Lio

Je Suis Comme Ça (M10)
by Michael McCarthy

Lio is another French chanteuse who has recently released a long-awaited album. Je Suis Comme Ça is her first studio album since 1996’s Wandatta, but it’s not very good. The problem is that it’s poetry put to music, literally, being that it’s Lio “chante Prévert.” As such, it’s much more likely to please fans of the poet than Lio’s longtime fans. Then again, many Prévert fans will probably cry blasphemy. Lio has been releasing albums since she was a teen (during vinyl’s final ruling days) and she remains très populaire, but her fans deserve better. Especially since many hated Wandatta for being so experimental with songs ranging from under two minutes to nearly 10 minutes. (That said, I much prefer the already out-of-print disc over her early Bananarama-style fluff – and certainly over Je Suis Comme Ça, though even that is superior to some of her silly early material like “Le Banana Split.”)