Isabelle Antena - On A Warm Summer Night (1988)

Isabella Antena's third solo album is also one of her most commercially successful -- no surprise given its immediate pop feeling. While still distinctly her, it's a more modern collection (in the context of its original 1987 release date) than many of her other works. Though On a Warm Summer Night sometimes veers a touch close towards the generic at points -- opening track "Caprices" suffers a bit from yup-funk stridency in the music, especially with an annoying synth line, while "Time to Work" closes the album on a similarly compromised note -- Antena's voice and wide-ranging vision means that it all works in the end. Performing a mix of originals, collaborations, and an intriguing cover or two -- including an absolutely marvelous, samba-tinged take on Frank Zappa's "Village of the Sun," which sounds like it could be an original from her -- Antena had initially wanted to cut a pure jazz album at the start. While the end result turned out differently, hearing her beautiful, warm voice in playful excelsis on the Brazilian-tinged cool sass of "Romancia del Amor" (with some great, trickily arranged backing vocals as a subtle but key element) as well as cool, moody beauties like "Je Respire," is reason enough to listen. Cuts like "Eclat de Amor," and especially the vibrant "Une Journee Banale a New York City," bursting with mid-20th century vocal vamps and big band arrangements, hint at the album's original plan, while other songs like "Memories" provide enjoyable takes on more recent dance grooves. LTM's reissue, as always, provides associated bonus tracks, in this case five live tracks from Japanese appearances three years after the album's release. Antena's greatest popular success has always been in Japan, and hearing the exuberant performances you can tell both she and her band are having a fun time-and-a-half.