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Feb 10, 2012It's not that Gainsbourg is swallowed up by her band, more that she doesn't – or can't – rise to the occasion as a natural singer can... It still charms, though.
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Feb 10, 2012A bit of a mixed bag.
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MojoJan 12, 2012Gainsbourg's reedy vocals ... just don't stand up to the rigours of live documentation. [Dec. 2011 p. 98]
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Feb 1, 2012The first disc here was made with several different collaborators certainly doesn't lend cohesion.
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Dec 8, 2011Charlotte Gainsbourg's Beck-produced IRM was a stellar sleeper gem of an album, but this follow-up sounds tossed together.
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Jan 5, 2012The stage part of Stage Whisper, despite offering little in the way of riveting moments, does act as a nice compilation of Gainsbourg's greatest moments from IRM and its predecessor, 2006's 5:55.
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Nov 10, 2011French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg's voice is small and unaffected (a stage whisper, indeed), but Beck, her producer-songwriter for 2010's celebrated IRM, tends toward the opposite extreme.
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Dec 8, 2011Although only adequate run-throughs of the studio-album tracks, Stage Whispers' live performances do underscore a continuity between songs from both 5:55 and IRM that otherwise wasn't apparent. Stage Whispers' new offerings, on the other hand, are consistently interesting.
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Jan 27, 2012Gainsbourg's voice sounds thin and adrift against too much noodling, and it only emphasises how much of a studio performer she is.
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Jan 4, 2012Her singing is collected and on pitch, whether she's working with a whispery hush or a lemon-tart croon.
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Jan 30, 2012Stage Whisper is more of a stop-gap than a fourth album proper... But there are gems among the eight unreleased songs.
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Nov 10, 2011It's a nice try, but the collection proves that ultimately, Gainsbourg shines more in the studio than on the stage.