Jose Van Dam is one of the most respected singers of the French repertoire of the second half of the twentieth century. With very few recordings available of the entire Duparc repertoire, especially for lower-mid voiced males, this recording is a must-have! Definitely far better than the Souzay recordings! If you're looking for other vocalists who are worth listening too I'd suggest Susan Graham or Paul Groves for their interpretations of the Duparc repertoire.

J. M. Barclay @ Amazon.com

After a fiery disaster claims the lives of several teammates, costumed crimefighter Empowered stumbles upon an ugly little secret of the masks-and-tights business: a growing number of ill-fated superheroes have found out the hard way that, while their bodies are still mortal, their superpowers are not. Now, only our downtrodden but doggedly determined heroine can save the (semi) living superdead from a very genuine "fate worse than death," while simultaneously grappling with the challenges of vengefully vacationing ninja clans, car-trunk carpet burn, superhero-fantasy-league drafts, excessive bedroom chatter, and deals with the devil both figurative and literal! All this, plus Emp's not-so-secret origin is revealed at last! From Adam Warren - writer/artist of the English-language The Dirty Pair comics (the original "Original English-Language Manga") and writer of Livewires, Gen13, and Iron Man: Hypervelocity - comes Empowered, a kickass long-john lampoon that flies to new heights of hotness and hilarity.

Reseña en la editorial: Robert Crumb, dibujante superdotado y narrador impúdico, es una leyenda viva de la historia del cómic. Su obra, germen del underground norteamericano, ha conseguido ser parte incontestable de la historia del arte sin perder ni una pizca de su naturaleza subversiva.

After saving much of the superhero community from certain doom, costumed crimefighter Empowered is dismayed to find that, in the suspicious eyes of her caped colleagues, she's gone from being merely a 'pair of training wheels for supervillains' to possibly being a closeted supervillain herself! Worse yet, she's wrestling with envy and resentment that her roommate Ninjette and boyfriend Thugboy are now more popular in masks-and-tights circles than she is! Meanwhile, our stressed-out superheroine must also unravel an alien-spawned body-image conspiracy, overcome 'cosplay' dress-up disasters at work and in bed, and try to survive a potentially lethal confrontation with her teammate, Sistah Spooky!

Costumed crimefighter Empowered is briefly overjoyed to find herself in the running for one of the superhero community's annual Caped Justice Awards (or "Capeys") - only to discover that her nomination was merely a cruel joke by her obnoxious superpeers. But when the masked masses face a cataclysmic reckoning for such previous heartless hoaxes, can our perpetually struggling heroine overcome her resentment and save the day? And can she cope with the further problems posed by crossdressing vigilantes, dying wishes from preteen wannabe supervillains, telepathic "booty calls," a deeply depressed ninja, bedroom "cosplay" conflicts with her boyfriend, and even . . . Hummer® fu? Each volume comes shrinkwrapped with an 18+ advisory sticker.

As if life as an often-struggling superheroine weren't already hard enough, now costumed crimefighter "Empowered" discovers that another female superhero is ripping off her distress-prone persona - and cashing in, big-time! Even worse, her relationship with live-in boyfriend (and semi-reformed Witless Minion) Thugboy has run afoul of an extremely literal set of "power issues"! Worse yet, a singularly bloodthirsty and ruthless ninja clan is gunning - no, make that shurikening - for Emp's best friend and karaoke partner, Ninjette! Can our unlucky but still plucky heroine prevail over all these obstacles as well as further threats posed by foreign fanfiction outrages, her own supersuit's attempts to manipulate her self-esteem, and the revelation of (gasp!) her real name?

Empowered returns for further misadventures, as a distress-prone girl wonder struggling with life on the superheroic C-list! Clad - or unclad, as fate would too often have it - in her embarrassingly revealing and maddeningly unreliable supersuit, she fights a neverending battle against overly sensitive supervillains, irrationally envious superheroines, and her own body-image issues! Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Thugboy, plays with fire when he foolhardily attempts to compliment his profoundly insecure sweetheart on the awe-inspiring power of her… well, booty. And her often-inebriated gal-pal, Ninjette, pursues a drunken and ultimately disastrous mission to acquire Empowered some respect - by force if necessary! All this, plus crossword-obsessed goons, speech-impaired superbeasts, "Ninjas Gone Wild," and even a few self-help hints from nigh-omnipotent cosmic overlords! You know, the usual.

Not only is costumed crimefighter "Empowered" saddled with a less-than-ideal superhero name, but she wears a skintight and cruelly revealing "supersuit" that only magnifies her body-image insecurities. Worse yet, the suit's unreliable powers are prone to failure, repeatedly leaving her in appallingly distressing situations… and giving her a shameful reputation as the lamest "cape" in the masks-and-tights business. Nonetheless, she pluckily braves the ordeals of her bottom-rung superheroic life with the help of her "thugalicious" boyfriend (and former Witless Minion) and her hard-drinking ninja girlfriend, not to mention the supervillainous advice from the caged alien demonlord watching DVDs from atop her coffee table… From Adam Warren - writer/artist of the English-language Dirty Pair comics (the original "Original English-Language Manga" before OEL was cool), and writer of Livewires, Gen13 and Iron Man: Hypervelocity - comes Empowered, a butt-kicking, bootylicious superhero lampoon that raises the bar for long-john lust and low-brow laughs. Remove all previous notions of superhero entertainment from your puny mind… and prepare to be Empowered!