Carla Bruni "No Promises" CD Enh (2007)

Details: Italian-French composer Carla Bruni released her second album with Naïve in 2007 (five years after her debut). Beautiful digipak with light corner bend/light edge wear. Otherwise fantastic condition.

Description: "The influences are fairly non-American ...and will bring to mind such artists as Jane Birkin, Francoise Hardy, and even early Nico. ... the best recent comparison that can be made is with Russian model Milla Jovovich’s overlooked-but-excellent 1994 CD The Divine Comedy, where Jovovich surprised everyone with tuneful ethnic folk ballads. But since about three people have actually heard that album, I won’t draw the comparison out (for the record, it’s worth tracking down).

To prepare this recording, Bruni purportedly pow-wowed with another ex of Jagger’s, Marianne Faithful, to brainstorm ideas and select the poems (and, one suspects, do some dirt dishing on the Mickster). Bruni set the artistic bar way high when she and Faithful selected works by such poetic heavy hitters as William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson, and Dorothy Parker. Anyone who thinks it’s sacrilege to sing such works as Parker’s “Afternoon” or Yeats’ “Before the World Was Made” is advised to stay far, far away.

But as pop music, it works, because Bruni’s music is consistently tuneful and her raspy whisper of a voice blends well with the small acoustic ensemble. The opener, a rendition of Yeats’ “Those Dancing Days Are Gone”, breezes by with a lithe, almost funk beat and a candy-sweet chorus. A rare electric guitar line and slide guitar invigorate Dickinson’s “I Felt My Life with Both Hands”. Combined with Bruni’s voice, it gives the impression of an exotic chanteuse fronting the Rolling Stones circa 1971. ..."--PopMatters

Grade: VG+ (Digipak) / NM (CD)

CD TRACK LISTING:

1. Those Dancing Days Are Gone
2. Before The World Was Made
3. Lady Weeping At The Crossroads
4. I Felt My Life With Both My Hands
5. Promises Like Pie-Crust
6. Autumn
7. If You Were Coming In The Fall
8. I Went To Heaven
9. Afternoon
10. Ballade At Thirty-Five
11. At Last the Secret Is Out