Edith Piaf
's younger self dominates this chronologically jumbled collection of chestnuts from the first seven-and-a-half years of her recording career (December 1935 to June 1943). Internationally famous for leading a tempestuous life that was pockmarked with vice and misfortune,
Piaf
's persona always had a vein of pathos pulsing away beneath the surface. This powerfully voiced little woman's successes were often tinged with scandal; she deliberately chose to record the comparatively wholesome
"Mon Legionnaire"
while retooling her tarnished image following the widely publicized murder of her showbiz mentor
Louis Leplee
.
"Les Momes de la Cloche"
was her very first record; here a marvelously wry whimsy is buoyed by the rippling voice of the accordion. All but six of these recordings were made during the '30s; by the early '40s,
's Weltschmerz would begin to solidify as she matured into an even more arrestingly intense performer. ~ arwulf arwulf