01. Une fille de l'est
02. C'est la faute à la vie
03. Summertime
04. Mon mec à moi
05. Mne nravitsya
06. Il me dit que je suis belle
07. Peut-être que peut-être
08. Entrer dans la lumière
09. If You Go Away (Ne quitte pas)
10. Et s'il fallait le faire
11. D'allemagne
12. Où sont les hommes ?
13. Si tu rêves
14. Je voudrais la connaítre
15. Mademoiselle chante le blues
16. Lili Marleen (L'ange bleu)

Patricia Kaas – Vocals,Choeurs
Jess Bailey - Piano
Yvan Cassar - Piano
Matt Coleman - Trombone
Guida de Palma - Choeurs
Mick Feat - Choeurs
Nicolas Fiszman - Bass
Jean-Jacques Goldman 	- Piano
Martin Green - Saxophone
Dominique "Doudou" Greffier - Choeurs
Reggie Hamilton - Bass
Frédéric Helbert - Piano
Derrick McIntyre - Bass
Robin Millar - Bass, Piano
Pascal Obispo - Choeurs
Olivier "Diabolo" Paltsou - Harmonica
Carole Rowley 	- Choeurs
Mark Smith - Bass
Benoît Sourisse - Piano
Dark Vador - Choeurs

In 1991 someone (a friend, though I can't remember which one) turned me in to French chanteuse Patricia Kaas' CD "Scene De Vie" and I was hooked. I play that album - a French import - on a regular basis. But, for some reason, I never sought out other albums by her, not realizing she is still making records.

Then I spotted this new compilation - being distributed in the US by Allegro - and I decided to "catch up" with her career. It sure has produced a varied group of productions. Amazon lists 61 (!) different Kaas albums and this 16 track, hour-long album is called (in English) "the best of 25 years". I'm sure that description ("best of") is subjective, but this woman can sing! She also is the only French singer to sell 17 million albums.

With the exception of two tracks (the standard "Summer Time" and the ENGLISH version of the Jacques Brel classic with the English title "If You Go Away") all the songs are in French. The enclosed booklet has the lyrics but, alas, no translations.

Because these recordings were made over a 25 year period, the sound and production styles vary greatly from track to track, and this is always the problem with a compilation of recordings made over this long a time period. We are, unfortunately, also subjected to a "remix" version of that Brel song, and the drum beat really gets annoying, to say nothing of the fact that Kaas sounds like she is in a closet!

Two full songs are from live concerts and the last track is as well, though it's a 56 minute version of "Lili Marlene", which must have been a concert encore.

So, while I like the album - because it showed me what Kaas has been up to for the last 21 years - it is still uneven. But as a sampler, which may introduce new fans to discover her catalog, it works just fine.

I hope you found this review both informative and helpful. ---Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic", amazon.com

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01. Mon Mec a Moi
02. Venus Des Abribus
03. Des Mensonges En Musique
04. Madmoiselle Chante Le Blues (Version live)
05. Quand Jimmy Dit
06. D' Allemagne
07. Les Hommes Qui Passent
08. Quand J'ai Peur De Tout
09. Ceux Qui N' Ont Rien
10. If You Go Away (remix)
11. Where Do I Begin (Love Story)
12. Autumn Leaves (Les feuilles mortes)
13. What Now My Love (Et maintenant)
14. Si Tu Reves
15. J'attends De Vous
16. Les Hommes Qui Passent
17. Il Me Dit Que Je Suis Belle (Version single)
18. Je Voudrais La Connaitre
19. Ou Sont Les Hommes
20. Je Le Garde Pour Toi

5 December 1966, Forbach, Moselle, France. The top female performer in France in the 90s, Kaas had already sold over five million albums by her mid-twenties. Those who suggested she was the French Madonna gained further credence for their claims with each successive platinum disc.

Kaas was one of seven children to a French coal miner and amateur dancer father, and German mother. The latter was devoted to the world of showbusiness, and as a result Patricia was pushed relentlessly into a singing career. She performed widely at fairs and country balls, mainly addressing torch singer standards drawn from the songbooks of Liza Minnelli, Joni Mitchell and even Eurovision songs. Her debut release came in 1985, when she recorded a single, ‘Jalouse’, produced by Gallic film star Gérard Depardieu and written by his wife Elisabeth and Francois Bernheim. ‘Jalouse’ built Kaas a big reputation, and successive singles and albums, initially for PolyGram Records, pushed her irrepressibly into the limelight. Touted as the new Vanessa Paradis, she enjoyed her first hit with ‘Mademoiselle Chante Le Blues’. The songwriting team of Bernheim and Didier Barbelivien composed that, and other stronger material such as ‘Les Hommes Qui Passent’, for her.

Kaas took to the world of celebrity with aplomb, displaying the wherewithal to leave her original record company and management, despite a welter of accusations and counter-accusations. In the process she established her own company, Note de Blues. Like Paradis, she was initially marketed more on image than talent, and her voice is noticeably mannered. Conversely, there seemed to be no lack of ambition or character beneath the commercial surface, with the singer embarking on several global tours. She also began to experiment with different music styles and work with different producers. The Robin Millar-helmed Je Te Dis Vous spawned an unlikely US dance hit with a remix of ‘Reste Sure Moi’, and in 1997 Kaas teamed up with New York-based producer Phil Ramone on the album Dans Ma Chair, which featured songs by American artists including James Taylor and Lyle Lovett.

