Saint Germain des Pres Cafe, Vol. 5

Saint Germain des Pres Cafe, Vol. 4 Saint Germain Des Pres Cafe, Vol. 4 offers stylish, laid-back electronica influenced by hip-hop and jazz, particularly on Slow Train's bittersweet 'Naturally' and Nathan Haines' cheeky 'Squire for Hire'. The collection features several of the leading lights of electro-jazz, inclu...	Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café, Vol. 6	Saint Germain des Pres Cafe, Vol. 8 2007 two CD set. Eighth installment in this popular series that combines the cool vibes of Parisian Jazz with modern Electronica. 26 tracks from the likes of Koop, Kevin Yost, Matthias Vogt Trio, Alice Russell & Natureboy, Painted Pictures, The Dining Rooms, Bang Bang and others.	Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café, Vol. 7 Saint-germain Des Prés in Paris is Where New Orleans Or Be Bop Jazz Permeated the Clubs by the Greatest Geniuses of Jazz Like Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. Along with French Intellectuals Like Boris Vian, Albert Camus Or Jean Cocteau, the Latin Quarter Became an...	St Germain Des Pres Cafe 3 The Third Installment of this Best Selling Series Raises the Bar Higher for Presenting the Best Quality Electro-jazz from the Cafes and Clubs of Paris' Latin Quarter. Parisians Take Great Pride in the Fact that Some of the Most Innovative and Original Jazz is Heard on their Stree...
Saint Germain des Pres Café: The Finest Electro-Jazz Compilation Subtitled - The Electronic Music Tribute To Jazz, 15 tracks featuring Grand Tourism, St. Germain, Jazzanova, Ian Simmonds, De Phazz and more. 2001. Digipak.	St Germain Des Pres Cafe 2 Gay old Paris has always had a soft spot for "le jazz," and so it is that the French compilation Saint German Des Prés Café 2 leans toward the jazzier side of dance music. It's not an entirely original concept, but the choice of tracks happens to be second to none, drawing from...	Saint Germain des Pres Cafe, Vol. 9 10 exclusive titles produced by DJ Cam and interpreted by DJ Cam quartet. Artists include Wax Poetics feat. Norah Jones, Jill Scott feat Chris Botti, Us3, Troublemakers, Koop, Micatone and more. 2 CD set/digipak. Wagram. 2007.	Saint Germain des Pres Cafe, Vol. 3 Third installment in the ice-cool Gallic jazz-house series calling in another selection of neatly trimmed toe-tappers, beard-strokers and all round head-nodders. Features tracks from, De-Phazz, DJ Cam, Nuspirit Helsink, Llorca, 4-Hero and many more. Wagram. 2003.	Hotel Costes, Vol. 2: La Suite The Second Volume of Music Mixed by Stephane Pompougnac, that Launched the Successful Costes Mix Disc Series. Pompougnac Effectively Captures the Hip Feel of the Parisian Landmark, Translatable to Any Place in the World. His Skills have Made Him the Favorite Mixmaster of Thousand...

Back to the Drawing Board...
First and foremost... no, this is NOT a St. Germain aka Ludovic Navarre CD. This series is released on Wagram, same label as Hotel Costes, Paris Lounge, Buddha Bar and several other compilation series that feature music from all over the world. Usually, the St. Germain Des Pres Cafe series has a sort of swing mixed in with some electronica and nu-jazz. Good stuff... usually. But I'm having a hard time disagreeing with the previous review. This cd is really missing energy and originality. Remember the way the third one started? A little Nuspirit Helsinki followed up with some sweet Conte remixes, and then it had that flow in the end of the cd? This one doesn't have that. It starts out with "Inner City Woman" by Slow Train (remix), and from there you get an idea of the tempo of this cd. That is, after you're briefly deceived by the cool & jazzy Conte remix to "take Off" by soul man Nathan Haines and Marco Di Marco. Afterwords you have Conte's labelmate with a seemingly Milano 2000 (Ishtar's other label) sounding cut "The Time". Reminds me of S-Tone Inc's old tunes, and it was IMO one of the weaker tracks on Soulstance's cd last year. But that song symbolises the album - although I did like the Astor Piazzolla remix and Meitz duet and cool beat. Also.. what in the world is up with the song "Round About Midnight"? Yes, it was a good song, but it seems like every single compilation is using some version of it. What's worse... Wagram had the song on Paris Lounge 3 already. You go down the list of tracks and it's much the same thing. Most of the cuts were pre-2004, and the tracks that are decent (Conte's remixes, DJ Cam's cut, etc.) can be found on better comps (Break & Bossa, etc.) There were loads of good nu-jazz artists that could've been added to make this a better compilation. What's Buscemi been up to these days? What about the Irma label - loads of artists are coming out with tunes there? And how can a nu-jazz cd be released without a tune off of Rosalia De Souza's remix project? That could fix some of the energy problems - same with Nicola Conte's new cut "Kind of Sunshine"! And hey - not all of Re:Jazz's remix project have been utilized. Or what about a little Jazzinho for some spice or taking a track off of Wagon Cookin's "Appetizers" or their newest, "Everyday Life"? I'm having a tough time recommending this one. It's a nice more 'chilled out' cd, but the energy isn't there and to be honest even if they were looking for a more mellow vibe, all this succeeded in doing was making me yawn. I'll call this one a hiccup in an otherwise fantastic series. I recommend the previous four (especially the last two) instead of this one. ALSO... note that the first four volumes of this series are now available as double disc sets. So you can get vol 1&2 or vol 3&4 together. But if you did get this cd and liked it, you might also enjoy "Jazz Lounge vol II".

Not the same intensity as the previous four compilations
I wonder if this will be the last of the series! Once you place this CD on the player you will begin to wonder where has all the intensity of the other four compilations gone...! Unlike the previous works in the series, this one is to be played way after a dinner party...the energy is not the same and it makes you yawn at times. I picked it up this afternoon at a local records store expecting much more than this...Instead, buy the second installment of the Bajofondo Tango Club.