Bob Sinclar – Paradise

If you are a young fan of Bob Sinclar and think you might get something like "Love Generation" or "Rock This Party" on this album, you are wrong.
The original concept of Bob Sinclar was similar to the Daft Punk one. Bob Sinclar was supposed to be a mythical character, former porn star, turned secret agent for the French government. Ready to tell the world about the scandals he is aware of in an unauthorized biography, he is threatened not to do so by the authorities. And so, he choose House music as an alternate way to reveal his thoughts. "Paradise" is supposed to be the first part of this 'Biography'. Later developments would show Sinclar as an one-eyed Playboy ('I Feel For You') ready to take it to the stage.
While Christophe Le Friant takes pleasure to say he doesn't use samples, "Paradise" is full of them, although they are all uncredited on sleeve. Are included his previous club tracks "Disco 2000 Selector", "Visions Of Paradise", "My Only Love" and his variation of "New York City Music" by Julius Papp.
Globally, "Paradise" is a good album. It begins with the search for Bob Sinclar (gone to Miami), and it ends with the legendary 'Gym Tonic', the much discussed Thomas Bangalter production.
Apart from vocals on 'My Only Love' and 'The Ghetto', the other tracks are all instrumental, filtered Disco-House flavoured. An unquestionable detachment of its posterior work (in every sense of the term...).
'Champs Elysées', the follow up album, was the last chapter of this project that could have developped into something similar to the Daft Punk mythos. Even Thomas Bangalter believed in the 'Bob Sinclar' project before he was 'betrayed' (thus the exchange 'Gym Tonic' / Sinclar's remix of Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You').