And God Created Woman - Brigitte Bardot

Let's get this straight at the outset: although billed to Brigitte Bardot, this CD of recordings from the soundtrack to And God Created Woman contains very little in the way of actual Bardot vocals. There's a little French spoken narration by Bardot in the two extended cuts ("...And God Created Woman, Pt. 1" and "...And God Created Woman, Pt. 2," which add up to about a half hour) that lead off the disc. There are also some brief female vocal passages that don't sound like the singing of Bardot; it's too smooth and accomplished. Otherwise, it's all instrumental music from the film score, so the CD would be more accurately billed as an And God Created Woman soundtrack, or billed to Paul Misraki, who composed all of the music. After the two extended tracks that begin the disc, there's a half hour or so of briefer segments (one of them, "Quand J'y Pense," sung by Sacha Distel), bumping the length of the CD to about an hour altogether. So this music isn't exactly infused with the presence of Bardot. But it's reasonably varied mid-'50s soundtrack material, from fairly stereotypical sentimental orchestral pieces to ones quite in line with the jazz-mambo that was quite a popular craze throughout the Western world in the '50s, though it's presented in a slightly ersatz form here. There's also a bit of saloon and cool jazz here and there. It's the most mambofied cuts that are the best, however, especially "Fievre Tropicale," "Porque Nao?," "Tren Tren," and "BB Cha-Cha." Overall, the uptempo bits conjure images of the post-World War II, pre-rock-era highlife, and the slower ones more romantic, slightly maudlin moods. Like a number of soundtracks on the El label of films of major actors in which the actors themselves sing little, it's more for completist fans of those actors, or major soundtrack collectors, than it is for the average Bardot fan. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide