Roughly a year after the club success of
"Love Generation," another in a string of such hits by French
house producer
Christophe le Friant,
Tommy Boy released a full-length
Bob Sinclar album,
Western Dream, comprised of numerous other similarly styled songs. To clarify any potential confusion,
Bob Sinclar is a nom de plume of
le Friant, and though the producer is French, all his songs here are sung in English.
"Love Generation" remains the highlight, despite all the new productions. Driven by an aggressively strummed acoustic guitar, the song features
Gary "Nesta" Pine of
the Wailers on lead vocals, thereby giving this otherwise straightforward
club track a more universal appeal. Its feel-good lyrics about how love can make the world a better place are typical of
Western Dream, an album filled with such feel-good, lovey-dovey sentiment, every song carried by a lead vocal. The production work of
le Friant is almost secondary throughout, appealing enough and surely energetic, yet not all that interesting and far from novel. So the best songs here tend to be the ones graced with the best vocals, like
"World, Hold On," sung wonderfully by
Steve Edwards. Some songs, like
"Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)," for instance, are so cliched they're potentially uncomfortable; these lesser tracks aim for flashy fun yet are just way too obvious for anyone who's an experienced dance music listener, coming across like watered-down
Basement Jaxx for beginners. Ultimately,
Western Dream is an album comprised of a couple really good songs padded with a lot of same-sounding filler that unfortunately falls flat. Stick with the singles if you can. [This version of
Western Dream features a bonus DVD.] ~ Jason Birchmeier
