Yves Montand - Unreleased, Rare & Essential (CD)

All Music Guide

Alright, let's get the hyperbole and summation out of the way first: this 24 track collectionin wonderfully remastered sound is simply the best single disc collection of Yves Montand's work available in the United States atm the very least, and perhaps in the world. The former stated simply because saying "in the United States" isn't saying much.) The "why" is simple: try to find "Let's Make Love," anywhere but on the soundtrack album to the film of the same nameyes, sung in English. Also, seek out or his first cut "Dans les Plaines du Far West," or the Leo Ferre/ Louis Aragon surrealistic ditty "L'Etranger," or the partisan tunes "Bella Ciao," and "Amor Dammi quell Fazzoletino" recorded during the Second World War in his mother tongueMontand's real name was Ivo Livi. Montand, like many of France's great artists was also a virulent antifascist and took part in the Resistance. As for this collection, the standard repertoire is here as well: ""A Bicyclette Les Gran Boulevards," "Couche...r Ave Elle," the BrechtWeill number "Bilbao Song," "Sanguine "Joli Fruit," and "L' Amoureuse." These 24 cuts are a tour de force in French chanson, and a standard bearer as to the grand tradition popular music in Europe once was. - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide Read more Less