Nostalgia and cabaret done with a sense of the absurd
Steven Guy | Croydon, South Australia | 01/13/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ah! I have finally "got" Arielle Dombasle, I think! Arielle Dombasle is just messing around and having some fun with this material. I watched the film clip of her Eartha Kitt classic "C'est si bon" on YouTube, and apart from noticing the obvious, i.e. that mademoiselle Dombasle is impossibly, ridiculously and almost disgracefully beautiful, I became very aware of the fact that she has a sense of humour about the material she sings and herself.
C'est si bon features a range of standards and torch songs, sung in a very light, high and clear voice, by Arielle Dombasle. Her accompaniments and arrangements sound like she wanted her musicians to recreate a cinematic feel, say, from the world of the 1930s and 1940s. I would say that if she put her mind to it, Ms Dombasle could sing Classical music, perhaps Baroque music? Her voice is high, light and clear, as I said.
I have done some research on Arielle Dombasle and I've discovered that's she's directed and made some films and has studied music at university. She's something of an intellectual and well as an impossible beauty and comic.
I don't listen to "C'est si bon" very often, but I enjoy it when I do. I only wish mademoiselle Dombasle had made a DVD of the tour of this album across the United States, which by all accounts I have read, was great fun."