Track Listing

1. Monospace
2. Dis-Lui Oui
3. Paresseuse
4. Je Suis de Celles
5. Vade Retro Téléphone
6. Itinéraire
7. Sac À Main
8. Station Mir
9. Coquette
10. Mots d'Amour
11. Monsieur René
12. Zoo de Vincennes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #304964 in Music
• Released on: 2003-05-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Import
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
The hit 2003 album from the French pop artist considered to be a worthy heir to Jacques Higelin, Henri Renaud, Charles Aznavour, Georges Brassens, & Jacques Brel. 12 tracks. BMG/Zomba.

Customer Reviews

C'est genial!!
Benebar's "Les Risques du Metier" (The Risks of the Trade) is one fantastic record, whether you understand French or not, doesn't matter. Benebar's music is somewhat retro but nonetheless timeless and entertaining. He can swing through various styles of music like rock, jazz, French folk, and a little cabaret, but the album has a cohesiveness that's testament to Benebar's ability to write catchy hooks. My favorites are "Paresseuse" (Lazy Girl) and "Dis-Lui Oui" (Tell Him Yes) and "Les Mots d'Amour" (The Words of Love) but all the tracks are really good. I hope Benebar can do some shows in the USA, hopefully NYC.

Fun, happy french music.
This album, Les Risques Du Metier, has become one of my favorite CDs. Benabar has a cool, smokey, loungey voice. His music is fun, with lots of piano and horns. This album is a collection of mostly mid-tempo tunes with some slower tempo songs.

This album is unlike any I've heard in English or in French, and recommend it highly!

Les Risques du Metier
Les Risques du Metier is sly, funny pop, songs that place a definite emphasis on lyrics, on state of mind, and on Benabar's skewed, wry, and hilarious view of the world. What's great about this record is that it's not just "ironic" pop; Benabar uses his barbed lyrics and hilarious metaphors to reveal enough about his state of mind and feelings for the listener to feel a connection with the artist himself, not just his demeanor.

On the best songs, such as Sac a main and dis-lui oui, Benabar reveals just enough of his emotional state through the jokey lyrics for the songs to make a double impression: he has real feelings, even though he manages to maintain an illusion of ironic distance. Some of the other ones, though, are a little too maudlin and melodramatic for my taste.

If you like this record, look for Jeanne Cherhal's Douze fois par an. It's the same kind of music, or Les Senegalaises, by Sanseverino, which is similarly wry.

If I could match it up with an English-language record, it would probably be similar to one of the first two Ben Folds Five records.