Mylène Farmer's most electronic dance-oriented full-length studio album to date, Point de Suture is a full-fledged electro-pop effort. Though impressive and filled with highlights, not all fans will welcome the change in stylistic direction. While Farmer's previous album, Avant Que l'Ombre... (2005), is notable for its ambient electronica style, there's nothing ambient about Point de Suture. The dance beats are hard hitting, and the rhythms are propulsive and often unceasing. The music cries out for club play. As a matter of fact, Point de Suture seems tailor-made for Farmer's stadium-packed concert extravaganzas. The sound here is massive, and the louder one plays it, the better it is. However, Farmer loses some nuance in the process. There are only a couple downtempo songs on Point de Suture, "Point de Suture" and "Si J'Avais au Moins...," both standout ballads comprised of uplifting string arrangements and delicate vocal melodies rather than hard-hitting dance beats. Moreover, some fans will lament the absence of electric guitars and rock motifs à la Innamoramento (1999). "Paradis Inanimé," another of the many standout songs on Point de Suture, is the only song that rocks to any extent. The remainder of the disc is thoroughly electro-pop in style, and fortunately, most of these electronic dance-oriented songs are impressive, "Dégénération," "Appelle Mon Numéro," "Je M'Ennuie," and "C'Est dans l'Air" in particular. The odd song out is "Looking for My Name," an English-language duet with Moby that is a total drag at track five. With so many highlights, there's a lot to like about Point de Suture. It's nevertheless not one of Farmer's best albums. Longtime producer and composer Laurent Bouttonnat makes invigorating electro-pop, but it's far from cutting edge. Likewise, Farmer comes up with lyrics that are deep as far as electronic dance music goes, but the electro-pop style doesn't allow for the richness that many fans expect from her.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

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Mylène Farmer's fifth live album to date, No.5 on Tour, documents her 2009 tour of France in support of her most recent studio album, Point de Suture (2008). The standard edition of album includes 20 songs spread across two discs, including a bunch of her greatest hits performed in the electro-rock style of Point de Suture. Though some of these songs are also included on her previous live albums, most recently Avant Que l'Ombre...A Bercy (2006), N°5 on Tour stands apart from its in-concert predecessors on account of its new arrangements, abundance of new material, and recording quality so pristine that it sounds as though the album were recorded in a studio with overdubbed interjections of audience noise and stage banter. Known as a dazzling concert performer with a flair for provocation, Farmer performed more or less the exact same set list for much of her tour. N°5 on Tour follows the standard set list, which is broken up into several different acts. The album opens with "D'Entre les Morts," an instrumental studio recording, before the in-concert material commences with "Paradis Inanimé," one of seven songs from Point de Suture. Farmer balances the new material with a bunch of greatest hits, including "L'Âme-Stram-Gram" (1999), "XXL" (1995), "À Quoi Je Sers..." (1989), "Pourvu Qu'Elles Soient Douces" (1988), "Rêver" (1995), "Ainsi Soit Je..." (1988), "Libertine" (1986), "Sans Contrefaçon" (1987), "Je Te Rends Ton Amour" (1999), and "Désenchantée" (1991). The newly arranged songs from the '80s are all highlights. Several of the Point de Suture songs are also highlights, in particular "Je M'Ennuie," "Dégénération," "C'est dans l'Air," and "Si J'Avais au Moins...," the latter two of which close the album on a high note. The pristine sound quality of N°5 on Tour is also notable. The audience noise can be heard only between songs, and the vocals and music are so perfect, it begs the question of how much editing was done in the studio. The integrity question aside, No.5 on Tour is far and away the best-sounding of Farmer's live albums to date. Longtime fans might wish that the set list wasn't weighted so heavily toward Point de Suture, and they also might find themselves recoiling from the new arrangements. As a representative document of Farmer's 2009 tour, however, N°5 on Tour could hardly be better. The collector's edition adds a three-track DVD of trivial value.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

