Best, Gilbert Becaud

Amazon.com Gilbert Becaud, known to his French admirers as Monsieur 100,000 Volts, began his career by writing songs for others to sing. Endowed with a smooth baritone voice, however, he soon became an impressive performer of his own sophisticated lyrics. Becaud has also written more serious music, such as his cantata L'Enfant è l'Etoile , and several film scores, which have received a warm welcome from European audiences. Becaud's vocal style is instantly recognizable, but his most distinct quality is his ability to sustain a mood. Moreover, he is a man of many moods, sometimes changing them within a single song. All of the great chansonnette singers learned from one another, and Becaud clearly learned from Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel, although he sounds more like Yves Montand. No one is more convincing while delivering a song. In short, Becaud is an elegant man of the theater who sings his lines rather than reading them. He has recorded dozens of songs, and this best-of CD necessarily omits some of them. Nevertheless, it includes enough of his very best to make it a good choice for someone interested in sampling Becaud's remarkable talent. --Edward Killham