Brigitte Bardot - "Brigitte Bardot Show" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2009/1968 (Disc'AZ)

I'm 63 years old and I don't think, beside my mother, has there been such a prominent female presence in my life than Brigitte Bardot.  The fact that I'm not even French, but an American, yet still, to be under the shadow of Bardot is extraordinary.   Bardot is also the same age as my mom, and I often think of that generation of females, and what they had to put up with, with respect to sexism, politics, and pop culture.  And of course, Bardot is a sex kitten, but the truth is she's more like a lion than a little kitty. 

Bardot is also my first real memory of going to see a movie in a theater.   My dad dragged me along with him to see "And God Created Woman" by Roger Vadim, her husband at the time.  So literally seeing Bardot in that film was my first image of a female, that struck me not exactly sexual, but the feeling of the difference between the male and the female.   I also remember my dad having a book of images of Bardot from the 1950s.  So, she was very much part of my childhood, and the memory of that never leaves my consciousness.   Artistically  I knew very little of her until my fascination with Serge Gainsbourg started around the 1990s.  It was at that point that I discovered her music.

To be honest, compared to the other French singers, Bardot's work in music left a very little impression on me, but a handful of her recordings are essential to the French aesthetic.   France Gall and Françoise Hardy were and are greater music forces, but Bardot is beyond reasoning.  If I have to choose one album of Bardot's it would be the soundtrack to her French TV special that she made in 1968.  It's essential Bardot, but also an important marking of 1960s French pop culture.  Gainsbourg's great "Contact" and "Harley Davidson" is tailor-made for Bardot's icy punk attitude, and the seductive "Mister Sun" and the garage rock of Le Diable est Anglais is the ultimate and forceful presence of Bardot on vinyl.  

There are many Bardot albums or compilations, but the essence of her genius (and she is one, by hook or crook) is the "Brigitte Bardot Show."   One can see her being a puppet and being used by Vadim, Gainsbourg, and others, but I suspect that her creative will was or is quite enforceable.  The fact in her old age she has joined the Right is really a passage of an exceptional figure in not only French show-biz but 20th century.  She is the 20th Century, in identity and culture.  Whatever that's a good or bad thing will be debated on way after I leave this physical world. 

Various - "Mister Melody - Les Interprètes de Serge Gainsbourg" 4 x CD, Box Set, Compilation, 2006 (Mercury)

The problem or the genuine delight, there is not one Serge Gainsbourg album to purchase.  I shudder when someone asks me advice with respect to choosing their first Serge album.  My honest reaction is to buy them all!   Although when push comes to a shove or a kick, I would easily recommend the box set called "Mister Melody."   What makes it unique is that it's 4 cd's that covers every major (and nonmajor) period in Gainsbourg's music career.  Besides making his own albums, his bread and butter job was writing songs for other artists.  This CD Box Set focuses on Serge Gainsbourg as the composer (or co-songwriter).

I bought this album at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, just right before I enter my plane back to Los Angeles.  It's funny that I couldn't find anything to buy for myself in Paris, and it was at the airport that I found the greatest music package.  For a package that has almost 100 songs, it's rich with quality.  There are the songs that we all know and love with Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin, and France Gall, but it's the rare or unknown cuts, at least for this American, that are the delights of this CD set.  Marianne Faithfull's "Hier Ou Demain" is a standout track as well as recordings by Michèle Torr, Régine, Nico ("Strip Tease" - a wow), Catherine Sauvage and so forth. 

Gainsbourg was a genius.  He also worked with the best talents, such as arrangers Jean-Claude Vannier, Alain Goraguer, Michel Colombier - all of them superb and their talents were individualistic.  Not all female artists, there are some male artists here as well.  But Gainsbourg actually knew how to use the female's sensibility in getting his songs across to the public.  "Mr. Melody" is clearly a work of many decades, and the one thing that is consistent is Gainsbourg's excellence throughout the years.  Even the later years have their gems.  Fantastic.  

Mick Harvey "Intoxicated Man" CD, album, 1995 (Mute)

In 1995, Mick Harvey put out his first album of Serge Gainsbourg songs.   This is not an easy process to do because Gainsbourg's lyrics are very tricky to do in English.  There are many layers of puns, jokes, and something meanings in his songs.  Very textural work, and it takes a master to translate the lyrics from French to English.   Harvey does the job swell, as well as my translator for the Gainsbourg biography I published (TamTam Books) by Gilles Verlant.  Paul Knobloch catches the layers as well.  But here we concentrate on Harvey's album of Gainsbourg tunes.

Gainsbourg as a songwriter, singer, arranger is a vast canvas.  Harvey doesn't just focus on the hits here on 'Intoxicated Man," but also the 'deep cuts' of this songwriter.   Also Harvey, perhaps due to his lifetime association with the world of Nick Cave, he automatically has a sense of sophistication.  So Harvey matching up with Gainsbourg is a great fit.   A wonderful introduction to the world of Serge's songs, but also the French Jazz/Pop culture as well.  

Harvey has done five Gainsbourg albums, and "Intoxicated Man" is his first of the series.  The hits are here as well as some of the more obscure songs - but the Bardot/Gainsbourg combination is well represented with "Ford Mustang," "Bonnie & Clyde," and "Harley Davidson."  Harvey stays close to the song's purpose and melody, but he adds his own unique arrangements to the works here.  This is very much of an album by a musician who is quite talented, perhaps brilliant as an arranger.  I have always imagined that Harvey was Cave's music director in The Bad Seeds, and here he uses his talent in that sense by the selection of the songs, but their production/arrangement as well.  Exceptional work.  I can't imagine any Gainsbourg fan would find fault in these recordings.   There's not a bad cut here because Harvey is an excellent editor and a man of great taste. 

