RXRA

The album

Years after its first anouncements the first solo rock album by Eric Serra was released in 1998. Its closing track had allready been used in Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" film and on its soundtrack album. For this album the tracks "Mr. BCMG" and "Bizarre Bizarre Bizarre" were released as promo singles.

 

The album appeared in at least 2 versions. The main one is the "French" version, where most songs have French lyrics. The second version contains some of the songs in alternative English lyric versions. This album can only be found in Japan. It also has an additional bonustrack called "Drumming for You". English language countries usualy have the French version for sale, if any version. A third version was mentioned on Serra's official website to have a song in Spanish instead, but it's existence cannot yet be confirmed.

The music

A very creative album, full of carefully produced pop and rock songs. Eric Serra is assisted by a very able band, consisting of Jean-Michel Biger, Sebastien Cortella, Zohar Fresco, David Balkin, Nicolas Fiszman and the lovely Nourith. Serra himself sings on most of the songs and proves he has come a long way since his first vocal performances in his previous soundtrack's endtitles. There's also an impressive song, "reve Inhabite", with Chrissie Hynde, famous as female vocal leader of the Pretenders.

Released in 1998
Virgin France S.A. . . . 7243 845595 2 6 
   1.  Bizarre Bizarre Bizarre    6:16
   2.  Ce Qu'il y a De Pire       4:44
   3.  Thank Your God             3:42
   4.  La Couleur De Leau         7:12
   5.  Qu'est-ce Que J'aime Ca    5:50
   6.  Mr. BCMG                   4:22
   7.  Reve Inhabite              5:15
   8.  Reveillez Les Somnambules  4:09
   9.  Les Babylonautes           4:45
   10. The Endless Night          5:19
   11. Little Light of Love       7:00

Japan:

Released in 1998
Epic/Sony Records . . . . ESCA 6984 
   1.  Howl                       6:15
   2.  I Wanna Get Out Of Here    4:38
   3.  Thank Your God             3:42
   4.  Anybody Hello              7:13
   5.  I Like This                5:51
   6.  Child of Babylon           4:24
   7.  Lonely Moment              5:16
   8.  Muyuu Byoo Shao Okose      4:09
   9.  The Babylonauts            4:42
   10. Drumming For You           3:51
   11. The Endless Night          5:19
   12. Little Light of Love       6:59

Spain:

Released in 1998
Virgin France . . . . 7243 8455592 4

Note the "Virgin France" in the label! It was sold in Spain but the label is the French one. The tracklist is the same as the Japanese release, except for track 8, a Spanish lyrics version of the same composition: 

   8. Despertad los somnambulos

USA / Germany / Poland:

Released in 1998
Virgin France S.A. . . . . 7243 845558 2 5

Note again the "Virgin France" in the label! This was sold in the USA, Germany and Poland, and also reached some other countries as import. Note however that the UK, Holland, Belgium and many other European countries sold the normal French version instead of this English variation. The tracklist is the same as the Japanese and English language release, except for track 8, an English lyrics version of the same composition: 

   8. Wake Up the Sleepwalkers  3:56

Singles

Several promo singles where released for this album, amongst others the French "Mr. BCMG" (Virgin France SA, Visa 4297) and the English language version of the same track "Child of Babylon" (Virgin France SA, Visa 4320). Both in 1-track editions.

Similarly, the first track of the album, "Bizarre Bizarre Bizarre" as well as it's English language version "Howl" appeared as PROMO CD singles in France and the UK respectively. Bizarre featured as only track a 3:39 edit of the song while Howl was presented as 3:42 edit. They fade in a little bit later and some passages were cut out to make it be of a more radio play friendly duration. Bizarre: Visa 4332 by Virgin France SA, Howl: Visa 4450

 

There was also a promotional single release for "Reve Inhabite" the song with Chrissie Hynde, containing only 1 track, an edit of 4:12 (Virgin France SA, Visa 4561).

 

Finally, an American "Little Light of Love" promo for the RXRA album was released without cover artwork but with a back inlay. Three tracks are included: The Four Minute edit of the title song, the 4:55 single version, and a track called "Call Out Research Hook" which is a 13 second excerpt from the verse of the song, functioning as sort of a sound bite. Released as 7087 6 12281 2 0, DPRO-12281 on the "Virgin Records America" label.


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