| Eyes Open | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Studio | Xippi | |||
| Genre | Mbalax [1] | |||
| Label | 40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks/Columbia | |||
| Producer | Youssou N'Dour | |||
| Youssou N'Dour chronology | ||||
| ||||
Eyes Open is an album by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour, released in 1992 via Spike Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule Musicworks label. [2] [3] [4] A video was shot for "Africa Remembers". [5] N'Dour supported the album with a North American tour. [6] Eyes Open was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best World Music Album". [7]
Recorded at N'Dour's studio in Dakar, Senegal, the album was produced by the musician. [5] [8] The majority of the songs were sung in Wolof. [9] N'Dour contributed liner notes that described the references in his songs. [10] "Hope" is a paean to N'Dour's grandmother. [11] "Country Boy" is about leaving rural life for an urban existence. [12] Assane Thiam contributed on talking drum. [13]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Calgary Herald | B+ [14] |
| Robert Christgau | B+ [15] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [16] |
| MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide |  [17] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [18] |
Newsday deemed the album "an annoying yet informative dispatch, a disappointing example of the new cultural multinationalism hovering on the upmarket fringes of so-called world music (so-called, because the marketing term smacks of a western ethnocentrism that assumes we are not the world)." [19] Stereo Review wrote that "N'Dour continues to pump out a propulsive sound that's dazzling in its rich combination of rhythms and irresistible in its melodic urgency." [20] The Christian Science Monitor noted that "N'Dour continues to temper his artful confabulation of African sensibility and American funk." [21]
The Calgary Herald determined that "his band's lopingly propulsive rhythms will remind newcomers to soukous more of reggae's hypnotic sway than rock's straight-ahead rush." [14] Trouser Press stated that "the percussion is downplayed in favor of swooping fretless bass and rock-influenced guitars." [22] Robert Christgau opined that the "mbalax commitments mitigate any conceptual link to studio-rock." [15]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "New Africa" | |
| 2. | "Live Television" | |
| 3. | "No More" | |
| 4. | "Country Boy" | |
| 5. | "Hope" | |
| 6. | "Africa Remembers" | |
| 7. | "Couple's Choice" | |
| 8. | "Yo Lé Lé (Fulani Groove)" | |
| 9. | "Survie" | |
| 10. | "Am Am" | |
| 11. | "Marie-Madeleine la Saint-Louisienne" | |
| 12. | "Useless Weapons" | |
| 13. | "The Same" | |
| 14. | "Things Unspoken" |
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