Search - Edith Piaf :: Edith Piaf: Her Greatest Recordings 1935-1943

One of France's greatest singers

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 01/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Probably the greatest, most celebrated -- and most tragic -- of the French popular "chanson" singers. Piaf was celebrated for having come, indisputably, from "the people", having been born the child of a prostitute, and having been abandoned by both her parents while still an infant. In 1935, at the age of 19, she was discovered by a nightclub owner who both built her popular image and got her a recording contract. Her popularity swelled during the War, and her song "La Vie En Rose" became a standard during the German occupation of France. After the war, Piaf's glamour became torn by ongoing hardships and substance abuse (which, in turn, enhanced the tragic elements of her legend...) This CD sticks pretty strictly to her earliest stuff, from the '30s and '40s; it includes her first big hit, "Mon Legionnaire", but omits "La Vie En Rose" and "Non, Ne Je Regrette Rien", which are her two best-known works. The tinny, Jazz Era sound of these early songs may be less accessible to listeners who are more familiar with the emotionally torturous (and more warmly recorded) material made at the time of her postwar tours of America, many of which are highly prized by her fans."

A great collection of Piaf's earlier works...

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | 11/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is Edith Piaf at her best... I love many of the songs on it - I would single out "C'est Lui Que Mon Coeur A Choisi" and "L'Accordeoniste" as being two of my personal favorites. This is a must for any Piaf fan...With all due respect to the person who posted below about "Cannibal Corpse", I don't think we're talking about the same Edith Piaf, and I thought I might clear it up here to avoid any confusion for anyone else. The Edith Piaf I'm talking about, and the one who sings the songs on this CD, is a Parisian singer who has been dead for nearly 40 years (b. 1915 d. 1963). Your Edith Piaf is a different person, I think, because you said that she left "Cannibal Corpse" in 1991. My Edith Piaf, and the one who sings the songs on this CD, left this earth and went to heaven in 1963.Anyway, thought I'd clear it up - No offense intended..."

Edith Piaf is one of the best

M. Knotts | 03/29/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best Edith Piaf CD i have listened to.... 1935-1943 was a great time period for music"