In 2002, Kaas co-starred alongside Jeremy Irons in And Now... Ladies And Gentlemen. The same year saw the singer teaming up with Michel Legrand on the English language chanteuse album Piano Bar, tackling songs by composers such as Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel. In marked contrast, the following year’s Sexe Forte saw Kaas rocking out on a predominantly upbeat collection. --- Colin Larkin, oldies.com

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01 Mon Dieu 04:43
02 Padam, Padam 04:39
03 Avec Ce Soleil 02:45
04 Milord 05:07
05 The 9th Hour 02:32
06 La Belle Histoire D'amour 04:14
07 Les Amants Merveilleux 02:37
08 T'es Beau Tu Sais 04:06
09 Hymne L'amour 04:21
10 C'est Un Gars 03:09
11 Song for the Little Sparrow 03:25
12 La Foule 03:56
13 Mon Mange Moi 03:01
14 La Vie En Rose 05:19
15 Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien 04:59
16 Je T'ai Dans La Peau 03:02

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Abel Korzeniowski - conductor

This is the recording studio version of the concert Patricia Kaas gave at Carnegie Hall in tribute to the 50th anniversary of Edith Piaf's passing. She is backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a small studio band -- accordion, bass, guitar, Theremin, keyboards -- and even a chorus under the direction of Abel Korzeniowski, who also arranged the material and produced the album. The live performance, while a commercial success, had its share of critics, including Piaf purists, who were quick to note that Kaas doesn't possess the vocal range of her subject. Kaas fans found the size and power of the orchestra too daunting for her to overcome. Both of these arguments are likely to follow this studio production, but ultimately, both are in error. The cinematic quality provided by the orchestra and her band adds a haunting drama to these proceedings that points toward Kaas' smoky, sometimes even raspy, lower register. She doesn't attempt to imitate Piaf, but to pay homage to her enduring legacy and celebrate her influence. Kaas never betrays herself as a modern vocalist in the process. Instead, by interpreting these songs in her own way, she makes plain that Piaf's music is not only a root source of inspiration, but a breathing, evolving, entity that defies the limits of time and offers instruction for French chanson as it continues to evolve. Check the shifting moods and textures in "Mon Manege a Moi," the slow, smoldering sensuality and tragedy at the heart of her reading of "Mon Dieu," and the raw need expressed in "La Belle Histoire D'Amour," introduced and punctuated heavy brass, and alternately colored by a slow, strolling electric bass, piano, bells, and even a bass drum. The nod to Astor Piazzolla's nuevo tango in the accordion's introduction to "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" is a nice touch (Piaf loved tango, as does Kaas) is offset by pastoral strings in the backdrop, vamping on a series of three chords before the singer enters with the orchestra. The song unfolds as a reverie before becoming an anthemic celebration of life and love no matter its ultimate cost. It's unlikely that Kaas Chante Piaf will please "pure" fans of either woman; but then, it's not supposed to. In offering such a unique, sensitive, perhaps even iconoclastic interpretation of Piaf, Kaas underscores her own reputation as one of the great musical artists of our era. ---Thom Jurek ,Rovi

Na płytę "Kaas Chante Piaf" ("Kaas śpiewa Piaf") składa się 21 najsłynniejszych utworów francuskiej chansonistki w nowych aranżacjach polskiego kompozytora, Abla Korzeniowskiego. Wydawnictwo jest hołdem złożonym przez Patricię Kaas Edith Piaf.

Promując płytę Kaas wystąpi w największych salach koncertowych, m.in. w londyńskim Royal Albert Hall, nowojorskim Carnegie Hall, paryskiej Olympii a także w Seulu i Moskwie. W kwietniu wokalistka wystąpi w Warszawie, w Sali Kongresowej oraz wrocławskiej Hali Stulecia.

Patricia Kaas urodziła się w 1966 roku we francuskim Forbach. Rozgłos przyniosły jej piosenki "Mon mec a moi" i "Mademoiselle chante le blues", które stały się przebojami we Francji. W 1998 roku zdominowała francuską scenę muzyczną zdobywając sześć nagród "Victoires de la Musique". W 2002 roku zadebiutowała jako aktorka u boku Jeremy'ego Ironsa w obrazie Claude'a Leloucha "Piano Bar".

W 2008 roku powstał "Kabaret" - autorski spektakl Patrici Kaas, składający się z 20 utworów utrzymanych w stylistyce muzyki lat 30. W ciągu dwóch lat "Kabaret" wystawiono 145 razy w 35 krajach. Płyta z muzykę ze spektaklu sprzedała się w ponad 800.000 egzemplarzach na całym świecie. W 2011 roku prestiżowe wydawnictwo Flammarion opublikowało autobiografię piosenkarki "Cień mojego głosu". Książka została przetłumaczona na 6 języków.

Abel Korzeniowski to urodzony w Krakowie kompozytor muzyki filmowej i teatralnej. Skomponował ścieżkę dźwiękową do filmu "Samotny mężczyzna" w reżyserii Toma Forda. Jest laureatem nagrody Złotego Lwa podczas XXV Festiwalu Polskich Filmów Fabularnych za muzykę do filmu "Duże zwierzę" Jerzego Stuhra. Korzeniowski przygotował muzykę do takich produkcji jak: "Battle for Terra", "What We Take From Each Other", "Tickling Leo", "Confessions of a Go-Go Girl" a także "W.E." w reżyserii Madonny. --- muzyka.onet.pl

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