Partnered with an engaging Kevin Kline, French Kiss was Meg Ryan's romantic comedy for 1995, a likeable enough movie which somehow never managed the sparkle or success of Sleepless in Seattle or When Harry Met Sally. The soundtrack is nevertheless an appealingly sophisticated mixture of old and new, classic ballads and light jazz all delivered with polished aplomb. Paolo Conte's live version of "Via Con Me" has innate Continental charm, as does Tino Rossi's "C'est Trop … mehrBeau", and "Verlaine" by Charles Trenet simply drips with suave nostalgic appeal. Louis Armstrong is in fine voice on "La Vie en Rose", contrasting like Ella Fitzgerald's timeless interpretation of "I Love Paris", a tune also delivered as a striking instrumental by harmonica player Toots Thielemans, himself noted for his classic contribution to Steven Spielberg's debut movie The Sugarland Express. Of the modern tracks, Van Morrison offers "Someone Like You", but is rather outclassed by two extremely elegant contributions from The Beautiful South, "Dream A Little Dream" and "Les Yeux Ouverts". A real surprise is finding Kevin Kline giving a most respectable reading of "La Mer", while score composer James Newton Howard's delicate love theme gently rounds out this tasteful, relaxing and artfully complied soundtrack. --Gary S. Dalkin weniger

CD 1
01 - Someone Like You
02 - La Vie En Rose (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")
03 - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")
04 - Via Con Me (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")… mehr
05 - I Love Paris
06 - Feels Like A Woman (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")
07 - La Mer (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")
08 - I Love Paris (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss")
09 - Verlaine
10 - C'est Trop Beau
11 - Les Yeux Ouverts
12 - I Want You
13 - Les Yeux De Ton Père (From Original Soundtrack "French Kiss") weniger