Track Listing

1. New Africa
2. Live Television
3. No More
4. Country Boy
5. Hope
6. Africa Remembers
7. Couple's Choice
8. Yo Lé Lé (Fulani Groove)
9. Survie
10. Am Am
11. Marie-Madeleine la Saint-Louisienne
12. Useless Weapons
13. Same
14. Things Unspoken

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60543 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.com
Recorded for filmmaker Spike Lee's label, this 74-minute album is an attempt to win Western audiences over to Youssou N'Dour's particular mbalax style. Thanks to coproducer Jean-Philippe Rykiel, the bass is heavy, the sound wonderfully clear, and the arrangements fully developed. But in some ways those points also become the record's disadvantages--there's a lack of spontaneity to the proceedings. So while the opener, "New Africa," works beautifully with N'Dour's Super Etoile band hot behind him, the tracks that follow are bereft of spark with the life wrung out of them. Not that there aren't some glorious moments on here, like "Yo Le Le (Fulani Groove)," and "Things Unspoken," where N'Dour lets his voice wail as if he truly means it, but for the most part this isn't N'Dour at his most inspired. --Chris Nickson

Customer Reviews

Irresponsible editorial review
I strongly disagree with Chris Dickson, who incorrectly states that this album lacks spontaneity (while providing no specific examples, mind you). Had he taken the time to actually listen to the album, Nickson might have realized that "Ma Demba," a song he characterizes on N'Dour's later album, Joko, as a "newly recorded track," is actually a re-recording of "Country Boy..." While one might argue for the greater "authenticity" of the latter recording, sung in N'Dour's native Wolof, such distinctions have little to do with spontaneity and besides, Joko combines English titles in much the same way as Eye Open. Equally impressive on this album are the French tracks, which contain some of the more moving lyrics as well as the witty humor of "Live Television"--a song that narrates the "extraordinary story" of a host inviting his unsuspecting dinner guests to watch on a poorly-lit television "that famous show............Dallas!" A wonderful and hilarious send-up of globalized world culture!

CD is not received
I can't review this product, because it be over six weeks and am still waiting for the CD.

Still My Favorite
My first exposure to Youssou was via Peter Gabriel. I was intrigued but not well educated...Years later I read a 5 star review of this CD and got it. It was an instant favorite and still is. I like his earlier music more (IMMIGRES), for its raw joyous jamming, but this is more accessible for general listening; offering a nice balance of superb African vocals and instrumentation with Western (French) pop sensiblity/production (coproducer Rykiel adds a distinctive flavor with his keyboards and arrangements, but it is more like a bit of mellowing western spice to an exotic dish with the dominant ingredient still being Youssou and his Senegalese band!). I like EYES OPEN more than any of his similarly produced recordings (SET, GUIDE, JOKO). I disagree with the Amazon review on this; I think these songs are full of heartfelt emotion expressed in Youssou's vocals, the band's tight and layered playing and the lyrics which beautifully convey the real concerns of modern Africa (multi-lingual and fortunately printed in original and translation).

I am deeply moved by many of the songs, and feel they include many of Youssou's best (Live Television, No More, Country Boy, Things Unspoken). Consistently the band and vocals are great and the production, while slick, doesn't obscure it's African roots. I love Youssou's soaring, emotive (wide open!) voice on anything he sings, but his more recent recordings have been disappointing in their shift further into western pop. What suffers most are the complex rhythms, the layered drumming and fluid dexterous guitar work, that make his band the "super stars", and reveal Youssou as the consummate band leader. For me this CD marks the turning point where he had the two forces, roots and pop, in balance.