This article was automatically translated by AI.
Here, these tough guys have come together with guest musicians to capture the atmosphere that arises during a song in a motel. In country songs. In French. It’s all laid out in the nicely designed booklet, including black-and-white photos of lascivious after-show hook-up opportunities. Or are those guest female musicians? Or both?
I don’t think the concept is bad; how is the execution? I’m torn. First of all, I’m not necessarily a fervent country fan, so something special has to come along to keep me interested. Different voices in the songs provide variety, but the whole CD comes off a bit sluggish. A session feel arises from occasional banter between the tracks, which is nice, but doesn’t really captivate. A bit more pop appeal in the melodies might have fit well. After multiple listens, at least some details in the songs reveal themselves. That’s something they do well: letting the album play through multiple times.
Then there’s the singing. Gravelly, which I generally don’t like, as I said. Then there’s something else that turns out, after a brief internet search, to be the Canadian pronunciation. Subjectively, I have to say: Not very nice. It reminds me of a girl from my school days whom I found quite sweet until I heard her speak for the first time, with a terrible accent that I couldn’t place but was rather off-putting. A matter of taste. The band explains their decision to use the French language instead of English, as they have until now, by saying that you can’t easily hide your feelings behind it. I would agree with that. However, since the lyrics mainly deal with wanting to get some girls into bed, English ("the language of Bon Jovi," as MIRACLES puts it) would have sufficed. Quod Bon Jovi licet, non bovi licet, as Caligula once said.
For those who like country, or perhaps have a connection to the Canadian music scene, this album may be interesting. For me, it’s more of a curiosity and, for the reasons mentioned, fails to excite me.
