Cerrone - Cerrone By Cerrone (2022) CD-Rip

After he turned 70, French disco innovator Marc Cerrone celebrated half-a-century in the music business with the release of Cerrone by Cerrone, a continuously mixed set of reworked hits from throughout his storied career. He originally made updated versions of these songs for his DJ sets, keeping the essence of the songs intact but updating the production for contemporary dancefloors. This mix presents the retouched songs in action, blended with a few remixes by other producers, including previously released versions by Dimitri from Paris and Joey Negro. The majority of the tracks feature re-recorded vocals by Brendan Reilly, who appeared on Cerrone's 2016 dance-pop effort Red Lips as well as albums by Disclosure, Basement Jaxx, Duffy, and many others. While he's certainly a skilled vocalist, he doesn't particularly add anything new to the songs, and he often pushes them a bit too far into slick, radio-friendly blandness. He sounds far more like a member of a boy band than a disco diva. The mildly Auto-Tuned vocals on this version of the prog-disco classic "Supernature" render its appearance somewhat of an anticlimax. With all that in mind, the set is still quite enjoyable. The songs themselves have largely held up, and the production mainly stays true to the classic '70s disco sound, seamlessly flowing into more of a disco-house style on several tracks. Dimitri's lush remix of the sweet, saucy "Love in C Minor" is especially grand, and it segues into a strong version of "Je Suis Music." "The Impact," from Cerrone's incredible 2020 space-disco voyage DNA, is a more hypnotic diversion, and a bit of vocoderized lyrics from another song ("The Only One") helps thematically bond it with the rest of the album. "Striptease" is another dazzling, sequencer-heavy highlight. Cerrone by Cerrone is good fun while it's playing, but even considering the format of continuously mixed hits and remixes, 2001's Cerrone by Bob Sinclar is a more satisfying career overview.