Celine Dion

Taking Chances

by Sal Cinquemani

Posted: November 6, 2007

 

celine Dion's Taking Chances is the album Clive Davis probably wishes Kelly Clarkson had made. Dion hooks up with a small legion of the "best" songwriters and producers recoupable record label money can buy for her first English-language album since 2004's baby-themed opus Miracle. The laborious 16-track record purportedly finds the queen of adult contemporary-turned-Vegas attraction taking chances by modernizing her treacly power ballad sound with lots of overdubbed guitars and of-the-moment collaborators: There's a welcome grittiness to her vocals on the bluesy "That's Just the Woman in Me"; the team behind Rihanna's "Umbrella" provide Dion with an understated ballad in closing song "Skies of L.A."; and former Evanescence members and Clarkson cohorts Ben Moody and David Hodges serve up a subtle gothic treatment on "This Time" that works well for the singer—not surprising for a woman who once did an effective impersonation of Meat Loaf. But the soft-metal "Can't Fight the Feeling" is a typically misguided venture for Dion, and Linda Perry and Ne-Yo don't offer anything of worth on "My Love" and "I Got Nothin' Left," respectively. And it's not just her music that's gotten a makeover: Look at the album's frightening cover photo (chiseled face, angular posture, and a giant Tyra Banks hairpiece sitting atop a head half the size) and compare it with the softer cover art of A New Day Has Come. It's not that Dion hasn't ever vied for relevance before (there are always a few embarrassing attempts at sounding hip on each album, and always with varying degrees of success)—it's just usually not so calculated.

 

Sorce

 

Taking Chances is not without its daring moments--we'll get to those--but the first order of business in any review of this much-hyped record, on which Celine Dion is said to have slunk away from her songbird instincts in favor of embracing her inner rock & roll wild child, should be fan reassurance. Therefore: fear not. Taking Chances has its share of poignant, pretty ballads (both "A Song for You" and "Right Next to the Right One" are goosebump-raisers) and love songs (the hopeful, heartfelt title track, which unfolds into an anthemic power ballad midway through, may be the best one). As far as standard Celine fare goes, in fact, Chances is likely her strongest non-French outing since 2002's A New Day Has Come; nobody unfolds a lyric with more care or nuance. And, as the subtle "My Love" deftly proves, any early-career instincts to over-sing have gone poof along with her '90s-era, sweet-natured-kook persona. Because it's a generous 16 songs long, it may even be possible to ignore the non-Celine-like moments on Taking Chances and just enjoy the more fan-faithful tracks. But that wouldn't be any fun, would it? There are songs here--"Can't Fight the Feelin'," "Fade Away," "That's Just the Woman In Me"--that will astound diehards and make fans of those who've dissed her for more than a decade. If you didn't think the diva behind Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" had it in her to screech from the bottom of her soul, a la Janis Joplin, flip to track 15 and guess again. --Tammy La Gorce

 

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Celine Dion's Taking Chances: Album Review

Celine is Still a Major Force to Be Reckoned With

 

Celine Dion is one of the biggest recording artists in the world. She has sold over 175 million records world wide but recently new music from Celine has been hard to come by. For the past several years she has been busy performing in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesar's Palace nightly. Her new album, Taking Chances, is her first English-language album in three years. Will Celine be able to reclaim her chart-topping ways?

 

The first single off the album is Taking Chances written by Kara DioGuardi and David Stewart from the Eurythmics. The track was produced by John Shanks. The song is a very strong collaboration between all the talented individuals involved with the project. The song was originally featured on the Platinum Weird album. The song leans very heavy on the pop-rock genre. The song is very solid and a very good way to reintroduce Celine.

 

Alone is a cover of the Heart classic single from 1987. The song is a more modern version of the Heart classic and features Celine's soaring vocals. Her vocal performance on this song is definitely out of this world.

 

Right New To The Right One is a beautiful acoustic guitar driven mid-tempo ballad. Celine's vocals sound incredibly lush over the Tim Christensen produced and written track.

 

My Love is Celine's collaboration with former 4 Non Blondes leader and super producer Linda Perry. The song is very strong melodically and vocally. Celine still has some of the most incredible vocals in the whole music industry and they are clearly displayed on this track.

 

This Time is a collaboration from former Evanescence members Ben Moody and David Hodges. The track is a solid pop song but not one of the best songs on an incredibly strong album.

 

I Got Nothing Left is a collaborative effort with urban songwriter and artist Ne-Yo. The song is a beautifully built uplifting ballad. The song is a very strong pop song and features background vocals from Ne-Yo.

 

Skies Of L.A. is written by Terius "The-Dream" Nash and produced by Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. Terius is most known for writing urban hits as Rihanna's Umbrella and J. Holiday's Bed. The song is definitely not what you would expect from this collaboration. The song shows off the artistic mastery of the typically urban duo. Skies Of L.A. is a very peaceful and mellow ballad. The song is one of the better tracks on the album.

 

Other very good tracks on the album include A World To Believe In, New Dawn and A Song For You which are all classic Celine.

 

Taking Chances is a very good album. Pairing an incredible vocalist like Celine Dion with proven hit makers is a recipe for a classic album; Taking Chances gets 8.5 out of 10 for a very good album. If you are a fan of Celine Dion make sure you pick up her new album Taking Chances when it is available in stores on November 13.

 

Source

CELINE DION: TAKING CHANCES (SONY BMG) ****

 

A FINE return to form for the Canadian warbler, left, who swoops, soars and dives through a series of big ballads and show-stopping love songs.

 

Her cover of Heart’s Alone is a highlight, although everything here is a karaoke classic in the waiting.

