Patricia Kaas - Mademoiselle N'a Pas Chanté Que Le Blues (2013)

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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