Various ‎– "Mister Melody - Les Interprètes De Serge Gainsbourg" 4 CD Box Set, 2006 (Mercury)

Amazing box set of Serge Gainsbourg's music, but performed by other artists besides the mighty and great Serge.   Hours of Serge music throughout his career.  A lot of the recordings on this collection he actually partakes in their production or arrangement.  So, his presence is very much felt throughout every song here.  The famous and iconic recordings with Birkin, Bardot and France Gall is here, but also artists like Les Frères Jacques, Michèle Arnaud, Juliette Gréco, Philippe Clay, and even Petula Clark.   There are no bad tracks here and very much essential listening and ownership. If I have to choose a favorite it is probably Nico's "Strip-Tease."  Very well thought out with song selection and excellent packaging.  

I have to presume the songs here are what brought money to the Gainsbourg pocket.  As a hired songwriter, he brought the tunes to these artists, but all of them have the Serge wit and bite.  He didn't compromise or cheapen his work when he wrote these songs for other artists.  I sense respect between singer and songwriter here.  Love this package of goodies. 

Serge Gainsbourg/Brigitte Bardot - "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" b/c "Bonnie & Clyde" 45 rpm (Philips)

I think most of us have heard the Brigitte Bardot/Gainsbourg recording of his "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus, but in actuality, I bet most of us only heard the Jane Birkin/Gainsbourg recording.  That officially came out in the late 1960s, but it took ten years for the Bardot version to be released on the French/world market.  According to legend, the then married (to someone else) Bardot was having an affair with Serge, and they recorded this rather literate song of eros.   Gainsbourg wrote the song for her, and it seems he was crushed when Bardot requested that he doesn't release the song, due to the husband's jealousy at the time.  

Both versions of the song are excellent, but I have to choose between the two, it will be the Bardot version.   For one,  Michel Colombier's arrangement is superb.  The strings are lush, romantic and feverish.  It's the most erotic part of the recording.  Bardot and Gainsbourg are very cool in their delivery of the song.  Birkin, on the other hand, does the heavy breathing, and the format is more organ/guitar orientated than the Bardot crazed orchestration.   Not to make a personal judgment between the two great female icons of the 20th century, but Bardot strikes me as a master of a cool sexuality that is smart and perhaps deadly.  Birkin is very much the girl next door - erotically fun and beautiful of course, but perhaps not fully aware of the world - or the seduction techniques of the Gainsbourg method.   Bardot is acutely conscious of the 'whole' game.  

But like all things that deal with Eros, it is very much part of the listeners take on such a magnificent song and recording.   If you have the chance, do compare the two versions, and come to your own conclusion.  

Brigitte Bardot - "Show" CD

Brigitte Bardot - Show

CD, Album, France, 1999

Magic Records

Now this is the ultimate and great Bardot album.  I think the material on this CD is all based on her TV show she did in the late ’60’s  - in other words hardcore Gainsbourg period.  I’m not even sure if this was an official release by her or her record company.  The great retro garage rock Yé-Yé label Magic Records put this out, and it has a bootleg feel to the packaging, but nevertheless this is the Bardot to get. 

For one it has the classic electro-funk “Contact” written by Gainsbourg, and even though the recording is around, not many are aware of this Brigitte gem.   Another stunner is “Le Diable Est Anglais” both the English(“The Devil’s In Town”) and the French version.  The English version sounds sort of pissed off, and her accent is very strong which adds a certain amount of charm to the track.  But it is also has a touch of menace as well. It is one of my favorite all-time recordings.    “Le Soleil” is just a great lazy sounding track.  It pours sex that is so natural from Bardot.  When you get down to it she just has the ‘it’ quality that you have to be born with.  So yes, ignore the others, and get this one if you want to have  that special Bardot as pure sensual sound that will eat you up.

Brigitte Bardot - "La Madrague" CD, Compilation

Brigitte Bardot - La Madrague

CD, Compilation, France, 1991

Philips

One can criticize Brigitte Bardot, but it won’t be from me.  For one, she was the first movie star I have ever seen on a big screen.  I may have been in a movie theater before, but seeing Roger Vadim’s “A God Created Woman” was my first experience, and in a sense Bardot was my first woman, besides my Mom, in acknowledging a female presence in my life.  A lot of women are beautiful, but Bardot somehow went even beyond that.  

This collection of Bardot’s hits are a part of an interesting series that France Philips put together called ‘Actrices.’   A collection of releases by iconic actresses who happened to make music, and it looks like every major French female movie star made a recording of some sort.  Most of them were lucky enough to have the talents or arrangers Alain Goraguer, Andre Popp and the writing talents of Serge Gainsbourg.  Bardot had them all, well at least musically.  

Still, this is not a great collection, because they left out major Bardot recordings like “Contact” and avoided some of her more ‘odd’ recordings.  But all have the Bardot personality stamped on the grooves, and she doesn’t disappoint as a vocalist.  A limited vocalist yes, but her personality and sexuality comes through as if it was transparent paper.   Her work with Gainsbourg are noting but masterpieces.  Her version with Serge of the classic erotica Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus is a must and worth the price of this CD/Vinyl.  Much more lush than the Birkin version, this is one of the key songs by Serge, and Bardot adds an equal amount of sexuality on this record.  Essential.  Not an easy find anymore, but there are better Bardot collections out there, but still it does have Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus, the original version.