The best of Dalida's music from the fifties and sixties
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 09/01/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I decided to explore music sung in foreign languages, it didn't take me long to discover that Dalida is one of the most important French singers in history. Her recording carrer began in 1956 and ended with her suicide in 1987. She recorded for just two record labels, Barclay and Orlando, the switch occurring in 1970. This double-CD contains 42 of her finest recordings for Barclay.
There are original songs here, but also translations of songs from elsewhere, including Italy, Britain and America. These are particularly interesting. O sole mio is a song of European origin (French or Italian?) which was later translated into English and was mas made famous by Elvis with the title It's now or never.
In the fifties, Dalida recorded French versions of several of Petula's British hits. Two of them, Gondolier (With All My Heart) and Te Pars (Alone) are included here. They proved to be very significant, because Petula was inspired by these covers to switch her base from Britain to France, where she was extremely successful and has lived ever since. Dalida didn't cover any more Petula songs, but they both recorded Garde-Moi la Derniere Danse (Save the Last Dance for Me - Drifters) - Dalida's version is included here - and both had top five hits in France with the song.
Other great covers include T'Ai Reve (Dream Lover - Bobby Darin), Nuits d'Espagne (Spanish Harlem - Ben E King), Petit Gonzales (Speedy Gonzales - Pat Boone), Que Sont Devenues Les Fleurs (Where Have All the Flowers Gone - Pete Seeger), Grilles de Ma Maison (Green Green Grass of Home), Qui (Hurt - Timi Yuro) and Temps des Fleurs (Those Were the Days - Mary Hopkin).
You may also recognise Never on a Sunday - Dalida records it as Les enfants du Piree, but it's original (Italian?) title is Ta Pedia tou Pirea. Another instantly recognisable song is Itsy bitsy teeny weeny, which is not the finest song Dalida ever recorded, but she somehow makes it sound better than it really is.
Despite that song, I loved this double CD so much that I not only bought the Orlando double CD, but also the ten CD box covering her complete Barclay recordings. I wouldn't expect you to go that far, but if you want to hear some high quality French music, Dalida is for you."
The Quintessential DALIDA!!!
Robby Varner | Atlanta,, Ga. USA | 04/02/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"42 of Dalida's original recordings from 1956-1970 with her beautiful french renditions of such standards as "Save the last dance for me", "Amore Scusami" (also sung by Jerry Vale and Robert Goulet), and "Hurt" (sung by Elvis and Liz Torres). Also includes the original version of "Parlez-moi de lui" which was wonderfully updated and remixed on her "A MA MANIERE" CD. The CD cover is an attractive booklet containing photos of Dalida with celebrites such as Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Julio Eglesias, The Platters and Yves Montand. Very nice collection."
Excellent cd
Costas | Cyprus | 09/23/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd contains the first recordings of Dalida (1956-1970). There are very good songs in this cd. 'Les enfants du Pyree' and 'La danse de Zorba' are french covers of two well known greek songs. The first is the french cover of 'Ta paidia tou Peiraia' composed by Manos Hadjidakis and sung by Melina Merkouri. The second one is a very famous melody by Mikis Theodorakis (there are no lyrics in greek). Other beautiful songs are 'Je reviens de chercher', 'Amore scusami', 'Petit homme', 'Le temps de fleurs' and many many more. The booklet of the cd is very nice too, with many photographs and words by famous people for Dalida (in French). I highly recommend it to everyone, even if you don't know French. A beautiful voice by a pretty lady."
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1