Serge Gainsbourg (or Gainsbarre, as they call him in the Caribbean) is one of the creepiest musical perverts ever known. He's also one of France's great musical geniuses, so go figure. Putumayo had the guts to put him on the disc and the good taste to select a beautiful, melancholy, and touching song: "Marilou sous la neige".

How do you narrow down the brilliant Barbara to a single song? Everything about her was always just so: the right enunciation, hitting the notes perfectly, every hair in place, her make-up impeccable. Putumayo chose "Si la photo est bonne", and it fits right into the album without leaving me drooling for more (although more would be nice).

The collection is called "French Cafe", so you should have a pretty good idea what you're going to get. The question is, did Putumayo choose the tracks well? ABSOLUTELY. This is one of their real winners. It creates a perfect mood, laid-back and content, neither too melancholy nor too zealous.

Just the thing for cruising the Pacific Coast Highway through Laguna Beach, the sun and waves and palm trees and thirty dollar pizzas and rich ladies in high heels on the beach.

Or you might want to put it on while you houseclean, because it's not so brooding you'll collapse in tears among the cinders, but neither is it so vigorous you'll look like a overprogrammed robot. You'll just think: "Hell, why not vacuum in pearls?"

This cd was playing in a beautiful little shop in the Detroit Radisson Hotel recently. It caught my attention the second that I walked through the door and I ended up "keeping busy" in the store just so that I could listen to it. I listened to several songs and fell in love with it! I went through a long process to figure out what it was that was playing, as the hotel had different cds on automatic rotate throughout the complex and no one had any idea how to find out which one was playing. lol. I finally got the answer and was able to purchase it at one of the hotel shops! :) I am very pleased! It is such a relaxing dreamy cd. If I would have seen the case of it first, I would not have been drawn to it as it looks very "high pace, hustle and bustle" (I know I know, you can't judge a book by its cover!:)But the music on this cd isn't what I would have expected from seeing the cover. I love it! I am looking into the other cds in this series because it is so great! So far, the Brazillian one is also fabulous!

I chose to buy this CD because I was looking for a good collection of and introduction to French musicians (past and present). A major attraction of this album is the lengthy, detailed booklet it comes with that tells about each group or singer on the album and gives a rough translation of the lyrics in English. (Note: a complete translation in English is not provided, just a few lines) Summaries of the songs' subjects in English are provided, though. If you understand/can translate French, I highly recommend reading the lyrics because it just adds another dimension of enjoyment and appreciation of the songs. I was able to find the French lyrics to all of the songs, except for the last song, on www.paroles.net.

While it is true that this album is most likely not an accurate representation of the music playing at French cafes today, it is still a great collection and introduction to some great French artists. I will definitely be looking into buying the albums of some of the groups/singers on this CD. The music is jazzy, light-hearted, and relaxing and has been playing and replaying in my stereo for days.

The title of the compilation is a little misleading, since there's a difference between what you might hear in "le café" (Georges Brassens, Barbara) vs. what you might hear in "le club" (Paris Combo, Serge Gainsbourg), and there's a difference between traditional French "chanson" and "le pop." But for all that, this is a great collection, even if you don't speak the language. My local music store just seems to stock Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, and the occasional Jacques Brel CD, but this gave me nice taste of what else is available, so I've already bought Paris Combo's ATTRACTION and I'm now looking for a good Georges Brassens collection.

I like the french language, but only when it is sang by a woman. This album is good but some singles just arent that great.