 

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A Harsh Review from Entertainment Weekly :rolleyes:

It lives up to its name, this CD. Take the title track, which finds Dion singing in a voice so unrecognizably young and cracked, I thought it must be a duet - and wondered when her part would kick in. That's one of several satisfying slices of, um, girl pop here. Beware, though, of big-name producer-writers (Linda Perry, Ben Moody, Ne-Yo) dragging her futher outside her easy-listening ghetto. It's cool that Dion can mimic everyone from Shakira to Sam Phillips...but her apalling Janis Joplin impression is a Chance too far.

C+

Becoming instant Celine Dion 'converts'

 

Kaye Villagomez

 

The new album "Taking Chances" Vegas diva Celine Dion led to a conversion Thursday night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas where Sony-BMG, via Philippine screening, presented the artist’s newest record.

 

Celine has always had a way of her own. She still tends to perform in that uncool, stagy manner and the gestures from the "All By Myself" live video is still palpable. In fact, even in her recording sessions, she’s still like that, as if going to war and taking to an Oscar-account each song she does. We used to love her more subdued "If You Ask Me To" days.

 

 

Then came the incontestable: Talent.

 

Seasons of Hollywood music fame, five years performing in Vegas, countless tours and concert conquests around the world produced a new album "Taking Chances." And all it took for those non-Celiners to believe was her live recording of the ‘80s smash "Alone." Celine has a version of the song that transcends goosebumps and it’s in the new CD. On its own, "Alone" possesses a cathartic charm (Flashback of Carie Underwood’s version of "Alone" on "American Idol") and for Celine to give it a go with a current feel to it hits it where it could hurt.

 

Celine told her Filipino fans that she’s happy with the get-together party Sony-BMG organized for her and her latest album. "Hi, Philippines! Thank you all for coming to my listening party and I hope you all enjoy," she said.

 

The album, meanwhile, is best defined by the artist as something where each song contains bits of real and raw emotion by Celine herself. "It’s about having every emotion of the songs in myself and I do see myself in each song."

 

Faithful to the record title, "Taking Chances" is all about a new music stance for Celine. The title track is featured in an out of character (Celine speaking) video where there’s sci-fi action and a whole lot of sexy going on with Celine. Hard to imagine? Try Yahoo music.

 

Then there’s another track to support the new hypediva claim "Eyes On Me," an original that Celine described to be "oriental and is a different side of me—the fun side because singers are like actors and we get to be different [doing different songs]."

 

"Eyes On Me" reminded us of Jewel’s "Intuition," which was considered a bold move for Jewel herself. And in a very un-Celine sort of way, she rendered justification with "Eyes On Me."

 

Celine talked of other artists and their style as theirs. "Like Shakira could do it and it’s her style. I thought when I heard those songs I can make them (audience) stand and dance with me."

 

The Beyoncé appeal has yet to happen live for Celine (and she’s lightyears away from the bootylicious allure of Shakira, let alone of Beyoncé) but it’s about taking chances as Celine sings it in the album, "But what do you say to taking chances, what do you say to jumping off the edge? Never knowing if there’s solid ground below or hand to hold, or hell to pay."

 

Other songs in the album due for Philippine record market release on Nov. 12 (aside from "Alone," "Taking Chances" and "Eyes On Me") are "My Love," "Shadow Of Love," "Surprise Surprise," "This Time," "New Dawn," "A Song For You," "A World To Believe In," "Can’t Fight The Feelin," "I Got Nothing Left," "Fade Away," "That’s Just The Woman In Me," and "Skies Of LA." Most of the titles do exude a very positive pop and more current ring to it compared to past Celine songs (thinking "It’s All Coming Back To Me," "To Love You More" and "My Heart Will Go On," which, by the way, are good songs but lean more to the contest/anthem types).

 

The Deluxe edition CD also contains a DVD of her "A New Day… Live In Las Vegas" (parts of the show including "The Power Of Love," "I Drove All Night," "I Surrender," and "I Wish."

 

Manila Builletin Online

In 2003, Celine Dion began a long-term engagement with Caesars Palace, performing a show based on her 2002 album, A New Day Has Come, at the Las Vegas casino five nights a week. The Vegas show was such a success that the powers that be wound up extending its run, eventually closing the production at the end of 2007, over a year later than originally planned. During these long five years, Dion trickled out some new releases -- there was a new collection called One Heart that hit the stores the day the whole Sin City affair started, as well as a few French-language albums, a document of the live show, and a soundtrack to Anne Geddes baby photographs -- but she never did a full-fledged, big-screen sequel to A New Day Has Come. She was saving that for when the Vegas extravaganza wrapped up, and as soon as it was ready to close, Dion was ready with Taking Chances, her first "official" pop album in five years.

 

Never one for subtlety, Celine Dion hammers home that her post-Vegas years are going to be different with the very title of Taking Chances, but she doesn't stop there. Not only is this the time for her to take chances, she's also full of surprises and there's a new day dawning. She sings that "just when you thought you got me figured out," she'll do something unexpected because she's a "chameleon" -- basically, any rebirth cliché that comes to mind pops up somewhere on Taking Chances, as Celine never lets listeners forget that she is beginning the next grand chapter of her career. In the pre-release push for the album, it was suggested that Dion was, well, taking chances with her music, and her enlisting of Evanescence's Ben Moody to produce and write a couple of tracks, while hiring Linda Perry to write another couple, suggested that this would indeed be a different kind of Celine album. And it is, at least a little bit. Over its long, long 16 tracks, Celine indulges in some glossy electronic beats on "Shadow of Love," flirts with hard rock on the Aldo Nova-written "Can't Fight the Feelin'" (the great Canadian AOR rocker writes three other tunes here, including "A Song for You," which borrows a title from Leon Russell but nothing else), tries to shimmy like Shakira on "Eyes on Me," and even tries to belt out the blues on "That's Just the Woman in Me," written by former Soft Boy Kimberley Rew.

