Maurice Chevalier was more of a stage and film actor-singer than a recording artist, but he did turn up in recording studios periodically, starting in 1919, usually to record versions of the songs he was singing in his shows or films. The discount-priced Collection compilation, taking advantage... [+] Expand

Maurice Chevalier was more of a stage and film actor-singer than a recording artist, but he did turn up in recording studios periodically, starting in 1919, usually to record versions of the songs he was singing in his shows or films. The discount-priced Collection compilation, taking advantage of the 50-year copyright limit in Europe, gathers together the bulk of his studio recordings made between 1929 and 1941, all of them originally issued either by RCA Victor Records in the U.S. or HMV Records in Europe. He moved to Hollywood in 1929 to appear in his first American, English-language feature, Innocents of Paris, and remained in the movie capital for six years, making a series of musical films, including The Love Parade, The Big Pond, Paramount on Parade, Playboy of Paris, Love Me Tonight, and One Hour With You, also recording versions of his songs for RCA that are featured here, among them such hits as "Louise," "Wait 'Til You See 'Ma Cherie'," "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," "Mon Idéal," "Mama Inez," and "Mimi." Often, he recorded both French and English versions of the songs, and more often than not, this compilation uses the French versions. (Some songs feature both English and French verses.) After he returned to France in 1935, there were fewer recording sessions, all for HMV, and they were less often related to films. There are more complete and better annotated albums containing this material, but they are also more expensive, and one can get a good sense of Chevalier's charm (which overcomes his modest vocal abilities) on this disc. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide [-] Collapse

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