About

While there have been many recordings of the great Edith Piaf, too often they have suffered from under production, overproduction, or a complete lack of care for the performance quality of the recording. This is truly unfortunate for an artist of her stature and temperament -- particularly for listeners on this side of the Atlantic and younger Europeans who may have only been exposed to her records -- for all of Ms. Piaf's perfectionism, her recordings never held a candle to her concerts. This collection of her performances at the Olympia Theater in Paris, her venue of choice, is remarkable and presents her at her very best. Granted, these performances are taken from a period of eight years and are the highlights of other concerts, and therefore do not constitute a single performance. There are several complete concerts that do exactly this and do it well. But this collection focuses on one thing only -- Piaf's uncanny ability to communicate to the hearts of her audiences without gimmick or artifice. – All Music