 

Added to this are the understated but no less significant efforts to hitch her wagon to the numerous American Idols who imitate her style. Celine attempts to snatch Heart's "Alone" from Carrie Underwood and cribs from Kelly Clarkson's operatic rock, two blatant thieveries that, when combined with the quartet of explicit changeups, gives Taking Chances a vaguely desperate vibe, as if Celine needs to prove that she still reigns supreme among all divas. Although Dion can pull off these moves with strenuous skill, all the effort is for naught because these slight changes in sound wind up serving an album that doesn't feel that different than the same old Celine Dion. The album may not be as big and spangly as A New Day Has Come -- whose glittery surfaces and exaggerated arrangements were ideal for the Vegas chapter of Dion's career -- but it does play as a refurbished version of her 1996 blockbuster, Falling into You, overhauled for a new millennium. It lacks both the epic Jim Steinman songs and the Diane Warren ballads, yet their imprint remains, as their over the top formula is given a brushed aluminum finish -- a sleek, chilly, tasteful sound that fits the mood of the late 2000s. And if Taking Chances is anything, it's an album of its time: it offers extravagance in the guise of self-help, which can be alluring in doses -- especially those bizarre blues-rockers -- but it's just too much of a very expensive yet not particularly tasteful thing.

3/5

 

Sorce

The unsinkable Celine Dion

Sunday, November 11th 2007, 4:00 AM

 

Celine Dion may have titled her new album "Taking Chances," but does she?

 

Can she?

 

Yes and no.

 

One song slips in a sitar and allows a mild Hindu beat. Another cut could almost be called country, if you call Faith Hill country. Yet another goes all Janis Joplin on us, letting the singer find a tough new texture, and a bluer hue, to her voice.

 

Hard-line Dion addicts shouldn't sit and pout. Nothing on the disk will make you raise too high an eyebrow, or snap your wallet shut. In fact, the greatest "chance" the singer takes on the album is a - gasp! - subtle one.

 

On the first English-language, nonconcept album in four years from the world's loudest singer, Dion croons more carefully than usual, and stresses twinkling ballads over the more bombastic kind.

 

Not that even Dion's quietest songs manage to stay that way for long. Power fanatics still get plenty of Celine the shrieker. But this time she's better at calibrating her belts, yelps and loop-de-loops. Unlike all too many older Dion recordings, she's not being athletic for its own sake. She waits - and waits - for the right moment to let all hell break loose.

 

Once she does, batten down the hatches. Man, can this chick blow.

 

The more refined approach of the CD lets us appreciate Dion's Olympic moments more, while also leaving room for her to connect to the material more often. You could almost call some of the result nuanced.

 

In "Surprise Surprise," Dion shades notes with more sensuality before letting it rip. In "A World to Believe In," she holds back her constant temptation - to turn every note into a climax.

 

Along the way, Dion has some truly impressive moments. In "New Dawn," she's not just exploiting gospel's drama. Her swoops and wails get at the feeling that fuels them. In the blues song ("That's Just the Woman in Me"), the nose-bleed notes won't just impress you, but move you, too.

 

In the final ballad, "Skies of L.A.," Dion goes for a Michel Legrand-style delicacy, and winds up sweetly finessing every note of the tune.

 

Of course, Dion remains saddled with a love of unsinkable lyrics. She's always rising above, seeing the light or being reborn. And - if we're talking about sheer surprise - there's nothing as fantastically chancy as her brilliant take on AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" from a VH1 "Diva" special some years back. Then again, we can't expect a singer of her populist ilk to sustain anything that radical for long. At least "Taking Chances" shows that when Dion allows a few of them, it makes a real difference.

 

jfarber@nydailynews.com

Celine Dion is the best selling female artist of all time, selling over 200 million records worldwide. During her Las Vegas run of her very successful theatrical show "A New Day," Celine released a handful of albums in English and in French. She is back with a new record to relaunch her career once the Vegas spectacle is over in December. The record Taking Chances symbolizes where Celine is at in her career. She no longer has to prove herself through high notes and notes that are held for what seems an eternity. Celine roars more than she soars on this record while sharpening up her songs to a more involved pop rock sound.

 

Taking Chances opens with the title track. Written by Kara DioGuardi and David Stewart, Celine connects with the song almost instantly as she starts it out with "Don't know much about your life/ Don't know much about your world/ Don't wanna be alone tonight on this planet they call earth." Softly singing her way through the verse, the first chorus is light with a story of jumping in and not caring about the consequences until they arrive. Once the second verse comes in, the song becomes uptempo and very edgy compared to Dion's previous works. "I just wanna start again/ Maybe you could show me how to try/ Maybe you could take me in/ Somewhere underneath your skin."

 

The next track is a cover of Heart's "Alone," in which Celine worked with Ben Moody and David Hodges (ex-Evanescence members). What's incredible about Celine is that she has the ability to take the song and make one feel as if it were the first time to hear the song. "Alone" is a classic song of rock history about to be rediscovered. "This Time" is also written and produced by the latter team. Taken on by the duos slightly haunting lyrics and melodies, they bring Celine to a new level in music. "I've had enough/ You break me/ As I bleed you just say you're sorry/ You call this love/ But this time/ Your lies are

not enough/ This time," she continues to sing about empty threats.

 

"Fade Away" keeps the tempo of the record as Celine deals with bouts of memories and temptation about love that isn't good while "Shadow of Love" taps into a Euro style dance beat.

 

The most remarkable track is "That's Just The Woman In Me." Not only does Celine exhibit powerful vocals, but she gives us for the first time, complete raw vocals. One would think a modern day Janis Joplin were singing the song by the end as Celine emotionally shouts "That's just the woman in me working on you baby."

 

"Eyes on Me" brings a middle eastern feel to the record. Written by Kristian Lundin and Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem, it showcases Celine's ability to keep rhythm. Celine here can step into another character and take you with her. She's telling her guy to keep his eyes on her because she's hot and he needs to appreciate what he has. Kristian also wrote two of her hit singles "That's The Way It Is" and "I'm Alive," which shows promise if the song is released as a single in the future.

 

Swedish producer/writer Andrews Bagge (who has also worked with Janet Jackson and Madonna) brought "Song For You" to Celine. Recorded in a live take with Celine and the pianist Robert Wells (instrumentation was added in later), Celine painfully and emotionally sings about missing someone. Taken over by her controlled majestic voice and Wells' ability to breathe life into the piano, you can't help but lose yourself in the melody. "I couldn't live/ I couldn't live without your love/ For one kiss/ Well I'd give everything up/ There's no words that can describe/ What I feel deep inside/ So I'll let this song say it all/ Then I hope you'll understand/ Once you've listened to the end," Dion sings passionately. "Song For You" is the gem of the record.

 

Kara DioGuardi also appears on "Surprise, Surprise." Here Celine sings playfully with attitude about one side people show when you first enter a relationship. Later once the guard is let down, people tend to open up more and sometimes another side is shown. "Just when you think you've got me figured out/ Just when you think you know me well/ Baby you've barely even broke the ice/ My river runs wide/ You're not inside/ But you're closer than you were," she chants along another pop rock track.

 

Taking Chances is sure to surprise fans and critics alike. The record is nothing the world has seen of Celine... yet.

 

Taking Chances is released November 13th in the U.S.

Source

USA Today Review

 

'Chances' takes Celine to broader territory

 

By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

 

Don't expect anything too rebellious when Celine Dion claims to be pushing the envelope. She's not rapping with 50 Cent, gyrating at a stripper's pole or shopping at T.J. Maxx, but she is stepping out of our discomfort zone.

On Taking Chances (* * * out of four), in stores Tuesday, the Canadian songbird relinquishes her throne as queen of the air-raid sirens. The album signals the end of her three-year, 700-show run at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where her elaborate A New Day production proved popular and lucrative but drew sneers for its sentimental theatrics.

 

 

MORE: Celine is 'Taking Chances' with latest show stopper

FAMILY FIRST: Stage fright for Dion? Only in front of her son

 

With Chances, the diva seems to be stretching artistic muscles, yoga-style not aerobically, and seeking an escape from expectations. She largely succeeds. Right Next to the Right One and other typically lovely ballads make the cut, but they're reined in, as Dion resists her tendency to over-sing. She dials back the bombast on the title track, a midtempo rocker, and shows admirable restraint and grace on My Love. Gleam remains, but grit finds a place in the formula, too, on songs written or produced by such unlikely collaborators as Dave Stewart, R. Kelly and Ben Moody.

 

By treading broader territory, cutting the wattage on power ballads and swapping sap for sincerity, Dion may be discovering the true power behind one of the most technically astonishing instruments in pop music.

 

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Celine Dion | TJ Maxx

>Download: Taking Chances, Heart cover Alone, Fade Away

 

>Consider: That's Just the Woman in Me, A Song for You

 

Sorce

Celine Dion

 

'Taking Chances'

Columbia

 

Updating exercise from celebrated MOR chanteuse

Fresh from her five year live residency at Las Vegas’s Caesar’s Palace, bilingual MOR chanteuse Celine Dion has completed two albums for release this year - the French language D’Elles and this Anglophone set, Taking Chances.

 

 

The sixteen tracks don’t exactly gamble with a tried-and-tested formula, but there are some surprises here: amid the big production numbers from songwriters like Linda Perry and Billy Steinberg come subtler moments, like the Gentle piano & violin-led A Song For You, the Shakira-esque Eyes On Me with its middle-eastern seasonings and the charming little waltz Right Next To The Right One.

 

The title track (and lead-off single) is co-written by Eurythymics maestro Dave Stewart, and the cover of Heart’s Alone is a creditable reinvention.

 

The deluxe version also contains a bonus DVD which trails the release of her Las Vegas show DVD, A New Day. The four tracks here include a racy cover of Stevie Wonder’s I Wish and the Jennifer Rush anthem The Power Of Love and there’s everything you could wish for in terms of frantic chorus boys, ten-foot plumed showgirls and a stage the size of an ice rink.

 

It’s all the height of spectacle in terms of musical theatre, but maybe it says a lot about its production values that the most touching moments of all come in the sneak peeks of a meet-and-greet in which fans tell the diva exactly what she has meant to them. These glimpses of how music intersects with ordinary lives plainly touch the singer deeply.

 

By: Clare O'Brien

 

[source

Celine takes a chance TheStar.com - Music - Celine takes a chance the Star, November 13, 2007

 

Pop & Rock

 

Céline Dion

Taking Chances (Columbia/Sony BMG)

 

 

Taking Chances, Dion's 10th album, finds her doing just that. Sure, there are several of the sentimental, cringe-worthy diva tracks – "My Love," "Alone" – that have made it acceptable sport to scoff at the biggest-selling female artist of all time (180 million records).

 

But the 17-track disc also finds the Quebec native tempering her five octaves, exuding a darker, grittier vibe ("That's Just the Woman in Me"), gospel inflection ("New Dawn") and urban pop bounce ("Eyes On Me"), channelling her inner Janis Joplin, Patti LaBelle and Shakira, respectively.

 

With an obvious reach for contemporary radio, Dion padded the efforts of longtime collaborators with in-the-now hitmakers: Ne-Yo, Linda Perry and Ben Moody, who co-wrote the self-empowering anthem "This Time" about an abused woman breaking free. The result is an edgier rock sound that won't alienate loyal fans, but may engage some new ones. Top track: With a lovely melody and simple folk instrumentation, "Right Next to the Right One" showcases Dion's flawless pipes. Ashante Infantry

3/5

 

 

 

The Gazette

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

 

3 out of 5

 

One has to wonder what exactly is meant by Taking Chances, the title of Céline Dion's new CD, out today. Is this some shrewd example of post-millennial irony?

 

Dion is doing many things here, but taking chances is not one of them. This is a characteristically safe and calculated album from the international pop superstar.

 

Fresh off her five-year stint at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, she is ready to re-enter the pop world, both with the album and the year-long world tour (coming to the Bell Centre Aug. 15 and 16) she launches in February. Perhaps that could be considered taking a chance; but when you've got a multimillion-dollar hit-making machine behind you, the odds are stacked comfortably in your favour.

 

A team of savvy songwriters and producers crafts the slick backdrop for Dion to show off her singing chops. The opening title track, a soaring acoustic rocker, was co-written by former Eurythmics member David Stewart (who inserts the wink "So talk to me, talk to me like lovers do," a line from the Eurythmics song Here Comes the Rain Again).

 

Linda Perry, a name normally associated with teen-pop stars such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, takes the reins on two tracks - the piano ballad My Love and the gospel-tinged hymn New Dawn. And long-time Quebec collaborator Aldo Nova has a hand in no fewer than five songs.

 

One could argue Dion is taking chances in the amount of ground she covers - from an appropriately overwrought reworking of Heart's '80s power ballad Alone, to the Middle Eastern twist of Eyes on Me; the tempered dance-pop of Shadow of Love and Surprise Surprise; the creepy Eartha Kitt-style rocker Can't Fight the Feelin'; and the raspy soul send-up That's Just the Woman in Me - or one could say she is simply covering her bases.

 

Either way, it is a relatively varied album in which she carries herself quite well. Her clobbering vocal outbursts are kept to a minimum, and the production is a smidgen more restrained than usual, leaving room for something resembling genuine emotion and even personality in her voice.

 

There is also pervasive melodrama in these tales of love, torment and heartbreak. Dion doesn't write a single lyric or note, and she makes up for it with prefab passion. She is all too ready, willing and able to sing like her life hangs on every line, however tried or trite.

 

Led by Dion's blinding star power, Taking Chances is a carefully streamlined pop album that leaves little room for the unexpected, and offers little to offend - unless you find radio-swarming hit machines offensive.

 

Which, of course, you don't.

 

Taking Chances is in stores today.

 

Céline Dion performs Aug. 15 and 16 at the Bell Centre. Tickets cost $65 to $195 and go on sale Saturday at noon. Call Admission at 514-790-1245 or go to www.ticketmaster.ca for online orders.

 

tdunlevy@thegazette.canwest.com

 

Céline Dion

 

Taking Chances

 

Sony BMG

 

Rating 3 out of Rating 5 Take a Chance on This: For more on Céline Dion, including a look at her past lyrical highlights and a roundup of what critics think of her new disc, go to montrealgazette.com/artslife

CD REVIEW Dion takes few risks on 'Chances' Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff | November 13, 2007

 

As the title "Taking Chances" implies, the new 18-song collection from Celine Dion finds the "Titanic" songbird breaking free from her Vegas show and venturing a little further from her adult contemporary nest with help from current hitmakers.

 

But fear not, Dion's heart still goes on - and on and on - in the power ballads with which she built her name. Fans who like to emulate their heroine's breastbone-thumping better figure out a way to build up some muscle over their sternums quick. The Canadian diva today unleashes a disc that will certainly lead to bruising in mere mortals.

 

Are chances taken? Not many, but there are rewards if you're willing to enjoy Dion's precise vocalizing and the hooky songs, including two sky-scraping ballads written by Linda Perry (Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful").

 

Along with the schmaltz, Dion has always included uptempo pop, rock, and dance ditties in her album mixes. (Think "I Drove All Night" and "River Deep, Mountain High.") So even though she may get a little more zippy here, "Taking Chances" doesn't represent any sort of bold new direction. Truly bold decisions aren't generally made by a lineup of hired guns with a proven track record of success, like Perry and the album's other writer-producers, many of whom Dion has worked with before.

 

Take, for example, Dion's cover of Heart's pop-rock anthem "Alone." Enlisting former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody adds little; in fact, the carbon-copy arrangement doesn't pack as much windswept melodramatic punch as Dion's own "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." Great vocal, terrific melody, a fine rendition, but "Alone" is already indelibly stamped by Heart's Ann Wilson.

 

The scrappy "Fade Away" nabs the peppy snare sound of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone," and "Eyes On Me" colors a bit outside the lines with an irresistibly wiggly, Eastern-flavored groove. (Shakira will kick herself for not getting it first.) The title number builds from an acoustic strum into the kind of pleasant radio-ready crunch that Michelle Branch would recognize, thanks to the work of Branch producer John Shanks.

