I first heard Youssou N'Dour about seven years before this album was released, probably because of his work with Peter Gabriel. I hadn't really taken to his more commercial music of the mid 1990s, but this seemed worth a quid when spotted in a charity shop a couple of years ago. It hasn't had many outings since.
This was N'Dour's most commercially successful album, which tries to fuse N'Dour's distinctive vocals with a very Western musical style, with limited success. Opening song Leaving typifies this approach, pleasant, but no more. Old Man has a more brassy/jazz feel, but is a bit rambling, while Without A Smile is an ordinary ballad, recued only by some fantastic sax playing. Mame Bamba is a bit more upbeat, and interesting, leading to the hit single 7 Seconds (with Neneh Cherry), still a good listen.
The middle section of the album feels fairly nondescript - there's some nice sax work on Tourists, and Love One Another is a bright and joyous song, but from there, there's little which stimulates the ears, until the anthemic final song Chimes Of Freedom.
At over 70 minutes, I can't help feeling that this album suffers from the curse of the CD, where in the early days artists were tempted to fill the available space, when they perhaps only had 40 minutes of top quality material which would have filled an LP. Also, I think I preferred N'Dour's less commercial earlier sound, however this album has its moments. But they are only moments
2* - ultimately, there isn't enough strong material to sustain my interest for over an hour.
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