists doing was she does best; singing.

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80 minute live DVD features 25 show stopping performances. Includes audio, recorded live in Boston accompanied by an 8 page booklet of never before seen tour photos.--This text refers to an alternate DVD edition.

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