Duos de la Tendresse: Les Plus Jolies Voix

The duet album was becoming a standby of the Quebecois pop format by the time Dan Bigras added his entry, but he made a point of combining himself on older and more macho songs with female singers in order to soften his edges and change the intent and form of his songs. While the pop ballad duet can become a form somewhat more entrenched in its own melodrama, there are surprising points of light in this collection. There's a bit of a Mediterranean feel in his combination with Ginette Reno, an almost Andalusian delivery. There's a bit of interesting country with Isabelle Boulay. There's an outstandingly funky ode to the Three Little Pigs ("Trois Petits Cochons") in combination with Marie Mai, Lulu Hughes, and Laurence Jalbert. It's when Bigras breaks out of the ballad mode that the music really gets interesting here. The funk of "Trois Petits Cochons," a nice piece of swing jazz with Lise Dion -- it's specifically those attempts at non-standard forms that make the album excel. It necessarily devolves back to the melodramatic balladry after a time, but those moments truly shine. ~ Adam Greenberg