Be There... (Bel Amour - Bel Amour)

Member Name: samredmore

Product:	Bel Amour - Bel Amour
Date:	25/07/01 (509 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Uplifting, One of the best tracks of the year, Very catchy

Disadvantages: Too short, Difficult to mix

Although commercially, "Bel Amour" by Bel Amour was not as big a success as I had thought it might be, it is still one of the best house tracks to be released this year, in my opinion, beaten only by "Another Chance" by Roger Sanchez.

The track was released on 30th April, on the record label 'Credence'. Credence is a fairly new label bringing out funky house tracks and is growing all the time. Credence has already brought out a number of high quality tracks, such as Dirty Vegas - "Days Go By", Loverush - "Same Ol' Thing" and CZR - "I Want You", which were all very successful underground tracks.

"Bel Amour" was tipped by many to be this years biggest tune and, despite its poor UK singles chart position, it has been hammered by top DJs such as Roger Sanchez, and at the world's best clubs, for example Space and Pacha, in Ibiza.

The video for "Bel Amour" was ignored by most music video channels, but was shown frequently on MTV Dance throughout the month of May.

Edouard de Tricasse, produced by Franck Keller Jnr, with main vocals by Sydney, and additional vocals from JC Sindress, wrote "Bel Amour".

The "Bel Amour" single features three different mixes, the 'Vocal Mix', the 'Hydrogen Rockers Vocal Mix' and the 'Richard Grey Sub Underground Dub'.

On the 12" vinyl copy of the track, it is the 'Vocal Mix' that is featured on side A. This is the original mix and is the version you may have heard on the radio being played by DJs such as 'Dangerous' Dave Pearce, in his bid to play the occasional decent track. It is a very happy track, with the backing vocals being particularly uplifting.
This is mix is only 5.5 minutes long, meaning that, as with most dance tracks, the version played on the radio is not an edited version, cutting out most of the build up and the like.
I find it particularly annoying when, mostly with trance tracks, which are all about gradually building up to a spine tingling breakdown, the version played on the radio cuts out all of the build up, starts off with a short breakdown and generally cuts most of the track out. For example, "Cafe Del Mar" by Energy 52 is a track in which there is a massive build up to a brilliant breakdown, but what makes it so brilliant is that it gradually builds up to it. The version played on the radio would start off at the breakdown, completely cutting out the build up and thus spoiling the whole track. Anyway, back to Bel Amour, and, because the track is so short, the radio version does not cut any out, so if you've heard the radio version, you've heard this version. Which is nice.
This mix starts off with just beats, which gradually fade out as the background vocals are filtered in. The track builds up, with more and more sounds being added to the track. The beats then come back in, with a strong bass line also cutting in and bringing the track to life. The main vocals shortly follow.

"You gotta give me your love,
You are my one and only pleasure,
I gotta give you my love,
I wanna be your only pleasure..."

And so on.

What I like about this track is that although the vocals run through most of the track, they are a loop of the same vocal, making it all the more catchy and easier to sing along to, as with Stardust's "Music Sounds Better With You", another slice of quality French house.

The track is based around the strong bass line and catchy vocals, continuing in the same manner throughout the track.
At the end of this mix, when the bass line cuts out, you are left with the same beats as at the start with many sounds also going on at the same time. If I have to say anything bad about the track, it is the way these beats do not break down or anything, and simply cut out at t
he end of the track.
For any DJs, the track is quite difficult to mix in my view. Because at the start the beats fade out slowly, this can be quite difficult to mix in as it is quite hard to tell if they are in time and if, the track you are trying to mix out of has beats at the end, there could be a big drop in volume when these beats cut out. The end is also not too easy to mix, due to many sounds going right to the end and then suddenly cutting out. If you were mixing something into this, you have to make the mix short or when "Bel Amour" finishes, again there may be a drop in volume, making the mix sound less smooth. Also, due to the short duration of the track, you are left with barely any time in which to get the tempo of the next track right, meaning the mix is more likely to be out of time.
This mix scores 9/10, only being prevented from getting a 10 because it is so difficult to mix.

The first track on the B-side is the 'Hydrogen Rockers Vocal Mix', which has a lot less going on than the original vocal mix. This mix reminds me slightly of "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas and is a slightly depressing mix of the track when compared to the A-side.
Whilst the A-side is a 45-rpm record, the B-side is 33 rpm, which can be confusing, if you're as stupid as I am.
This mix features the same vocals as the A-side, but doesn't have the same bass line. Which I think makes the track a lot less lively, and a more relaxed affair.
This mix is a more DJ friendly 7.5 minutes long. This is about the right length for a funky house track in my opinion, as it gives you enough time to prepare the next record, whilst it is not so long it gets boring.
The track starts off with only beats and progressively builds up with the bass line coming in gradually and the vocals following a little later. This mix is much easier to mix in, as the beats do not fade out and there are not many sound effects to make the
mix possibly sound cluttered with too much going on at once.
Although this mix is of a better duration, and much better for mixing, as a DJ, it is still the 'Vocal Mix' that I play, as I think it is a better track.
I give this mix 7/10, because whilst it is a good track, it is nowhere near as catchy as the original vocal.

The second mix on side B is the Richard Grey Sub Underground Dub, which features very few of the vocals, only the word "together", in fact. I consider this to be the worst mix of the three, but you have to remember that the other two were of high quality, and so it doesn't necessarily have to a poor track to be the poorest of the three, as it would in order to be the poorest track out of, say, DJ Jean's "The Launch", Pied Piper's "Do You Really Like It?" (No, we don't actually), and this "Bel Amour" dub.
This mix is only 4 minutes 43 seconds long, already deeming it a tricky mix.
The track starts off with the vocal "together" said a few times, before the beats come in. There are a few sound effects over these beats before breakdown is reached very soon. The vocal saying "together" plays and then a quite catchy piano riff comes in. The beats then start up again and this piano riff carries, maybe sounding as if it just building up for a main tune to kick in. There is another breakdown in which the "together" vocal plays a few times and the beats cut back in, with the piano riff playing all along. It continues like this for most of the track until the end, when there are just beats. Overall, this mix, I think, could have been a lot better if there was just more of a tune to it.
I would give this mix 6/10. So whilst I don't really like it, there is not really anything I dislike about it either.

Looking back, I am quite pleased this track didn't do too well commercially because, if it had done, it would
have always been on the radio and constantly on the music video channels, probably making me bored of it in the end. Because this didn't happen though, I still love the track and consider it to be one of the best records I have in my collection.

Summary: