Search - Sandra :: Back to Life

Possibly my alltime fave female singer returns!!! And this

Larry Davis | NYC/Long Island, NY | 06/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"And I had no idea "Back To Life" even came out...completely unaware, until a good friend told me he bought a Russian bootleg of it!! I was like, WHAT?? A new Sandra??!!?? Then again, her prior album, "The Art Of Love", which I loved, came out in 2007, and I recently thought, time for a new Sandra, I wonder when there will be one, and wahey!!



AND I guess not many people are aware either because this disc supposedly came out in March, and it's already June. No buzz, nothing. Well, the word will get out, now tht I got my grubby hands on a copy, haha!!



Anyhoo, from listening to this full-plate of new songs, I needed to get a feel for it, as each album is different...I have her whole catalogue, solo (regular albums now total 9, plus 5 compilations...I don't have the unnecessary "Ten On One" and US equivalent "Everlasting Love", with the existence of "18 Greatest Hits"), and her prior girlgroup Arabesque (1979-1984, 11 albums total!!)...this brand new "Back To Life" is as far away from "The Art Of Love" as you can get. How??? Let me tell you.



For the first time, this is a Sandra record that is strictly influenced by American Urban and Latin pop and dance music, even rock. And yes, Sandra makes it work. Not only that, it's very 80s sounding...BUT she's not backpedaling into the sound of her earlier work, not at all. Like the way Kylie Minogue signed a new deal with Parlophone/EMI and released the purposely poppy, retro "Light Years" in 2000, after going arty and avant-garde and experimental on her 2 Deconstruction albums like "The Impossible Princess", in order to recapture the glory and popularity of her earlier hits, BUT from the point of view of an older, more mature artist, and with a wink and a nod, like she knows the music can be silly and fun, but she's smart and in on the joke.



Sandra's doing the same thing on "Back To Life" (there's no cover of the 1989 Soul II Soul hit of the same name though), after going arty and avant-garde on her past few albums, explicitly on "The Art Of Love"...I personally loved it, but many fans HATED it like poison, so she must have listened to those fans and maybe was influenced by many American and Latin pop artists like Shakira and Beyonce, and their influence shows on this album, but filtered through Sandra's voice and vision, and it really works!! Madonna even went American-influenced on "Hard Candy" as opposed to the Eurodance of "Confessions" with suffering sales.



Sandra only had a hand in writing 1 track, the French-language "Tete A Tete", one of only 2 departures from this album's sound, but with this album, that's OK, as producer Jens Gad's (ex-husband Michael Cretu's right-hand man, and Sandra's producer since 2002's "The Wheel Of Time") brother Toby wrote/co-wrote most of the tracks, and he knows this sound after working with Beyoce and Shakira, so it's a nice bridge...family and experience in the American pop market...he's an expert in this, Sandra's new to it, and it fits. There's nice variety to the material, from danceable pop tracks to Latin percussion to lots of acoustic guitar, equal split between upbeat songs and gorgeous ballads, and Sandra's still-distinctive, sharp but pretty vocals...Sandra is among the greatest, most unmistakable voices in pop ever, and she's still awesome, as great as she ever has been in her career. And "Back To Life" is a full plate of songs, 15 of them, no filler, almost an hour of music...that's how I wish most artists who've been away for a while return, with lots of music, not a skimpy 10 tracks...AC/DC did it with 15 songs, after an 8-year absence.



There have been 2 singles released so far, the irresistible "In A Heartbeat", with its catchy chorus and gospel choir...it sounds like it could be a hit here if the right people heard it. The second is the duet "The Night Is Still Young" with Thomas Anders, the singer for longtime Europop staple duo Modern Talking...2 Euro singers doing an American-flavoured dancepop ditty??? It works like gangbusters, it's catchy as hell, it's irresistible, and could be a hit here if the right people heard it. Both have great remixes, a solo version of the duet, and 2 KILLER B-sides...one being the great loud rocker "Kiss My...", which is wink wink almost explicit, like she mentions "Kiss My A**", but leaves you to fill in the blanks, and it's got loud, gnarly guitar riffs. The other B-side is another French song.



BUT, if there is to be a 3rd single, it MUST be the beyond words, fun and HILARIOUS "Put Some 80ies In It"...that is one attention-getter of a song if there ever was one...it's a joyful, extremely fun, cheesy-but-in-on-the-joke cheesy that it's so laughable, an instant party...the song gets going with 80s-referencing soundbites and effects, a great fun vocal and catchy beat, then in the middle of the verse comes this out-of-nowhere synth line, like "what the hell??" hilarious, then a chorus with her accented English on the title line "Put Some 80ies In It", "This decade's alive", etc, and another different hilarious synth line, that when the song ends, you're just cracking up and enjoyed it so much that you HAVE to play it again!!! Cheesy (but great), funny and irresistible hooks-a-plenty, you feel like you have to play it for everybody you know. Could be song of the year, as notable as Susan Boyle, and if the right people heard it, this could be song of the summer.



I'm going to try and spread the word.



Sandra is still possibly my fave female artist ever, and this album is one of her best, in a 30+ year career...her first single was from 1976 as a 13-year-old kid named Sandra Ann, the James Bond theme-flavoured "Andy Main Freund"...and it was 30 years ago, at age 17 that she joined German girlgroup Arabesque, in 1979, who out ABBA-ed ABBA in Japan...so "Back To Life" is like Sandra's 30th anniversary since Arabesque, and she's better than ever, and looking better than ever, back to being blonde too...her solo debut from 1985, "The Long Play", with the massive many-countries-number-one hit "Maria Magdalena", she was a blonde then too...with this new release, it's like a new beginning and sure sounds like it too.



Go Sandra!!! I'm still in your corner."

No more Enigma

Nick Kh. | Nashville, TN USA | 02/07/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I gave this album only two stars because of couple of good songs on it, but this is NOT Sandra we all have come to love over the years! She is obviously trying to sound too American on here.... That was a wrong move in her career! Not to say that American artists don't sound great. They do! But this style is not for Sandra! It is not about trying to be more popular, it's about staying faithful to who you are! Examples of such work are Enya, Dido, Loreena McKennet... Imagine if Enya tried to sound like Brittany Spears? Sandra has her own touch, her own style, her own uniqueness! It is indeed the sound of ENIGMA!



Sandra has been the QUEEN of Enigma! Her voice is almost in every Enigma album there is. She whispers, adds to the sound, sings here and there, and overall adds the mystery and magic!



Through her own albums, Sandra became loved and favored by many because of her mysterious sound. ! I first fell in love with her when I heard songs like "I need Love", "In the head of the night", "Tell me more", "Everlasting Love"... That enigmatic sound was the magic that allowed me to fly and fantasize through Sandra's songs. While I understand that artists can't always record hits and stay in the same style, I refuse to give up the hope that Sandra is done with enigma forever! She divorced Michael Cretu, but why stop working with him?



It's almost as if Sandra is in denial! It seems that she's trying to refuse the enigma voice she's always had. I would suggest her to bring the mystery back. Bring the mature, deeper lyrics back as well! Sandra's fans range from 20's to 50's. There are not teenage fans as far as I can tell. Why try to sound like Hanna Montana? This is devastating!"