Eyes Open
Recorded for filmmaker Spike Lee's label, this 74-minute album is an attempt to win Western audiences over to Youssou N'Dour's particularmbalaxstyle. Thanks to coproducer Jean-Philippe Rykiel, the bass is heavy, the sound wonderfully clear, and the arrangements fully developed. But in some ways those points also become the record's disadvantages--there's a lack of spontaneity to the proceedings. So while the opener, "New Africa," works beautifully with N'Dour's Super Etoile band hot behind him, the tracks that follow are bereft of spark with the life wrung out of them. Not that there aren't some glorious moments on here, like "Yo Le Le (Fulani Groove)," and "Things Unspoken," where N'Dour lets his voice wail as if he truly means it, but for the most part this isn't N'Dour at his most inspired.--Chris Nickson