This double disc is a real gift to all lovers of the French chanson. Popular singer and film actor
Patrick Bruel
selected and performed 20 odd classic songs from the period between the two World Wars -- hence the title of the album,
Entre Deux
(Between Two).
Bruel
and his arrangers managed to be both respectful to their source material and to come up with a new interpretation of it. Some numbers were sung in duet with such French luminaries as
Charles Aznavour
,
Laurent Voulzy
Johnny Hallyday
Jean-Jacques Goldman
, and
Alain Souchon
. The album opens with
"Mon Amant de Saint-Jean,"
reportedly the singer's personal favorite, followed by
"Menilmontant,"
a touching duet with
, himself a living legend of the French chanson.
"Ou Sont Mes Amants?,"
where
is accompanied by film actresses
Emmanuelle Beart
and
Sandrine Kiberlain
, also works surprisingly well. The deliciously melancholic
"Je Suis Dans la Deche"
(I'm Broke), performed solo by
, captures so well the essence of the French musical tradition. The album's other highlight is
"A Paris, Dans Chaque Faubourg,"
sung in duet with 84-year-old
Danielle Darrieux
, a movie star of that period. The collection closes with
"A Contretemps,"
the only new song written for the album by
M.F. Gros
David Moreau
himself, that serves as the perfect homage to the spirit of the chanson, that peculiarly French musical genre. ~ Yuri German