There are some features to a woman that, on sight or upon hearing their voices, instantly conjure images, feelings and sequences that intermingle both pictures and emotions in the viewer/listener's mind's eye. Bette Davis had some of the saddest eyes in Hollywood; she was able to make people looking at her on the screen feel tremendous pathos and also anger at the one who hurt her and, as one watches movies like Jezebel, The Man Who Came To Dinner and Hollywood Canteen, one begins to believe that Davis might not be acting; that hurt in her is real. The exact same thing happens when one hears Edith Piaf sing. As soon as a listener catches any one note uttered by Piaf, the uninitiated stop what they're doing and take notice, while the familiar simply sigh a breath that is equal parts sympathetic sadness and personal elation – as sad as it might be, the singer is just beautiful and whether you speak French or not, the empathy spills from mouth to ear and back freely.
Over a twenty-eight-year career, Piaf embodied such a state. With a sad face, demeanor and a voice that could bring a tear to the happiest clown's eye while simultaneously causing a woeful soul to smile because they understand the sentiment if not the language, Piaf played like a soundtrack through the Second World War; her music as at home on the battlefields of Nazi Germany as it was in the concert theatres of the singer's native France. EMI's three-disc greatest hits package collects some of the most timeless moments both in the studio and live for the discerning ear to sample but even the unfamiliar ear can find the value of this music – it knows no cultural boundary; if ever you've been lonely or found yourself in a once grand establishment faded and cracked by the passage of time, you'll respect it.
In this three-disc set, listeners will find every possible side of a singer in turmoil and she's able to show those minds willing or sympathetic at any time with a minimum effort. After the classic “La Vie En Rose,” casts the spell on disc one, for example, the trance sets in through “Hymn Àéilt forever and stop dead from heartbreak right then and there.
She doesn't, of course, this is only the third track in disc one – but such is the power that Piaf's voice wielded.
That power has never faded either; it was all-consuming as these fifty-one songs illustrate, Piaf's voice sounds as fantastic and fantastically emotive now as it did when the material was new – it can still make knees weak and the hearts and tear ducts of anyone listening swell.
Artist:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Piaf#External_links
Album:
Edith Piaf Greatest Hits 3 CD set is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
