This extremely budget-looking CD -- it's almost arbitrary as to what label or catalog number is listed given how many names and numbers are floating around, and there are no liner notes -- collects 18 tracks from the 1980s, though one recording from 1992 does sneak into the listing. And that's bad news for the Françoise Hardy novice, because the 1980s were her decade horriblis, and woe to the unsuspecting beginner who picks it up thinking it might be a representative sampling of some of her best, or at least better, work. Hardy's voice was still fine, but it wasn't being used to good effect on this average Continental '80s Europop material, much of which was, to be fair as to where to pin the blame, written or co-written by Hardy herself. The biggest strike of all against this stuff was the production, which is horribly dated in a slick, 1980s adult contemporary way (albeit sometimes with mild dance currents). At times Hardy's vocals did retain that sense of measured sensuality so integral to her large body of quality material, but at others it didn't even possess that. Just once in a while, the level does rise above the crummy, as on "Vibrations," which has far more of a guitar rock feel than most of its surroundings. The remake of her '60s classic "Je Ne Suis la Pour Personne" predictably adds insult to injury, though actually the mournful low-key rearrangement of "Il N'y a Pas d'Amour Heureux" (the 1992 recording), with classical piano and accordion, is pretty good.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo