CD OF THE WEEK (September 1999) :

ARNO
"Le European Cowboy"
&
" A Poil Commercial"
(1999, Delabel / Virgin, 7243 8479302 9)

Songs (click on the -icons for audio)
1. Fantastique
2. In My Bed
3. European Cowboy
4. Mercy
5. Sous Ton Balcon
6. Birthday
7. High and Dry
8. Sitting in a Car
9. J'ai un problème
10. Tatouages du Passé
11. Cry Like a Man
12. Oh La La La!

Geproduceerd door Mario Caldato Jr, Arno, Erwin Autrique & Craig Armstrong

Musicians :
- Arno Hintjens : vocal, harmonica, percussions
- Ad Cominotto : keyboards, programming, accordion, piano
- Geoffrey Burton : guitars, fretless guitars, viola guitar
- Alan Gevaert : bass
- Piet Jorens : drums, percussions
And with :
- Tom Wouters : Reeds clarinette
- Jean-Pierre Onraedt : drums
- Jean-Pierre Dessy & Jean-François Chamberlain : strings
- Franck Michiels : percussion
- Peter Vermeersch : arrangements
- Craig Armstrong : orchestration & arrangement
- Alan Thompson : bass
- Stephen Hilton : keyboards & programming

Cover Photo: Danny Willems

My opinion

Le Plus Beau est de retour. Comment ? Et comment!
During his fiftieth year on this planet, mr. Hintjens has published two new CD's in one go. "Le European Cowboy" is for the world, and "A Poil Commercial" is for the little Gaellic village that still resists the Anglo-Saxon hegemony. However, both CD's contain about 80% the same songs in the same version, making purchasing both a heavy-fan-only affair.
Starting off with the negative points : "Birthday" is an emotionally tense song, but the result is just painful: Arno sounds on it like a Marianne Faithfull with a thick tongue. Rotten. And the piano keys are being beaten as if they were a rivalling gang of soccer supporters. Shivers ... no way. "Mercy" steams somewhat in the right direction, but never quite gets there. "Sous Ton Balcon" is a funny drunken waltz à la "Joint - Les filles de bord de mer - joint". The drunkenness he portrays is so real it even gets in the way of the song, despite it's subject. Faut le faire. "In my Bed" - the a-typical single - is drowned into a swamp of violins. Despite it's famous producer Craig Armstrong. The song "Fantastique" sadly is not.
So far for the misery. Starting from song 7 there is another - and much better - album, so it seems : "High & Dry" (in which Geoffrey Burton can go wild on all kind of guitars on a song that coud be one of the Charles-projects), "Sitting in A Car" (A cross-bread between Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu. Arno's voice sounds like I've never hear it sound before : he probably had a heavy cold), "J'ai un problème"(merry song about an ego-tripping pop star), "Tatouages du Passé" (nice lyrics ànd song) and "Cry Like A Man" (a dirty portion of blues à la Tom Waits).
To close the joint, there's a new version of the TC-Matic-club-classic "Oh La La La!". The new version has been given an original - Eastern-European folk - treatment, but it never manages to make us forget the pogo-"Oh la la la".
Probably not the best CD that Arno has dropped into our lives, but that was a task he has been making awfully difficult during the past 50 years. May he be forgiven. 'Cause "Le European Cowboy" is truy "vintage" Arno, and that has really become a "quality brand" to say "U" to. "Fuck U", or "I love U". U choose.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This album in the press:

- Geert Henderickx in Oor : "Totally over the edge are the trio really desperate ballads ... The rest bounces, creaks, grinds, bubbles and groans just like in the old days, yet just that little bit different than before. Arno Hintjens knows - hands not even on the wheel - to bridge the gap between Jacques Brel and Captain Beefheart. Chapeau à Arno".
- PDW in Humo : "Arno see is Arno get. The "Nightingale of Ostend" sings like he was born, the roman and anglosaxon tongue get heavily whipped up the behind, and the excellent accompanying band switches effortlessly from à la Française to horny funk or Beefheartesque blues. ... Frankly, I was left a bit starving and couldn't help thinking : c'mon Arno, whoop that thang! Whoop it now, once, goddamit!"

Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell me about it !

More about this group :

- Arno in The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives.
- "Oh la la la", the original version.
- Management : Talent Sorcier (Cyril Prieur, Richard Walter) : +331.48.00.01.08 (Paris)
- website : http://www.zog.org/arno (soon at http://www.arno.be).

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on September 12th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	679	50	729 Bef	Frontstage
Azur	---	0	---
HVH-Megastore	718	54	772 Bef
Proxis	632	95	727 Bef	Proxis

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Other recent CD's
Do you want to have your record reviewed on this site? It's easy ! Click here for contact information.