JEAN BEAUVOIR – Chameleon

Jean Beauvoir, from the Hard Rock outfit Crown of Thorns, brings to the music scene his first solo album in Chameleon. Beauvoir’s a pretty diverse guy, having worked with such opposites of the spectrum as Kiss, N-Sync, The Ramones, Little Steven (Springsteen), and The Plasmatics … so from that aspect alone, the title of this effort is very apropos. The album contains 12 tracks, and the multi-talented Beauvoir is responsible for playing every note contained within Chameleon, and for the vocals. Beauvoir opts to take a relatively simple and straightforward musical approach to each song that works. Each track is centered on the vocals more so than the music, but Beauvoir still is able to mix the musical direction up well enough by wrapping together a measure of Hard Rock with funk and techno.

WHAT’S GOOD

Beauvoir has a very easy voice to listen to. He sounds a lot like Lenny Kravitz with a slice of Seal coming through every now and then. There’s genuine emotion in Beauvoir’s voice, and his lyrics roll off the tongue with ease and sincerity. Beauvoir devoted an entire year to this solo project, and it definitely shows … the songs all have good structure, and every note from every instrument seems to have its place and is played with purpose … there are no rough edges to any of the songs at all.

The opening track, “I Wanna Know,” written along with the famed Lionel Richie, is the best song on the album from a “no frills” perspective. Virtually all the others, however, have musical twists to them that make them unique and memorable. For example, “I Don’t Need Ya’” delves into a methodical, quasi-dance beat with plenty of effects, but none of them obnoxious, and “Where The River Runs Deep” has a Southern California Oceanic feel to it – very uplifting – it makes you kind of want to grab the nearest piña colada!

WHAT’S LESS THAN GOOD

A small handful of the tracks, like “Higher,” “Dying End,” and “Teenager,” are good in and of themselves, but tend to get a bit “tired” as the songs progress. Like the other 9 tracks, they are all vocally intensive, but these 3 tend to lack the musical distinctiveness of the others that make them 100% successful. Other than that, the only “miss” on this album is the production quality. It’s good, but it’s not superb. These songs deserve production perfection and would be that much more outstanding with crystal clear sound and a bright presence.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beauvoir’s Chameleon is not a Metal album, and although it does, it barely qualifies as a Hard Rock album. What it is, though, is a marvelously crafted rock album with plenty of simple musical diversity that is truly enjoyable from start to finish. Beauvoir’s vocal delivery and lyrical schemes are outstanding, and the time he devoted in putting together this album was obviously worth the effort and well spent. Chameleon is great kickback music to enjoy with a loved one in front of a fire on a cold night whilst sharing a bottle of your favorite red wine, or alone just to unwind after a hectic day. Yes indeed, for a “softer” change of pace, there just isn’t a lot out there much better than this Beauvoir release!