Can Can

This is Lio's fifth album, originally released in 1988, now remastered and reissued with four bonus tracks by Ze Records. The incredible success of Pop Model and it's four amazing singles repositioned Lio as one of the most important French pop singers of her time. Intense promotion, multiple entreaties, heavy radio airplay, magazine covers, countless numbers of TV appearances without mentioning the three videos constantly broadcasted on musical networks, certainly kept Lio and her producer Michel Esteban busy. Nevertheless, Pop Model needed a worthy successor. With the aid of Jacques Duvall, Guillaume Israel (who wrote two wonderful tracks: C'est a Ma Vie and Malaise Sur La Falaise), Vincent Palmer and Yann Leker, Can Can set out to remold Lio in image and song. At the beginning, the concept behind this album was to be a tribute to the typically French state of mind symbolized by the famous can-can style. Born in the late 19th century at the notorious Moulin Rouge Parisian cabaret, the can-can is an exclusively feminine ritualized and provocative dance. This revolutionary, original, cheerful and politically- incorrect state of mind seemed to be the perfect lineage and the natural evolution of Lio's image initiated with Pop Model. Obviously, Can Can featured potential hits as much as Pop Model, however, the switch from energetic singles to the softer ballades of Can Can (like the single Seules Les Filles Pleurent) was clearly misunderstood by the audience. Featuring anthemic rock, bubbling synth pop, burlesque-tinged siren songs and morose ballads, Can Can did not sell as well as her previously-released albums. However, Lio clearly remained a compelling personality caught in a marvelous and imaginative visual context, confirmed here by the album artwork done by legendary artist Hugo Pratt.