Sabine Devieilhe and Alexandre Tharaud bring their customary clarity, finesse and insight to the works of four composers who defined the path of French art song or "mélodie" from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. In an imaginatively balanced recital, the two French luminaries perform Fauré, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. Their programme, built around Ravel's Cinq Chansons populaires grecques and Debussy's Verlaine setting Ariettes oubliées, takes up the themes of love, war and death and offers both favourite songs like Fauré's Après un rêve and some rarer treasures. © Erato

Featuring 27 tracks spanning 1994's debut La Derniere Annee ("Sans Recours") up to 2009's Sortir ("Au Bord de L'eau"), Sur Ma Route is the comprehensive first official compilation from popular French singer/songwriter Gerald de Palmas. The two-2CD collection contains the hits "J'en Reve Encore" and "Sur la Route," a live performance of "Le Gouffre," and a collaboration with Sheryl Crow ("The First Cut Is the Deepest"), alongside a recording of the song he penned for Johnny Hallyday ("Marie"), the track Celine Dion later translated into English ("Tomber"), and a brand new composition, "L'etranger."© Jon O'Brien /TiVo

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The initial fame Christophe Maé garnered in 2005-2006 as an actor in the musical Le Roi Soleil, where he played Philippe, the brother of Louis XIV, was trumped by his subsequent venture into the French pop scene as a folk-pop singer/songwriter/guitarist. Though not technically his full-length solo debut album (that would be a more or less impossible to find independently released album called Sa Danse Donne), Mon Paradis was the first of his albums heard on a mass scale, and it proved tremendously popular, becoming the second best-selling French album of 2007 and spawning a series of hit singles, including the chart-topping lead single, "On S'Attache." Maé is graced with a uniquely signature singing voice and an easygoing lilt in common with one of his most often cited influences, Bob Marley. These two characteristics above all others define Mon Paradis and are showcased best on "On S'Attache," the aforementioned album opener. Thankfully, the material that follows (co-written by Maé with the help of Michel Domisseck, Lionel Florence, Bruno Dandrimont, Jeff Oricelli, Olivier Schulteis, Pascal Obispo, and Jacquot) is uniformly excellent, especially the first quarter of the album, including "Mon Paradis," "Belle Demoiselle," and "Parce Qu'on Sait Jamais" as well as "On S'Attache." Sequenced midway through the album is another highlight, "C'est Ma Terre," a perfectly crafted pop song that opens with a little beatboxing before unfolding with backing vocals and a singalong chorus. Though four different writers are credited with penning "C'est Ma Terre," it doesn't sound overwrought. If anything, it sounds fine-tuned, as if Maé wrote the song himself and then sought input from a few of his hired hands, incorporating the finishing touches until he had a polished gem. Most of the latter half of Mon Paradis is credited solely to Maé, and while it's true these songs aren't as captivating as the earlier sequenced hit singles, the self-penned songs that fill much of the latter half of the album are impressive nonetheless. So while there's no doubt Maé is a capable songwriter, not only is he willing to collaborate with hired hands; it seems as if he benefits from the outside input. The production touches of Volodia benefit Maé as well. An industry veteran with a long track record of success, Volodia gives the stripped-down folk-pop of Maé a thoroughly modern sheen, adding little touches (e.g., the opening beatbox of "C'est Ma Terre," the hand percussion of "Spleen," lots of multi-tracked vocals) so that each song of Mon Paradis sounds unique and dynamic. Indeed, Maé is the rare folk-pop singer/songwriter/guitarist who can crash the gates and obtain commercial success internationally in the iPod age without forsaking any of his craftsmanship. It helps, of course, that Maé was able to build upon the initial fame he garnered in Le Roi Soleil, but there's no question Mon Paradis is the work of a talented young man who works well with others.© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo

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After making a name for herself as a featured vocalist on hits by French rappers Diam's and Dadoo, French pop singer/songwriter Vitaa made her chart-topping album debut with À Fleur de Toi (2007). The 15-track album was co-written by Mounir Maarouf, with the exception of a few songs co-penned by Street Fabulous, most notably the hit single "Ma Soeur." Other highlights of the album are "À Fleur de Toi," "Toi," and "Pourquoi les Hommes?"© Jason Birchmeier /TiVo