France Gall - "1968" Vinyl, Album, Reissue, 1968/2020 (Third Man Records)

France Gall, a teenage singer, for whom Serge Gainsbourg wrote many of her hits. That is interesting, but France is also a great Jazz orientated singer singing French Pop. Beside Gainsbourg, her pop, Robert Gall, wrote a lot of her lyrics with various composers. On the surface, Gall sang for teenagers, but the songs were all written by men in their 30s. This is not an unusual occurrence in the world of French pop music. One of her principal arrangers is Alain Goraguer, a remarkable music figure as well. He worked with everyone from Boris Vian, to Gainsbourg and made a significant electronic soundtrack album "La Planète Sauvage." The other arranger on this album is the English composer and arranger David Whitaker. All of the above, including France Gall, contributed to "1968."

The album captures the year 1968 as if it was an early colored photograph. "1968" yells out the decade due to the exotic instrumentation as well as the balance of pure pop with something substantial. The interesting thing about following French pop music is one should not only pay attention to the headliner (the singer of course) but also equally important are the arrangers. Whitaker and Goraguer have a unique sound, and they truly put their mark on their recordings. "1968" is not only a great France Gall disc but also a crucial recording made by the French, with the help of an Englishman (Whitaker) in a highly inventive album. There are two Gainsbourg songs on the album as well. They are highly recommended. 

Gérard Manset - "Rien À Raconter" Vinyl, LP, Album, France, 1976 (EMI)

There is a thrill of discovering an artist that no one in the English language talks or knows about, and I suspect that Gérard Manset is such a songwriter/arranger/singer.   I can find very little information on Manset in English, and according to Discogs, he has at least 23 albums under his name.  From 1968 to this year, 2018.  I have heard his music I think through a drunk period on the Internet, and going through YouTube for music discoveries.   In my collection, I have two albums by Manset, including "Rein À Raconter" (Nothing to Tell).  

Generally speaking, and what I have heard, Manset's songs are all in French (duh!) and feature massive orchestrations, but usually with a loud electric guitar in the mix.  There's nothing pastoral about his sound, both his voice and instrumentation is forceful and not knowing what the songs are about, makes me (or the listener) get an emotional reaction.  I sense anger, and a typical album by him is at the very least eight songs.   So, there's room for the music to build up to tension or a release of some sort. In other words, his music is sexy.  

What impressed me the most is his melody writing, but also his arrangements which is masterful, and more intuned to classical than somewhat a 'wall of sound.'   Manset shares an intensity with Jack Nitzsche, but he doesn't work on a big canvas like Nitzsche.  The music or album sounds like a man alone dealing with a demon or two.  Manset does the production as well as the writing and arrangements, so he's very much a solo artist in that sense.   The sounds that stand out is his vocal delivery which reminds me a bit of Jacques Brel in its intensity, and the sound of his electric guitar against the grain of the lush strings.   A remarkable artist, who I gather is popular in France, due that his releases are on large record labels, and for sure needs to get more attention from the English speaking world.  

Thelonious Monk Trio - "Bemsha Swing" Vinyl, 7", EP, 45 RPM, France, 1960 (Barclay)

I found this slightly battered copy of this French 7" EP at Rockaway Records this evening.   These are four songs that were selected from his 1952 recording with the great drummer Max Roach and bassist Gary Mapp.   This is 7" of magic.  Offhand, I'm having dirty sexual thoughts tying this, but alas, I'm talking about the aural pleasure that comes with the name Thelonious Monk.  

There are four songs on this EP, and they are "Bemsha Swing," Reflections" and then go to side two, for "Trinkle Tinkle" and classic beautiful "These Foolish Things" written by Strackey and Link.  Monk wrote the other three and they are brilliant.   There are three great pianists that I'm aware of, one is Glenn Gould, the other is Ron Mael from Sparks, and then there is Monk.   This is an artist who sees music as a piece of sculpture, and what he does is gently trace the melody as if it was on thin rice paper.   I never heard another pianist who had this approach to melody and treating it like a beautiful lover.   

I'm imaging that this EP was once owned by someone like Juliette Gréco, who played it while drinking wine in a juice glass and looking outside her window and watching the leaves fall from trees.  I imagine a lot of things, but I always have a soundtrack to my fantasies.  Here's one of many.