Search - Mylene Farmer :: Avant Que L'Ombre a Bercy

Old habits are hard to break!

Anthony Morelli | Montreal, Canada | 12/22/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Okay...where do I begin? First of all, I'm disappointed and un-inspired with the product (a result of rushing out of the store without listening to the CD before buying it). In the past, Mylene Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat have produced mighty fine material (both studio and live recordings). Unfortunately, "A.Q.L - L.A.B." contains multiple borrowed ideas (good & bad) from the Mylenium Tour concert. In my opinion, things only get worse this time because of the absence of the magic Mylene and Laurent have produced in the past, and that I used to feel when listening to the "L.A.B" concert. "AQL - LAB" is only mediocre on CD. Fortunately, the DVD is said to be ten times better, since the visual aspects always make up for the latter. I've attended concerts where the live versions of songs ended up being better than the studio versions. Then, as a bonus comes the superb stage performances/presentation aspects.



I wish Mylene could've focused on Quality-over-Quantity during this and the Mylenium Tour CDs. It's sad but true. Obviously, this concert lacks in personality and sound and focuses too much on the costumes, backdrop and props. To me, it's way over the top at this point in her career. Borrowed Ideas? What I mean is that her biggest anthems (Sans Contrefaçon and Désenchantée) are lacking the appeal and flavor compared to the "L.A.B" concert. When this happens, all personality/feeling drains out, due to the new & upbeat arrangments. The "L.A.B" concert version of the above mentioned songs are the best. So, why not drop the tired, over-performed songs and delighting the fans with the lesser-performed older material? It's time for something new and exciting instead destroying her classic hits to the point of no return. As for the new material from the last studio recording, I like the songs because they're beautiful and easy to pull off in a live performance. From Disc One, I only like tarcks 4, 6 and 9. One Disc Two, I only like tracks 4, 8 and 10. That's only six tracks out of twenty-one. There are a couple other good songs among the other fifteen tracks, but I expected a whole lot more. I absolutely don't like what they did to Deshabillez-Moi. It's a perfect example of how much a song can lack any feeling or emotion. Even the scream was way off, which wrecked my mood right there.



Mylene is all about costumes and showing off her fantastic body. With a seemingly shortened hair length (only because of being bobby-pinned in all directions), and an ever-sexy, shy smile, she always looks good. The front cover of the booklet leaves a lot to be desired though, because I don't like the big red Mylene image on the screen. It just doesn't fit in with the rest of the artwork or design. The paper quality of the 16-page booklet is pretty good and glossy. The CDs are pretty and aren't like the other live CDs. Disc one has a silver background with a black silhouette of Mylene with red titling. Disc two features the negative version, with a black background and a silver silhouette, with red titling. In a way, the whole package seems very "thrown-together" compared to the other live albums. As I mentioned before, the sound quality isn't all that superior. Unless you have some really heavy headphones or a state-of-the-art entertainment system, you won't get strong bass from the recordings. The introduction is too long and doesn't focus enough on the actual song (track 2). Was a good try, though!



Two things I simply can't stand about Mylene's concerts are:

1- Being able to hear the Audience singing along to nearly all the upbeat songs on both discs (happens in the last 3 concerts).

2- songs that seem to end but start over again (Sans Contrefacon and Desenchantee), as well as XXL (on this recording)

On a positive note...I do appreciate the fact that all the songs are long.



Tracklisting & Time Credits



DISC ONE:

01- Introduction - 5'30

02- Peut-Etre Toi - 3'27

03- XXL - 5'27

04- Dans Les Rues De Londres - 4'18

05- California - 5'19

06- Porno-Graphique - 4'13

07- Sans Contrefaçon - 4'46

08- Q.I. - 6'58

09- C'est Une Belle Journée - 8'21

10- Ange, Parle-Moi - 4'50

11- Redonne-Moi - 5'44



DISC TWO:

01- Rever - 7'42

02- L'Autre - 7'25

03- Désenchantée - 6'42

04- Nobody Knows - 5'36

05- Je T'aime Mélancolie - 4' 53

06- L'amour N'est Rien - 5'05

07- Déshabillez-Moi - 4'12

08- Les Mots - 5'06

09- F**k Them All - 6'42

10- Avant Que L'Ombre - 7'36



This one's really good for the die-hard Mylene fans. But I recommend you listen to it before buying, because you're really not getting all that much."

Spectacular!!!!

Jose Hernandez | 12/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK, Living in San Diego, We have limited resources on French Music. There are some places to find good stuff, but Luckely I found Ms. Farmer before the only store that had her closed down. Well to the review, Mylene is my favorite singer, altought I have never seen her live. She is absolutely SEXY and her lyrics are uncomparable. She is a true star!! Owning all of her CD's with this live performance, Ms. Mylene does it again. All the material is very easy to sing along with and it feels as if you are in the audience. Very cristal clear sound and the audience does not overpower the performance but they are sining along with her, its a live performace what do you expect? This performance feels much more personal with an erotism that I have never felt with other live CD's. Ms. farmer is more with the audience and it is a very vissual show, (can't wait for the DVD). The booklet is beautifuly arranged, very glossy with TRES-Sexie photos of Mylene in her beautiful wardrobe. The cd case is also wounderful, for it is a limited edition and worth every penny. I prefere this box over the Mylenium Box for this one is not metal and does not give a funny smell. The cd's are in two different flaps and each have diferent photos of Mylene. This is a MUST for every fan of Ms. Farmer. Hopefuly I will see her live one day."