Review of a Wonderful Life by Lara Fabian

Only the 2nd English speaking album from this beautiful chanteuse. I was captivated by her 1st English speaking album & `Adagio' got a lot of air-play in my home. So we had to wait a few years for this next one. I hadn't heard anything about this release to be honest until I idly wondered one day `Whatever happened to that `Lara Fabian?' & found that she had this release as well as a couple of Live Performance CD's & a French language CD `9' - all of which I subsequently purchased.

Anyway for this CD you have some beautifully arranged songs. There are obvious comparisons to `Celine Dion' vocal-wise & that's really no bad thing. I think I would say that Lara Fabian sings on a lower register than Celine. Celine has an admittedly great voice. You just have to forgive her, her Vegas goody two-shoes trappings and at times slightly wearing persona. This CD starts of with 2 big tracks straight away. `No Big Deal' is a little bit of energized vocal-pop histrionics while the next track `I Am' is highly romanticized & orchestral, augmented by Lara's highly sensual vocals. Very sexy stuff to my ears I have to admit. I believe she has in the past done Musical's & it seems to show as she's very emotive & soul-searching on many of her songs. She really acts them out & pours her passions into every line, especially when she hits those higher registers & hangs her lush voice on a single note to really let you know that this girl can sing. As you would expect the back up music is very Symphonic in places. Much piano tinkling, harps, flutes & symphonic accompaniment - check `I guess I loved you'. Many of the songs on this album are Slow/Mid-Tempo and that's fine for Lara.

She knows what she's good at and excels. It took me a couple of takes to recognize `Wonderful Life' redo but it fits nicely into this CD. All in all a very great pleasure to listen to. I gave it 4 stars as it didn't quite blow my socks off. But I'd say at least ½ the tracks are truly excellent and worthy of 5 stars. I'm a sucker for Lara's voice & if you are too you will not be disappointed with the CD.