[.ca] Tourist

Chronique amazon.fr:
Éclectique et généreux, le prestigieux label Blue Note ressort à l'attention des inconditionnels des mélanges entre jazz haut de gamme et élucubrations électroniques, le célèbre Tourist, deuxième album du Français St Germain. Mais la réédition ne serait pas complète si elle ne comprenait pas dans le "pack", format auquel sont accoutumées les rééditions, un curieux supplément de 3 titres, en forme de remix inédit des joyeuses syncopes du maître St Germain. Sur l'album, rien de nouveau, donc, mis à part ce subtil mélange de rythmiques élégantes et de grain unique, entre propreté numérique et atmosphère enfumée façon club de jazz new-yorkais, et qui se révèle plus versatile à chaque écoute. Mais le CD qui l'accompagne, en revanche, mérite qu'on s'y arrête un instant. Laissant libre cours au talent d'une poignée de producteurs (Todd Edwards, entre autres) pour revisiter l'incontournable Rose rouge ainsi que le titre Sure Thing, ce bonus donne une nouvelle version de la musique de St Germain. Tandis qu'une première version de Rose rouge, résolument dansante, et soutenue par un beat houseux à souhait, laisse improviser un orgue un rien trafiqué au gré des harmoniques du titre original, la seconde lorgne en revanche un peu plus vers une french touch aux accents acides affirmés. Le remix de Sure Thing qui suit, vient couronner le tout de quelques voix vocodérisées, appuyées par une ligne de basse bondissante. Voilà du travail ingénieux et bien fait ! --Toma Blondeau

From Amazon.co.uk:
Moby may have stolen his thunder on Play but St Germain, aka Ludovic Navarre, has been showcasing his futuristic nous and love of roots music by funking up the 4/4 electronic world with a little blues and gospel since the early 90s. After his F-Communications swan song, From Detroit To St Germain in 98, Navarre worked with a host of great session musicians for this, his major label debut. Tourist, his first album for the legendary Blue Note label, certainly justifies the continuing hype. A perfectly formed melodic journey of eclectic and idiosyncratic deep house that mixes blues, latin percussion and, of course, jazz without the noodle factor, Tourist is likely to generate as much head-nodding as dancing down your local groove emporium. The tracks range from the straight-ahead blues cut, "Rose Rouge" to the aptly titled "So Flute", an Afrobeat percussive shin-dig with a wondrous flute riff. "Latin Note", a funky latin stomper, reminiscent of Nuyorican Soul/Masters At Work is packed full of minor chords, smashing beats and off-the wall dynamics. Elsewhere, Navarre proves himself a master of suspense and beat-heavy poignancy, "Pont Des Arts" combines a carnival spirit with a monster piano groove, whereas "What You Think About" would have made Roy Ayers circa "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" very happy.Tourist is the kind of album that is put on at a fantastic, idyllic beach bar stereo at sunset and then constantly looped, a future classic. --Kate Nafolo

Smooth, downtempo grace flows through the veins of St. Germain, a.k.a. noted French composer-producer Ludovic Navarre. His record is a sensual flow of jazzy textures, Latin rhythms, and bass-ridden beats, hovering on the verge of techno, jazz, or experimental headphone music without tipping its hand too far in any direction. The result is irresistible: class with an edge. --Matthew Cooke

That Nu-French-Acid Jazz Thang:
Whereas the spirit of jazz seems to have been castrated here in the United States, giving birth to all sorts of perverse "smooth jazz" incarnations, elsewhere in the world - particularly in France, it would seem - jazz is dancing and celebrating life as passionately as ever. St. Germain is a wonderfully delicious mix of house beats and jazz improvisation; rather than rehash old jazz tunes and subject them to an electronica-plastered martyrdom, St. Germain - Ludovic Navarre and company - use live instrumentation for their creative and intoxicating mix. A little Latin groove here, some hip-hop and r & b there, a driving house beat and downright manic solos all fit together to remind us of what it is that jazz is supposed to be. This is one of the few CDs that I own that really seems to cross over and through the various genre gaps; it is smooth - that is, sexy and classy (without being pretentious) at the same time - but also has an excess of pizazz that keeps the listener engaged and flowing. Such genre-bending both subverts and converts jazz as it has been and propells it into a potential future-made-present; the rumors of a better sound are heard here as a whisper expressed in symphonic song. Perhaps\o?\c oddly enough, everyone that I have ever played this CD for - whether a 19 year-old Marine, a banker in her mid-40s, or college students that prefer rap and its various metal cross-breeds - liked it. While I doubt world peace will begin with bringing the people together to listen to St. Germain's "Tourist", at the same time there really is something ... beautiful about so many different people being able to listen to and appreciate the same music. It whispers something of the beauty within human subjects. This is a really, really great CD; 5 stars does not do it justice as it is in a class of its own, far beyond the all-too-quantitative measurement of 5 stars. It breathes spirit and creativity - the best that music as expression and imagination has to offer. Paint your canvas with some passionate new colors; bring the diaspora of your friends together...

Sensual but pure:
I have always been a lover of classic, acoustic jazz, but St. Germain has topped off my pleasure scale with the amazing fusion of classic style with electronic flair. There are no words to express the way this music seduces heart and mind. It's like a soul bridge to a transparent world that runs somehow simultaneous with our mundane, daily existence. And when you step down into that other place you wonder how you could have lived elsewhere. The thing that strikes me the most about St. Germain is the consistent and simple grooves that are almost predictable and unmoving...but not quite. They evolve slowly, conservatively peppered with lively, brief bursts and subtle, almost ghost melodies in the distance. Motego Bay Spleen is a perfect example of this. So Flute does similar but the expressions of melody beyond the main groove are erratic and playful, leaving you always guessing what's coming next. Land of...starts out with an organ funk piece that digs into your deepest soul and slowly ebbs into a "walking" groove (for lack of a better term) and horn work that you can't help but move to. Sure Thing is the most urban-feeling song on the album with spicy (and at times, dissonant) electric guitar riffs and soulful, almost unintelligible vocals that work the human voice like an instrument. Outstanding. I haven't found a song on this CD that I don't like. I don't know if it's possible to become bored with St. Germain, but it's entirely conceivable to become lost.

this is one of the coolest cds in the world:
Tourist is not just one of the better cds out there, but it is one of the best cds in my collection which is quite obviously the best cd collection in the world. Buy it, if you don't like it, you're not only deaf, but also retarded.

An Instant Classic and St. Germain's Best:
Tourist by St. Germain is one of those albums that I doubt I'll ever tire of. Could have been a perfect album without weak tracks, "Montego Bay Spleen" and "What You Think About..." which in my opinion are just average. Nonetheless, the album is great with the now classic "Rose Rouge", "Pont des Arts", and "La Goutte d'Or" topping out as my favorites. Any fan of lounge music or electro-jazz should own a copy of Tourist. 4/5 stars

A new style?:
Quite simple. Before this album, nobody did it. After this album, a new story has started. After the first time I listened to it I was sure I have never heard anything like it. You have to listen to a really good CD a few times to discover its quality, but in "Tourist" it is easy to find you are listening to something totally different. I have read to many other reviews and it's amazing to see everybody can find distinctive elements in this album. In my opinion, I think we are in front of a new style and sure it will mark tendencies of a lot of future recordings. Every one of the songs have something new. Mixtures of jazz, funk, disco, salsa, indie. A perfect combination. "C'est comme ça".

	Custom Search