In 1996, fans were thinking that surely after about six EPs and several singles, Kahimi Karie would release a full album.
It was not to be.
Le Roi Soleil has some standout tracks on it, but it's not very coherent; it's a mop-up of tracks that had been kicking around for a while.
The title track is the best, a dizzy Cornelius-produced, Momus-composed number that creates a psychedelic stew of Led Zep drums and cooing, multi-tracked vocals (strangely edited when it appeared on her U.S.
compilation).
That and the Bertrand Burgalat-produced French pop of "Ma Langue Au Chat" are the best tracks here.
The rest is cobbled together: "Take It Easy My Brother Charlie," a cover of an Astrud Gilberto song, comes from a much-earlier various-artists comp, "A Fantastic Moment" is a very rough demo, and "Humming Ga Kikoeru," a then-recent single, is one of Karie's and Keigo Oyamada's weakest works, recycling the Flinstones theme song, swirling strings, and clattering drums into a big noisy nothing.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Le Roi SoleilMomus, Keigo Oyamada | Kahimi Karie | Play | 05:23 | 12 MB | 37 MB |
| 2 | Take It Easy My Brother CharlieAstrud Gilberto, David Jordan | Kahimi Karie | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 3 | Ma Langue au ChatKaterine | Kahimi Karie | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 4 | Son of a GunEugene Kelly, McKee | Kahimi Karie | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 5 | Humming Ga KikoeruKeigo Oyamada | Kahimi Karie | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 24 MB |
| 6 | A Fantastic Moment (Demo Version) | Kahimi Karie | Play | 03:11 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 7 | Epilogue - Serieux Comme Le Plaisir | Kahimi Karie | Play | 04:59 | 11 MB | 23 MB |
| 8 | L'Amour | Kahimi Karie | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 32 mins | 75 MB | |||||
| 32 mins | 206 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astrud Gilberto | Composer |
| 2 | David Jordan | Composer |
| 3 | Kahimi Karie | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 4 | Katerine | Composer |
| 5 | Eugene Kelly | Composer |
| 6 | McKee | Composer |
| 7 | Momus | Composer, Songwriter |
| 8 | Keigo Oyamada | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |