They say we're known by the company we keep, and if you check out the contributors to Luce DuFault's eponimous debut album, you will be duly impressed. How about songs written by and co-performed with Richard Séguin? Or songs written by Daniel Lavoie, Pierre Flynn, Luc Plamondon and Dan Bigras? 'Nuff said.

With three songs by Séguin and one by Lavoie, I knew I was going to love this album before I ever heard it and I was not disappointed. «Ce qu'il reste de nous», with lyrics by Marc Chabot, who co-wrote «Journée d'Amérique», is my favorite track. It's a pop-rock ballad complete with acoustic guitars, acordeons and a great beat. And when Séguin joins Luce DuFault on the chorus, the song soars: "Et dans nos yeux, encore du feu / Et si tu veux, tout un brasier / Et dans nos yeux, assez de feu / Pour continuer(132k).»

Daniel Lavoie's contribution, «Laissez-nous la chance» is an ode to the innocence of youth. "Ce monde qu'on veut n'est pas qu'un rêve / Suffrait que les fusils se taisent / Retrouvons notre coeur d'enfant / Le droit aux sourires désarmants / Laissez-nous la chance / De tout rebâtir / Laissez-nous nos rêves / Nos éclats de rire(157)." The song is light and delicate and beautifully perfomed.

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So far the big hit from the album is «Soirs de scotch», a bluesy Dan Bigra composition. It's a perfect showcase for DuFault's stunning voice. With a pounding rhythm and layers of synthesizers and guitars, a lesser voice would be lost. Not DuFault. She can hold her own under any circumstance. Her range is not unlike Céline Dion's, except it's a good octave lower. And when she sings about her "soirs de scotch" you get the feeling she knows what she's talking about.

If all you've heard from the album is «Soirs de scotch(177k)», you're probably expecting a heavy hitting rock album. And with five songs by Dan Bigras, there's much to please rock fans. But the album has great range and even includes the classic chanson «Quand les hommes vivront d'amour». Rendered in high rock anthem style, Raymond Lévesque's hymn to brotherhood has never been more passionately sung. One of the best known and most frequently recorded songs written by a Québecois, «Quand les hommes vivront d'amour» as done by Luce DuFault sounds as fresh and as timely as when it was written forty years ago.

This is Luce DuFault's first album, and it is a stunning debut.

Details:

Luce Dufault (1996)

Item 04033: CD $21.95 / K7 $16.95

Soirs de scotch, Dans le cri de nos nuits, Belle ancolie, Quand les hommes vivront d'amour, Quand on s'en va pour oublier, Laissez-nous la chance, Ce qu'il reste de nous, Tequila, Ballade à donner, L'amour c'est ce qui reste, Ulysse.