Customer Reviews

Best of

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Music: 4.5 stars; Compilation: 3.5 stars

There have been a number of compilations on Jane Birkin, but confusingly there are two compilations that are both called "Best of Jane Birkin". There was the 1997 compilation (easily recognizable by the orange CD cover art), which is fantastic and in my view the better one (see my review there). Then there is this more recent, 2006 "Best of Jane Birkin". Sadly, Amazon makes things even more complicated because what they show as the tracklisting for the 2006 "Best of" is actually the tracklisting of the 1997 compilation! Yes, I'm not kidding! The real tracklisting of this 2006 "Best of" goes as follows:

1 Jane B. 2 Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus 3 La Décadanse 4 Di Doo Dah 5 Mon Amour Baiser 6 C'est La Vie Qui Veut Ça 7 anana Boat 8 Si Ça Peut Te Consoler 9 Rien Pour Rien 10 There's a Small Hotel 11 Yesterday Yes a Day 12 Ex-Fan des Sixties 13 Excercice en Forme de Z 14 Rocking Chair 15 L' Aquoiboniste 16 Baby Alone in Babylone 17 Fuir le Bonheur de Peur Qu'il Ne Se Sauve 18 Baby Lou 19 Les Dessous Chics 20 Quoi 21 Lost Songs 22 La Chanson de Prévert 23 La Gadoue

Even though this compilation has 4 more songs, including the must-have "La Decadence", I nevertheless prefer the 1997 "Best of Jane Birkin", simply based on song selection. This collection misses a number of essential tracks such as "Con C'est Con Ces Consequences", "Ballade the Johnny-Jane", "Ford Mustang", and how could they not include "Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'en Vais", just to name those. Wow, just wow. Bottom line: there is a lot of good music on here, but for the more essential Jane Birkin compilation, check out the 1997 "best of".

Jane Birkin recently toured the US, and I had the good fortune of seeing her at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC just last week, and what a performance she and her 4 piece back-up band put on. They played for 2 hours, bringing many of the songs you'll find on this "Best of", and Jane brought them with grace and humor, sharing tons of stories about life with Serge and how these songs came about. An unforgettable evening!

I first heard Birkin in the late-60's when I lived in West Germany, her voice still brings back memories and the best of times.