 

Shanks is also responsible for two of the album's true left turns, "That's Just the Woman in Me" and "Can't Fight the Feelin'." And they are doozies, marvels of shocking inappropriateness.

 

The former is an insanely overwrought "blues" in the Janis Joplin vein that is impressive for the amount of grain Dion manages to put in her vocal, but falls short of convincing grittiness.

 

Despite fuzzy effects, electric guitars that chug and squeal, and threads of Southern boogie in the bass line, Dion's essentially angelic voice vigorously resists all attempts at being sullied in "Feelin'." As usual, her pristine technique persuades us that Dion believes that she's evil - and it's kind of cute - we're just not buying it.

 

Nor are we feeling the vulnerability of "I Got Nothin' Left." Co-produced by Ne-Yo (Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable") the lyrics call for bone-deep romantic weariness but our plucky narrator just sounds too resilient.

 

Among the album's successes is "Right Next to the Right One." Dion sings this quiet little waltz-time jaunt in a refreshingly dainty fashion. This momentary sense of restraint perfectly matches the winsome tune and vintage Beatles-inspired instrumental flourishes.

 

It's one of the rare moments on "Taking Chances" when Dion dials back the drama. That's the kind of chance she needs to take more of.

Aretha & Celine: Stepping Ahead?

By Allison Stewart

Special to The Washington Post

Tuesday, November 13, 2007; C05

 

 

Aretha Franklin never seemed comfortable during her '80s comeback, the one that produced a series of ill-fitting, synth-heavy pop hits that sounded more like "Footloose" soundtrack castoffs than material fit for a queen. Celine Dion came to power in the '90s but never seemed comfortable there, such a natural creature of the '80s that she might have born in a red Adolfo suit, with "Dynasty" hair and a cassette copy of "Yentl" clutched in her hand. Both artists have released painstakingly modern new discs -- Franklin, the duets compilation "Jewels in the Crown"; and Dion, the perky, almost-edgy "Taking Chances" -- in which they are dragged into the uncomfortable present, with varying levels of success.

 

"Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen" features chestnuts from Franklin's Reagan-era resurgence and tracks newly recorded with such artists as John Legend and Mary J. Blige. Everybody involved seems to be enjoying themselves except Aretha. She appears unengaged ("What Now My Love," her collaboration with Frank Sinatra, is one of those celebrity duets where the artists seem to be singing at each other); irritated by her dorkier partners (George Michael, on the great guilty pleasure "I Knew You Were Waiting [for Me]"); and only at ease singing her own songs (such as a crackling live version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with assists from Bonnie Raitt and Gloria Estefan).

 

The newly recorded tracks fare better than the old ones, maybe because the younger stars wisely leave the showboating to Franklin. Blige shows up for a nicely understated "Never Gonna Break My Faith," a gospel-y number that's as close to Motown bedrock as Franklin is likely to get these days. And while the Queen of Soul sounds as if she's seconds away from reaching over and tearing Fantasia's fool head off during the snappy "Put You Up on Game," it's still one of the best tracks here.

 

Franklin survives her latest comeback with her dignity mostly intact, which is more than you can say about Dion, who has always seemed refreshingly dignity-free. After spending the past few years making bank with her own Vegas show, Dion has emerged from her desert exile in search of a younger demographic. The helpfully named, artfully mussed "Taking Chances" is her attempt to put the contemporary in adult contemporary.

 

Dion has enlisted the same courtiers responsible for hits by Ashlee, Britney and Gwen, including songwriter Kara DioGuardi, ex-Evanescence brooder-in-chief Ben Moody and R&B singer Ne-Yo, and fed their tracks through some kind of Dion-ification machine, rendering them at once instantly familiar and slightly more rocking than her usual fare.

 

Surely no reasonable person has ever wondered what Dion would sound like plugging her way through a topical ballad about a battered woman so grim it makes Ingmar Bergman seem like Dane Cook, but the Moody co-penned "This Time" is actually kind of decent, as is a reverent karaoke copy of Heart's "Alone."

 

Dion's producers do a respectable job of ensuring that she never sounds ridiculous, though with few distinctive, iron-melting ballads , she often doesn't sound like herself, either. But unlike Franklin, who essays several of her duets with the enthusiasm of someone being held hostage, Dion makes her journey from cheesy MOR to cheesy pop-rock sound positively liberating. A little change, it turns out, can be a beautiful thing.

 

DOWNLOAD THESE: Franklin: "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)," "Never Gonna Break My Faith"; Dion: "Alone," "Taking Chances"

Dion set to make triumphant return to mainstream

 

Singer Céline Dion Email story

 

Listen to sample of 'This Time' CD review: Taking Chances As her five-year engagement in Vegas nears its end, the record industry looks to her new CD with hope, while her fans circle concert dates on calendars

 

Nov 13, 2007 04:30 AM

Bruce DeMara

Entertainment Reporter

 

With her five-year stint performing exclusively in Las Vegas almost complete, Quebec songbird Céline Dion launches a new album today that, combined with an international tour, is set to reacquaint her with a legion of fans worldwide.

 

And with CD sales slumping, the industry is happy to have her back, especially since Dion's fans are more likely to actually buy her CD than download it from the Internet.

 

She's such a commercial force that other artists with new CDs – such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and the Spice Girls – for one reason or another all found other days to release their latest works.

 

Veteran music biz journalist Larry LeBlanc, who has heard an advance copy of Dion's new studio album, Taking Chances – her first major release since 2004 – said he expects it will propel her back into the public consciousness.

 

"It's a really, really good album. It's a much more aggressive album. I wouldn't say it's a rock album, but it certainly has rock rhythms, whereas before she was purely a pop artist," LeBlanc said.

