And the winner is: Original albums. I realize that Vanessa Paradis as a performer is barely known in English-speaking North America, and that doing this comparison is something of an indulgence given that few if any of my readers are likely to have any familiarity with her work. That said, this website was conceived as an outlet for my interests and activities, so on with the comparison. It's clear from the waveforms above that the earlier material has suffered from significant compression and limiting, with the Kravitz-era material given particularly heavy handed treatment. While there are one or two tracks where the results are less severe ("Dis-lui toi que je t'aime" as an example), the overall trend is mostly in favor of the original CD releases. Results of the Loudness War effect range from disastrous ("Joe le taxi") to very mild or essentially unnoticeable (the post-2007 singles). It's arguable that some of the later material doesn't suffer all that much, especially when compared to the earlier albums, but overall my preferred pick is still going to be the individual CD releases over the compilation disc. It should also be noted that a couple of the Best Of & Variations song versions are also trimmed in length compared to their album counterparts, likely due to radio-friendliness considerations.

As an aside, it's too bad that the 2004 Atomik Circus soundtrack album isn't represented here, though I completely understand why given the complete lack of hit singles and the (deservedly, in my opinion) poor reception of the film.