Patrice et Mario "Legende De La Chanson Francaise, v.1: Monsieur Li-Phang" (Marianne Melodie, 2000)
The French music-hall tradition of vocal duets peaked in the 1930s with classic acts such as Pills et Tabet and Charles Trenet & Johnny Hess. But the style lived on through the 1940s, and in the postwar period found no finer exponents than Patrizio Paganesse et Mario Moro, a duo who specialized in "Latin" songs... (They were, after all, of Italian descent, and like many French-Italian singers, they gravitated towards "exotic" material...) Sambas, rumbas, boleros, polkas -- you name it. If it was foreign, they were all over it! What's most striking, though, is how great they sounded... This is one of the smoothest and most enjoyable of these classic chanson collections you're likely to find. Patrice & Mario harmonized together handsomely, and each and every one of these tunes is a lot of fun. This disc gathers material from the late '40s, roughly 1947-49. Highly recommended! (Apparently Marianne Melodie has issued five CDs in this series(!) I'll try and track them all down some day...)
Patrice et Mario "Volume 2: Montagnes D'Italie" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
Patrice et Mario "Volume 3: La Petite Marie" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
Patrice et Mario "Volume 4: Jambalaya" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
Patrice et Mario "Volume 5: Nous Chantons" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
Patrice et Mario "Etoile Des Neiges" (Sony-Columbia, 1992)
This disc features music from nearly a decade later, two dozen tracks from 1957 (and one from 1952) that, predictably, often feature slicker, more lavish pop orchestrations, as well as numerous covers of popular songs of the day. There are surprises and plenty of cheese -- French-language adaptations of "Yellow Rose Of Texas," "Vaya Con Dios," "The Tennessee Waltz" and even "On Top Of Old Smokey." There are also several Italian-themed numbers, such as "Arrivederci Roma," "Montagnes D'Italie," and "Bambino," and pleasant surprises such as a version of Luiz Bonfa's proto-bossanova hit, "Chanson D'Orphee" and other goodies. Some numbers are better than others, but their vocal harmonies are consistently pleasant and engaging. Worth tracking down!
Patrice et Mario "Les Annees Odeon" (Sony-Columbia, 1994)
A 26-song selection of their work on the Odeon label, with very little overlap with the Etoile Des Neiges collection above (just one song, "Venus," appears on both collections.) Includes songs about Mexico, Hawaii, and other fun-sounding locales.
Patrice et Mario "100 Titres D'Or" (Marianne Melodie, 2008)
A 4-CD box set...
Les Peters Sisters "Toutes Nos Chansons" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
A French answer to the Andrews Sisters -- this female vocal trio sang upbeat numbers as well as sugary love songs, and had a sweet sound. The orchestrations are a occasionally saccharine, or at least a bit on the modern side -- judging from the bright sound quality and half-brash/half-bland arrangements, I'd guess these recordings are from the late 1940s or early '50s... They were apparently a featured act in the Folies Bergere and at other fabled venues.
Edith Piaf "Her Greatest Recordings 1935-1943" (ASV Living Era, 1995)
Probably the greatest, most celebrated -- and most tragic -- of the French popular 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.
Edith Piaf "Integrale: 1936-1945" (Philips-France, 1990)
When I saw this in the store, used, I thought, Aw jeez... Another cool box set that I'll never really have the time to listen to... But then I realized I just couldn't pass it up... It was just too sweet. This 4-CD gathers the best of Piaf's early work, a full 79 somber classics from her first decade of recordings. Yeah, there's a gravity and a sorrowfulness to her work that most other artists seldom approach, and yeah, she can be kind of a downer, but Piaf really was an extraordinary vocalist. Now that I have this collection, I feel that most of my Piaf-related needs have been met... It's great, with great sound quality and immortal music. Recommended!
Edith Piaf "1935-1947" (Fremeaux, 2004)
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Piaf Links: the Sound Print radio documentary series did a story on Piaf called "The Nights Of Edith Piaf", which is re-created online... it reads a bit thickly, but is still quite informative. A clearer English narrative can be found on the PageWise site, which, besides the icky advertising sidebar, is a pretty informative -- if saucy -- webpage. A longer discography is also available online.
Georgette Plana "Les Plus Belles Chansons" (BMG-Vogue, 1993)
Georgette Plana "Mon Coeur Est Un Bastringue " (Marianne Melodie, 2007)
Albert Prejean "Monsieur Loyal" (Forlane, 1995)
Les Primitifs Du Futur "World Musette" (Sketch Studio, 1999)
Cartoonist R. Crumb has long had a sweet-tooth for old-time music. Along with his duties as a countercultural icon, he's also spent decades obsessively collecting old blues and jazz 78s, and throughout the 1970s and '80s was a member in good standing of the old-timey revival band, the Cheap Suit Seranaders. Since moving to France in the '90s he's transferred some of his passion for nostalgia to French musette music, an accordion-based dance-hall style which took on some of the breezy jazz intonations of Tin Pan Alley during the Depression years. This ensemble features Crumb playing mandolin or banjo on some (but not all) of the tracks, and also includes a heavy dose of Arabic influences woven into traditional French motifs (hence the "world" in the title...) It's nice, charmingly relaxed material, albeit with a slightly goofy edge. Fans of both Crumb's earlier stringband work and of the musette style should find plenty to enjoy on this album. Recommended!
Yvonne Printemps "Etoiles De La Chanson" (Music Memoria, 1994)
One of the more operatic and songbirdish of the early chanson starlets, Yvonne Printemps may hold limited appeal to a modern audience, even to those who like the antiquity and old-fashioned feel of other singers from the 1920s and '30s. This collection spans a wide swath of her career, from 1929-1943, but even on the later material there is a lot of prissy, aria-like trilling, and very little indication that Printemps was aware of, or interested in, any of the stylistic changes that had entered the popular culture in the intervening decades. This also includes several scenes of dialogue excepted from films such as Mariette (1929) and Veronique (1941), which add some context to her career, but also stand out next to the musical numbers. I found this disc kind of borderline: if I concentrated on her voice, I found it irritating, but if I just let the album play in the background, beyond my conscious attention, it was okay.
Yvonne Printemps "La Saison De Amour" (Pearl, 1994)
Yvonne Printemps "Yvonne Printemps" (Forlane, 2002)
Yvonne Printemps "Airs Et Melodies: Arias And Songs" (EMI-Angel, 2005)
Yvonne Printemps "Les Voix D'Or" (Marianne Melodie, 2006)
Yvonne Printemps "Succes Et Raretes: 1919-1940" (Chansophone/Rym, 2008)
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