 

"Each album has been a little bit different. She takes chances and not a lot of artists do. Look at the timing of this record ... six weeks before Christmas. I think you'll see very good first-week sales."

 

Details of Dion's 45-date North American concert tour have just been released, kicking off in Boston on Aug. 12 next year. Two concert dates at Toronto's Air Canada Centre are slated for Aug. 27 and 28. A huge outdoor concert is scheduled for Halifax on Aug. 23, as well as a free outdoor show Aug. 22 on the historic Plains of Abraham in Quebec, part of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations next year.

 

The publicity machine is already cranking up for Dion, who got the full Oprah treatment yesterday, complete with film clips of her son and husband and duets with teary-eyed audience members.

 

With her five years of performing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas set to end next month, there's a genuine curiosity among Dion's fans about the live tour to see "how much of Vegas is coming with her in terms of the show and how it's going to look," LeBlanc said.

 

With record sales industry-wide relatively flat in recent years – in part due to Internet downloading – LeBlanc said Dion is among the few artists who can buck the trend.

 

"What people forget is (Dion) is a world artist and there aren't many that are actually world artists. There are actually only a handful. She sells in every country of the world, she has a huge Asian base, a huge South American base, Europe of course," LeBlanc said.

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The star tries a touch more grit

CARL WILSON

 

November 13, 2007

 

TAKING CHANCES

 

Celine Dion

 

(Sony BMG)

 

***

 

 

I was talking a few months ago to a Las Vegas performer whose popular drag act includes a turn as Celine Dion. Besides admiring the gawky passion she brings, he thought of Dion as a kind of colleague - essentially an imitator too.

 

He saw her as a colleague, not in the sense that she looks like a drag queen, a frequent joke not discouraged by the cover photo on the Quebec-born diva's first album in three years, Taking Chances, where her hair is blown out and her skin tone so pale that she looks straight out of a comedy-horror movie about celebrity zombies. No, he meant that her persona is a pastiche of her own idols, from Elvis's cocked hip to Tina Turner's stomp to Barbra Streisand's hand flutters.

 

Musically, while she is best loved and loathed for overdriven pop ballads, Dion's albums (of which she's sold nearly 200 million) are designed to show that her pipes are capable of carrying virtually any stylistic cargo. She has tackled disco, techno, Broadway ballads, light opera, R & B, gospel, country-folk and even dancehall reggae - an old-time variety singer in a high-tech studio frock. Since at least the 1960s, pop stars have been expected to impose some robust personal identity on their material, but that has seldom seemed to interest Dion.

 

After her 1990s overexposure, especially with My Heart Will Go On, many people took her for a soulless singing machine, an artistic zombie under her husband, René Angélil, and Sony BMG's command. She had sense enough to bow out for a couple of years and then set up in Las Vegas, where for five years she has almost nightly sold out her dance-and-song revue, A New Day, whose triumphal run ends next month to be followed by a world tour.

 

Still, her cultural currency has been deflating, and her last few English records have been tepid - less annoying but also duller. From the title down, Taking Chances is clearly meant to give the Dion market a speculative jolt. Rumours circulated that it would include production by R & B superstar Timbaland and reflect Dion's supposed secret love of hard rock via the contribution of Ben Moody, ex-guitarist for Goth-rock band Evanescence. Was she about to release a bizarre hodgepodge of Rihanna-style club bangers and snarling feedback symphonies?

 

It's with mixed disappointment and relief that I report no. Timbaland is a no-show and Moody doesn't turn it up to 11. Rather, Dion has updated her repertoire of impersonations to compete with new challengers such as Kelly Clarkson and Shakira. At the same time, at 39, the former child star is finally able to assert a touch more grown-up grit.

 

She pumps out Heart's Alone and braves Bollywood beats in Eyes on Me. Her blues-rock keening on That's Just the Woman in Me has been compared to Janis Joplin (I would downgrade the hurricane alert to a Bonnie Raitt level). Her first attempt at a topical song in English arrives with Moody's domestic-violence scenario This Time, though it suffers from Evanescence-like po'faced dourness.

 

The title tune has a barrage of electric guitars, but ultimately it's just an enjoyable update of Dion's standard love-empowerment fare: You can hear the fun she has singing the lines the song's co-writer, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, swipes from his band's 1980s hit Here Comes the Rain Again.

 

Still, old fans can be assured that these stretches are surrounded by fluffy ballads nearer Dion's home base. That's also going to be the barrier for anyone who still holds a grudge over My Heart Will Go On. But perhaps, iPods ready, we each can just patch together the Chances we prefer.

 

My attempts to get past my bias against Dion are often stymied by the huge arrangements producers wrap around her voice, as if not trusting her to muffle its force herself. So my favourites are the stripped-down tracks: A Song for You is a cocktail-piano crooner that plays creatively with the motif of "I had to say I love you in a song," and Dion finds its subtleties. Right Next to the Right One, a recent hit for Danish folk-rock artist Tim Christensen, has a lilting cabaret-band swing that startlingly calls to mind Sam Phillips or even a more-gauzy Feist.

 

(Unfortunately, the better moments are still marred by overdone vocal processing - digital smoothing applied to one voice that surely doesn't need it.) Is this "edgier" Dion going to win over hordes of new young fans? Not likely. In fact, it would be sad if she wholly modernized; being a bit out of step makes her more endearing. Still, this album does bring her English music nearer the more nuanced style long familiar to her French fans. Despite the corpse-makeup cover, Taking Chances takes some positive steps in the dezombification of Celine Dion.

