Buy Celine Dion - Taking Chances
On her new album, "Taking Chances," Celine Dion fills each track with cloying sweetness.
The result is 15 songs which all sound more or less the same. While Dion explores different beats and instruments, all of the tracks rely on simple progressions building to a swelling, feel-good chorus at the close.
While Dion's experiments with synths, sitar and strings initially sounds promising, each track quickly proves to be essentially the same light fluff without any of the lyrical or sonorous tension which makes music interesting.
Expect to hear these songs on adult contemporary radio and in waiting rooms across the continent. Their smooth melodies go down easily but without much taste. Bland lyrical platitudes imploring a lover to return affection and asserting one's own power complement the actual sounds of the album.
As such, the soccer mom niche will probably be most interested in this CD, as the songs are not so much music as distilled pop. The strong woman theme of most of the songs seems particularly directed to them.
Moreover, the songs are annoyingly catchy, but only because there is so little to them. Dion refrains from vocal acrobatics to give listeners an easy time of singing along. You know those songs you hate when they get stuck in your head? This album offers 15.
To her credit, Dion actually has a good voice, but she performs just the bare minimum to avoid complicating the tunes. If you're looking for a stand-out vocal performance, skip this album; she sounds fine for what the songs demand of her, but Dion doesn't take any risks on "Taking Chances." Even the gospel-inspired "New Dawn," Dion's most impressive vocal performance on the album, is boiled down to its simplest pop form.
At times, in fact, Dion begins to sound like other pop singers. The synth and drum-machine almost-dance groove and the electrically affected vocals at the beginning of "Can't Fight the Feelin'" sound like a nod to pre-rehab Britney Spears, and the mind-numbingly simple music and vocals throughout wouldn't be out of place on a Shania Twain album.
There are no real stand-out tracks. All are passable but ultimately bland. Despite being penned by several songwriters (Dion didn't actually write any of the songs on this album), they merely mold to a pop standard. As proof, only one song is outside the three- to five-minute mark, supporting the idea that the album is not a cohesive work, but a collection of singles in no way related to one another.
The bottom line is that, for a typical college student, this CD just isn't worth the investment. These songs are all rehashed versions of songs you already know.
Buy Celine Dion - Taking Chances
01 Taking Chances
02 Alone
03 Eyes On Me
04 My Love
05 Shadow Of Love
06 Surprise Surprise
07 This Time
08 New Dawn
09 A Song For You
10 A World To Believe In
11 Can't Fight The Feelin'
12 I Got Nothin' Left
13 Right Next To The Right One
14 Fade Away
15 That's Just A Woman In Me
16 Skies Of L.A.
17 Map To My Heart
18 The Reason I Go On
Celine Dion - Taking Chances
