Critic's Review
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
This self-titled set by France's legendary popular singer Charles Aznavour is a mixed bag released in 1986. At the very least it reveals Aznavour trying to keep in touch with the times in places, with the elaborate-though-drecky drum machines in the production and the shimmying young girl chorus. There are also hints of sitars in places (that are really synths), which give way to transcendentally beautiful songs such as "Les Emigrantes." For the most part, though, this is uninspired fare by a man who released so many French "classics" that a record like this was beneath him. Most of this is standard pop that is arranged by people who had no idea what was "hip" or how to treat this man's still great voice, which had deepened and smoothed out by this time. At times, such as on "De Moins en Moins," Aznavour manages to rise above the soupy production and deliver the emotionally honest performance that befits his legend. Other times it feels as if he is just going through the motions of keeping an already long career on the tracks for one more recording.