 

Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste (in part about Celine Dion) will be published next month.

 

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Great reads you put in here. Thanks Rami :)

Glad you liked it Suus :)

loads of reviews in here thanks :lol:

already read a few nice ones :D

The Canadian Press

Celine Dion reins herself in for largely satisfying urban, rock-tinged CD: review

 

 

TORONTO - She's known for belting out powerhouse ballads with the subtlety of an air siren, and that was before she took up a five-year residency in that mecca of glitz and extravagance known as Las Vegas.

 

Now, Celine Dion is making another run at the charts with her first English album in years and is promising a new direction for her instantly recognizable five-octave vocals with the aptly named, "Taking Chances."

 

This time around, she collaborates with some of today's hottest hitmakers to produce admirable stabs at Latin, blues, urban and rock-tinged grooves, to largely satisfying effect.

 

But the biggest leap she takes is by reining in her oft-overwrought vocal delivery, pulling back just enough in most songs to allow their textured flavours to come through and for her own singing power to resonate with depth.

 

Sharp sonic turns include a country-rock growl for the anthemic "Can't Fight the Feelin'," and a raspy take on the bluesy number, "That's Just the Woman in Me."

 

The Quebec diva invokes the musical style and warble of Shakira on "Eyes on Me," and later accords a touch of tenderness, even vulnerability, on the ballad "I Got Nothing Left," and the folky, Beatle-esque "Right Next To the Right One."

 

Big-name help comes by way of the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, who co-wrote the urban-tinged title track, "Taking Chances," and songwriter Linda Perry (behind hits for Pink, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera) for the piano-based ballad, "My Love."

 

R&B star Ne-Yo provides background vocals on "I Got Nothin' Left."

 

"I think this album represents a positive evolution in my career," Dion says in promotional material accompanying the disc.

 

"These days, I'm feeling strong.... maybe a little gutsier than in the past...and just as passionate about music and life as I ever was."

 

Also notable is a significantly muted Quebec accent, with Dion adopting a hoarse, southern drawl akin to Melissa Etheridge on "That's Just the Woman In Me."

 

But it's not a total reinvention for the performer, who completes her longstanding run at Caesars Palace in a little more than a month. .

 

More familiar Dion fare is represented by the gospel-tinged "New Dawn," and the inspirational, "A World To Believe In," both easy-listening showstoppers with soaring vocals that approach the heights of such signature screechers as, "The Power of Love," and "My Heart Will Go On."

 

Dion takes her new sound around the world with a global tour in February, stopping in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe before returning to the United States and Canada in August.

 

Canadian stops include Montreal, Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Tickets go on sale Friday.

Céline Dion, Taking Chances (Sony BMG)

 

Rating: 3 1/2

 

 

Taking Chances is the wrong title for Céline Dion's new English album.

 

Adding watered-down Bollywood rhythms, using a few computer-generated vocal effects, referencing The Beatles, and covering one of Heart's hits is about as risky as sitting at your desk.

 

If Dion were truly taking chances, she'd record an album of polka ditties with Winnipeg's Walter Ostanek or try rapping.

 

Apparently, the Quebec pop diva wanted to work with producer du jour Timbaland, but his name doesn't appear in the credits of her 16-track pop extravaganza.

 

Dozens of other names do -- from '80s Canuck rocker Aldo Nova to R&B star Ne-Yo (a.ka. Shaffer Smith) to Linda Perry to ex-Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody.

 

With so many different contributors --writing, recording and mixing in studios across North America and England -- Taking Chances could've easily turned into a mess, but it sounds remarkably smooth.

 

Dion dabbles in a smattering of styles -- soul, R&B, world, classical -- but they're all heavily rooted in pop, so they flow together effortlessly.

 

Eyes On Me undulates with a tangy Mumbai melody -- but loses all of its spiciness when Dion unleashes her pipes. As is often the case with the 39-year-old singer, her vocals are often so powerful and ruthless, they crush most of the sexiness or vulnerability out of her songs.

 

At least one of her producers tries to tone down the bombast, but ends up morphing Dion into a jarring Minnie Mouse on I Got Nothing Left, an otherwise wrenching R&B lullaby co-written by Ne-Yo. Her vocals sound like they were pitched higher -- thanks to computer software -- so she comes across as heliumized and, well, wrong.

 

She fares better on That's Just The Woman In Me, a bluesy, smoky, almost sultry, number. Ditto goes for New Dawn, a gospel song; Skies of L.A., which laments the state of the world; and My Love, a piano ballad with hushed vocals. It could very well be one of her most understated yet passionate performances.

 

Alone, a string-laden cover of Heart's 1987 hit, is one of her most bombastic. Yes, Dion sings the heck out of the song, but she doesn't come close to matching the raw emotion of Heart's astounding Ann Wilson, one of the most overlooked female vocalists in rock.

 

The title track borrows lyrics from The Eurythmics' Here Comes The Rain Again -- "So talk to me like lovers do" -- while Nova's Can't Fight The Feelin' isn't an homage to R.E.O. Speedwagon, but a bad-girl rocker with nods to John Lennon and All You Need Is Love.

 

Nothing on Taking Chances compares to the Beatles classic -- or even Dion's Oscar- and Grammy-winning international smash hit, My Heart Will Go On. The lyrics to most of her songs are glossy generalities about love, taking chances, and loneliness, so they won't really grab your attention. You'll find yourself tuning out her words and simply listening to her voice.

 

There's no denying Dion's prowess as a singer or the talents of her songwriters and producers. They've given her another collection of poised and polished songs, but ultimately, she doesn't take enough chances with her emotions or arrangements.

 

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