ARTIST: VA
TITLE: LateNightTales: Air
LABEL: Azuli
GENRE: Electronic
BITRATE: 186kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 03min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-09-11
RIP DATE: 2006-09-11
Track List
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01. The Cure - All Cats Are Grey 5:10
02. Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan 4:19
03. Nino Rota - O' Venezia Venaga 3:40
Venusia
04. The Band - I Shall Be Released 3:09
05. George Delerue - Camille 2:30
06. Japan - Ghosts 4:09
07. Scott Walker - The Old Man's 3:38
Back Again
08. Jeff Alexander - Come Wander 2:56
With Me
09. Minnie Ripperton - Loving You 3:59
10. Cat Power - Metal Heart 3:39
11. Tan Dun - For The World 4:13
12. Sebastien Tellier - Le Long De 2:46
La Riviere Tendre
13. Lee Hazlewood - My Autumn's 4:05
Done Gone
14. Robert Wyatt - P.L.A. 2:24
15. Elliot Smith - Let's Get Lost 2:25
16. The Troggs - Cousin Jane 2:24
17. Air & Alessandro Baricco - 3:04
Musica
18. The Cleveland Orchestra - 4:57
Ravel: Pavane Pour Une Infante
Defunte
Release Notes:
The promo release had voiceovers. Enjoy the retail!
Although Parisian duo Air might get a lot of stick from the critical elite,
probably due to their mainstream success, I must say IÆve never given up hope.
Okay so æTalkie WalkieÆ was a bit difficult to stomach, but I could see why they
did it û and coming after a quite remarkable and genre-defining soundtrack to
Sofia CoppolaÆs movie masterpiece æThe Virgin SuicidesÆ I donÆt think we can
begrudge them anything. Here the two musicians show how much they actually care
about music by letting us thumb through their vinyl and find out what makes up
their midnight listening. It was always obvious they had a decent collection û
how else would they manage to so effortlessly bound between lounge, electro-pop,
indie, progressive rock and haunting exotica, and this extensive, knowledgeable
compilation only serves to confirm my suspicions. Just for starters, the
compilation (and let me say now I am one of the most cynical compilation
listeners out there!) begins with one of The CureÆs finest ever moments æAll
Cats are GreyÆ. ItÆs not even that this is just a great track, but itÆs the sort
of track that only a real fan would have ever picked out, itÆs not a brash,
outgoing party tune û this is one of the moments that you assume only you know
about and it serves as the perfect representation of what Nicolas Godin and
Jean-Benoit Dunckel have achieved on this quite heart-stopping anthology. Then
we have Black Sabbath û yes, Brummie rock God Ozzy OsbourneÆs band, with æPlanet
CaravanÆ, one of the bands spacier most out-there moments (you might know the
Pantera version tooà) and here we can lie back and enjoy it in a totally
different context. And this is the other secret to the compilation, tracks taken
out of their regular environment and re-aligned as if they were supposed to be
there all the time. ThereÆs nothing worse than a compilation which sounds hacked
together, a compilation which sounds lazy or opportunist û the two Frenchmen
have here collected tunes that they quite clearly deeply love and most
importantly tunes that fit together seamlessly to create an unparalleled
late-night listening experience. Further on we are treated to the orchestral
subtlety of George Delerue, David SylvianÆs unique tones on JapanÆs classic
æGhostsÆ, Jeff AlexanderÆs utterly heart-stopping æCome Wander With MeÆ (which
you might remember from Vincent GalloÆs æBrown BunnyÆ OST), Cat PowerÆs
mysteriously beautiful æMetal HeartÆ and Elliot SmithÆs much misunderstood
æLetÆs Get LostÆ. I could go on because frankly every track on here is perfectly
placed, perfectly picked and a pleasure to listen to û really if you buy one
compilation this year, then you need to buy this. It is not only the perfect
representation of AirÆs far-reaching influence but a quite jaw dropping
collection of melancholy, unpretentious classics. Utterly essential.