On Ne Change Pas

Most Celine Dion fans are familiar with the English-language work of the Quebec-born singer. After all, this is a chart-topping artist who is renowned for her soaring power ballads and can command an impressive Las Vegas performance run. Many listeners, however, are not aware of the French-language aspect of Dion's career, when, in fact, the emotive vocalist has recorded numerous albums in her native tongue. On Ne Change Pas, a four-disc 2005 retrospective of Dion's recordings in French, aims to give this material wider exposure, succeeding with a well-selected track set. The collection begins with two new songs--the gentle 'Je Ne Vous Oublie Pas' and the dramatic 'Tous Les Secrets'. On Ne Change Pas also includes a collaboration with the pop/opera group Il Divo, 'I Believe in You', which is primarily sung in French, despite its English title. Columbia.

Throughout her 25-year career, Céline Dion has always been filled with great pride and love regarding her French-Canadian heritage, yet in all her years of performing--since her debut as a songwriter at the age of 12--she has never put out an official French Greatest Hits disc in her first language... until now. The double-disc collection is filled with songs spanning her incredibly successful career; with liner notes (written solely in French) that talk about how Céline spent many years learning her craft from respected singer-songwriters who took a young chanteuse under their wings, from Luc Plamondon to Jean-Jacques Goldman. Aside from the previously released tracks, which include her bubbly hit "Je Danse Dans Ma Tête," the emotive "Ziggy," and the beautiful "Sous Le Vent," a duet with French sensation Garou there are three new tunes to entice fans. Only one is in English, the opera-meets-Titanic sounding "I Believe in You," a duet with Il Divo; the remaining two are the understated "Je Ne Vous Oublie Pas" and "Tous Les Secrets," a song about unconditional love. The one element that is frustratingly absent is the lack of information about the individual tracks in the liner notes: Nowhere is there a year of release for each of the 36 songs, nor a story about each song's history. That said, this disc will prove to be a definitive collection to her devoted French fans. --Denise Sheppard

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