Céline Dion
A New Day... Live in Las Vegas (Columbia/Sony, 2004)
Hybrid
par Tony Esposito
With the hypermediatised show, there had to be something for the ones who could not make it to Las Vegas... or at least, something to attract them there.
Hybrid concept (a musical CD + a DVD), on the CD side, 13 live songs and two studio recordings are served. Big unsinkable hits (Titanic theme, for example), recent ones (I 'm Alive, I Drove All Night), a French song (Et je t'aime encore) and classicals à la Dion (Fever, What A Wonderful World, At Last, Nature Boy, put back in our ears by Moulin Rouge, If I Could that Streisand made us discover, etc.).
The Dion touch is, of coursE, the shattering voice, unfortunately rather nasal in this live recording, a strange and strong accent and a pronunciation that leaves some space for improvement. But even with all these, we still want to listen. Is it because of the honest and direct chrisma of the singer? Probably, and that is what the DVD One Year... One Heart, hosted by Wayne Brady, shows us in a unmistakable way.
Celine (with her many different changes of hair style) is a bomb of energy, of fun and laughter, sometimes subtile, sometimes childish and simple, but always lovable. The loves of her life are repeated: husband, son, work, in glamour as well as in daily simple life. On the DVD, the crackling is gone and we recognize the songs we love the way they are. And that DVD is generous in songs: live, in video filming (One Heart), in recording (I Drove All Night, Felice Navidad), in special DVD version (My Heart Will Go On), etc.
How do you call such a contradictory project, weakness as well as hit, megalomaniac as well as intimate, a must and yet full of repetitions, wonderful but without any surprise?
We let you decide...
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