The Best of Carlos Gardel

This is a must for all lovers of the Tango and of Argentina. A remastering of twenty recordings made by the legendary Argentine Tango composer and singer Carlos Gardel in the period December, 1926, through March, 1935. Fifteen are compositions by Gardel, himself, and all but two are Tangos; a Foxtrot and a Milonga are included for their obvious historical interest. Given what the American and Western European versions of the Tango came to be, these renditions emphasize the working class, almost folk nature of Gardel's art. Gardel's voice is that of a natural, untrained entertainer. While it has become standard practice to record these pieces with guitar and bandelon accompaniment, these recordings feature a full string section, as well.

I brought my 84 year old Cuban dad to tears this weekend. He has no computer, and I thought I'd demonstrate the joys of You Tube, so I asked him to name any singer he wanted to watch. I grew up in household dominated by my mom's music, so when he said "Carlos Garcel", I told him that I never heard of that singer. Well, many videos popped up on You Tube and I clicked on a clip from an old movie from 1934 where Garcel sung "Por Una Cabeza". My quiet dad started singing along and got choked up from the emotion. He remembers his mom singing along to Garcel when he was a little tyke. Apparently, Garcel was huge in Cuba in the 30's, as well as all of Latin America. Watch some clips and you'll understand why. Anyway, I immediately went on Amazon, found this CD and bought it for him. The clips sound authentically scratchy, but if you're from my generation (I'm 49) listening to vinyl, then you expect and embrace that quality.

If you like Tango then this is a must have in your collection, I can not get enough of this record, the songs are original and believe it or not several of his songs have become very famous, and I did not know about it until I heard this record. For example: in the movie" Scent of a Woman" where Al Pacino dances beautifully the Tango... what a lovely tune .. is one of Carlito's songs " Por una Cabeza"; then I fell in love with another song from the title movie "Volver" with Penelope Cruz the song was sang by Estrella Morente and I loved her music too but I was in total shock to find that is one of Carlito's songs.

Yes, the recordings here are core treasures of Tango. But the audio processing causes there to be resonances at certain midrange frequencies that are harsh and irritating. Better sound, and twice the tracks for 1/3 more, can be found in "Lo Mejor de lo Mejor" (as it is listed on Amazon --- the CD actually is called "Carlos Gardel 40 Temas Originales").

Amazing, a great selection of Tango, Gardel and Argentine music. I really like this music, I listen every day. Thank you!

Brings back lots of memories, but the recordings are old and dated, mono and scratchy, so as memorabilia, is a wonderful compilation, don't know if they could have improved the end product updating and cleaning the original sources.

The sound quality wasn't great and I don't apreciate this gender. Anyhow I bought this CD for my grandmother and she made a stroll into the good old days

Gardel is the hero of tango not only in Argentina, but also in the all countries in the world. It is not important the age, I think the people in all ages can love his voice and his songs.

I found this CD a little disappointing as I did not particularly enjoy the selection of songs and already have better CD's

Para tener la mejor seleccion de grabaciones de este cantante, seria la suma de este CD y la recopilacion "Carlos Gardel, The king of tango, volume 1" que puso letra a la musica del tango, por lo que es una autentica joya, tanto para los amantes de este tipo de musica, como para tener un par de albums basicos del artista.En este CD relaciono las 20 canciones que incluye: 1 Mi Buenos Aires Querido, tango 2 Melodia de Arrabal, tango 3 Leguisamo Solo, tango 4 Tomo y Obligo, tango 5 Silencio, tango 6 Golondrinas, tango cancion 7 Por Una Cabeza, tango 8 Sus Ojos Se Cerraron, tango 9 Volver, tango 10 Rubias de Nueva York, fox trot 11 El Día Que Me Quieras, tango 12 Cuesta Abajo, tango 13 Madreselva, tango 14 Amargura, tango 15 Estudiante, tango 16 Soy Una Fiera, milonga 17 Buenos Aires, tango 18 Arrabal Amargo, tango 19 Volvió una Noche, tango 20 Lejana Tierra Mia, cancionPara escuchar, si se sabe baliar, bailar, y sino simplemente para disfrutar de los inicios del tango cantado.

Gardel ha lasciato il segno, ancora oggi è emozionante sentire le sue registrazioni.

Gute, komprimierte Zusammenstellung wichtiger Titel von Gardel. Empfehlenswert ist aber nur der MP-3-Download, nicht der Kauf der CD, denn diese ist schlampig produziert: Die letzten zehn Sekunden von "Volver" (=track # 9) sind fälschlicherweise an den Anfang von Track # 10 gehängt worden. Programmiert man im CD-Player also eine Auswahl an Stücken, die "Volver" enthält, fehlen am Ende des Liedes die letzten fünf Sekunden - und man schaut ziemlich blöd drein... Schlechte Arbeit des Labels "Hemisphere"! Dafür gibt es nicht mehr als 2 Sterne.

Trovo questa raccolta molto bella. Include alcuni tra i più noti brani di tango utilizzati anche dal cinema, come: por una cabeza, madreselva, amargura, lejana tierra mia...