Serge Gainsbourg at his most jazzy, as well as the height of his brilliance as a songwriter. This is a live recording that he did at Théâtre des Capucines in Paris. For a short time in his life, Gainsbourg did a tour, and eventually start up touring or performing again in the 1980s. What makes this live recording so essential is that it captures Gainsbourg with just an electric guitarist Elek Bacisk, and contrabassist Michel Gaudry. Smokey, profound and very straightforward in the manner of delivery of the songs. All the tunes on this album came from Gainsbourg's "Confidentiel" which again is backed only by Bacisk and Gaudry.
There is not a major 'oh wow' difference between the live recording and the studio work, but it does capture an era and time when Gainsbourg worked in what sounds like a nightclub. There is no small-talk from Serge to the audience. What is impressive is that Gainsbourg rarely looked back. Like David Bowie, he consistently re-invented himself and his music. Lyrically it is always Serge, but he wasn't afraid to explore new sounds, and like capturing a young Bob Dylan in a live recording, it is more of a testament of his worth at the time. Essential for the hardcore Serge collector, and a great listening experience for the casual fan as well. Jeanne Dielman is a label that I suspect specializes in releasing records that are in public domain but only for only a short period of time. Like Doxy, they are a label of excellent curating. But, I suspect that they are not here to exist forever.
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