Jean Gabin "La Compilation: 15 Titres" (Forlane, 1993)
Actor Jean Gabin, one of French cinema's first great male sex symbols, was also a heck of a singer. This collection opens with "Maintenant Je Sais," a later recording in which Gabin growlingly recites the text... I guess it was a hit at the time, but it stands out like a sore thumb and has a kitschy feel to it. Fortunately the rest of the album comes from his real heyday, the 1930s, and features Gabin crooning suavely over elegant, lively arrangements. It's great, classic stuff. Even includes a couple of charming 1928 comedic duets with Mistinguette.

Jean Gabin "Les Plus Grandes Chansons" (Coppelia, 2004)

Jean Gabin "L'Integrale" (Fremeaux & Associes, 2003)

Lys Gauty "1930-1939" (Chansophone, 1996)

Lys Gauty "1933-1939" (Chansophone, 1996)

Lys Gauty "Lys Gauty" (Peters Music, 1997)

Lys Gauty "1932-1944" (Fremeaux, 2004)
One of the reigning chanteuses of the early 1930s -- before Piaf hit the scene -- Lys Gauty (nee Alice Gautier) sang in a more formal, classically-informed style than many of her contemporaries. Her voice was beautiful, her phrasing elegant, and yet many modern listeners may find themselves with a similar reaction as some of Gauty's cabaret contemporaries: that the diva was a bit of a prig, at least stylistically speaking. Although she dips lightly into genre styles such as accordion-driven musette and only the teensiest hint of Broadway-inflected jazz, Gauty was most at home with French stage and operetta music, and as such, her arrangements and vocal approach -- in particular, her emotional range -- all start to sound the same after a half-dozen tunes or so. She expressed distain for Latin-flavored material, and didn't seem to have much affinity for the blues, either, and while she was undeniably a great star of the Depression-era French popular song, her perfectionism and polish gives these recordings a smoothness that undercuts the otherworldly charm of recordings from that period. Some of it I like, but I have to confess listening to this collection was a bit of a chore, unlike many other recordings from the same era. Worth checking out, though -- she certainly had a lovely voice!

Georgius "Georgius" (EMI-Pathe, 1998)

Gilles Et Julien "1932-1936" (Chansophone, 1996)

Gilles Et Julien "Integrale: 1932-1938" (Fremeaux, 1998)

Anny Gould "Anny Gould" (EMI-Pathe, 1998)

Georges Guetary "Ma Belle Marguerite" (ASV Living Era, 2003)
Goofy, grandiose, deliciously schmaltzy performances by this bombastically cheerful chansonnaire. Guetary, who was originally of Greek-Egyptian background, emerged as a protege of music hall singer Mistinguette, whose own career was revived in the late 1930s by the discovery of her talented new duet partner... These two dozen performances come from a much later date, 1946-51, which coincided with Guetary's greatest successes in the world of film. It opens, lamentably, with a quartet of English-language songs taken from the film Bless The Bride, followed, thankfully, with a dozen or so songs sung in French, and this is where the fun really begins. He slips back and forth between linguistic barriers -- I by far prefer the French stuff, but it's nice to hear his songs from An American In Paris, the film that most folks in the non-Gallic world will know him from.

Georges Guetary "Les Plus Grandes Chansons" (Coppelia, 2004)

Georges Guetary "Bolero" (EPM, 2001)

Georges Guetary "In Paris: 1941-1966" (DRG, 1990)

Yvette Guilbert "La Fiacre" (Pearl, 1991)

Yvette Guilbert "Ses Grands Succes" (EPM)

Yvette Guilbert "Chansons De La Belle Epoque" (Etoiles De La Chanson, 1999)

Yvette Guilbert "Yvette Guilbert" (Music Memoria)

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French Music Index
French Rock & Pop

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