“Chansons Parisiennes, Vol. 2” by Édith Piaf - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1950Album Chart of the Decade: 1950s

TJR says

Her 3rd LP for the “A-list” is another compile, all from 78s recorded between 1946 and 1947, but all-new to her album discography thus far. The set is dominated by two great tracks – “Les Trois Cloches” and “Mariage” – and a whole lot of ringing bells. Édith is accompanied by the Lyonnaise nine piece, Les Compagnons de la Chanson, for the album’s openers, “Les Trois Cloches” and “C’est Pour Ca”. The former stands as one of the true gems in her catalogue – despite ten vocalists being crowded around a single microphone during the primitive recording session. The vocal group had performed with Piaf in wartime, and then Piaf fell for Jean-Louis Jaubert (at one point they were engaged), which did much to accelerate the career of the ensemble. She suggested popular songs, the kind people whistled in the street, and among them was one which they turned into a million-seller – “Les Trois Cloches”, a swiss song which was written in French by Jean Villard Gilles. It’s about Jean-François Nicot, everyman, from the Swiss valleys who was born, married and died to the sound of the ringing bells. Life, love and death – typical Édith fare all in one song. The opening track on side 2, “Mariage”, unfolds stunningly, as the chanteuse loses herself in melodramatic fashion, culminating in a plethora of frantic, darkly chiming bells which suggest some sort of marital torment – it’s the Édith Piaf effect where sweetness and light rarely lives long.

The Jukebox Rebel
28–May–2012

Tracklist
A1 [04:06] 7.9.png Édith Piaf and Les Compagnons de la Chanson - Les Trois Cloches (Jean Villard) Crooner / Cabaret
A2 [04:14] 5.6.png Édith Piaf and Les Compagnons de la Chanson - C’est Pour Ca (Marguerite Monnot, Henri Contet) Crooner / Cabaret
A3 [03:47] 4.6.png Édith Piaf - Un Homme Comme Les Autres (Pierre Roche, Édith Giovanna Gassion) Crooner / Cabaret
B1 [04:23] 8.2.png Édith Piaf - Mariage (Marguerite Monnot, Henri Contet) Crooner / Cabaret
B2 [04:16] 4.9.png Édith Piaf - J’m’en Fous Pas Mal (Michel Emer) Crooner / Cabaret
B3 [03:33] 4.3.png Édith Piaf - Le Petit Homme (Marguerite Monnot, Henri Contet, Rick French) Crooner / Cabaret
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