A Decent Introduction

It would be hard for me to review a collection of Edit Piaf songs poorly unless the selection offered were lacking, and this is a comprehensive selection. On these discs are her most famous songs, some of them sung in English. Other collections may offer more in the way of additional songs but this set provides a good survey of her career. My only complaint is the horrid cover design. The depiction of Piaf hardly looks like her. Couldn't a photograph or drawing of her have been substituted? The booklet has a good biography of Piaf in French and English but someone new to Piaf's song will probably be disappointed by the lack of lyrics in the booklet. Overall, a decent set that could have offered more documentation, especially since it is an anniversary issue.

not as good as i thought it would be

I am going to be the only dissenter here. The choice of songs is excellent, and this is why i bought the CD.

However, I think that several of the selected songs must be early versions which were then fine tuned by E. Piaf over the years. I have listened to other CDs and vinyl record where renditions such as Jezebel, and La Foule where much more forceful and on a higher emotional level.

A good choice for people who have not heard the later versions of the songs, or those prefer to hear the earlier versions,

The sad and tragical nosthalgie !

There are lives who would seem destined to burn in themselves to reach the sincere expression the hard rapport to express and moreover to feel the song and make of their special repertoire his inspiration source .

Halliday , Edith Piaf , Maria Callas ; three different styles but a common cause the loneliness , the unability to be really loved besides her mythical sphere .

In the case of Piaf the pain was so close to her that I really think Piaf adopted as his partner and she faced that awful truth . After the Marcel Chardin death you feel this twist of fate and the sense of the emptiness in every one of her themes .

La foule , Hymn a l'amour or amants d 'un jour for instance are the best proof of this sadness who seems to fly far beyond the melody and become in a permament leit motive .

Edith Piaf will be always have a very special place in the soul of all those who love without being loved , who have loved , those who still love and specially for those who consider that they just can not love anymore.