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. 

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.  

April March - "Chick Habit" CD Mini-Album

April March – Chick Habit

CD Mini-Album, USA, 1995

Sympathy For The Record Industry

I ran into this album in 1995 in Tokyo at the Roppongi Wave Music store, which sadly doesn't exist anymore. I saw it displayed in the listening section. As I was hearing it I thought 'what a perfect ye-ye recording. And without a doubt I thought she was a figure from Paris via 1960s. But when I got home in Los Angeles I found out to my shock, that the record label was only five miles away from my house, and that April was... American! After that slight disappointment of buying music in Japan that was made walkable distance from my home in Los Angeles, I focused on the music itself. I couldn't drag the music off my CD machine at the time. What she conveyed to me was a perfect world – a world of my imagination of course.

The production, the voice, the singing – not only from the era of France 60's but even better for some odd reason. April covers Gainsbourg among others, and she truly makes the music her own. Chick Habit is one of the ingredients in my life that lead me to do two books that are Gainsbourg related for my press TamTam.