Jacques Dutronc - "Madame L'Existence" CD, Album, France, 2003 (Columbia)

When I purchased Jacques Dutronc's "Madame L'Existence" it was more out of curiosity than being loyal to the Dutronc brand.   I was aware of Dutronc's music from the 1960s and 70s, mostly due to my devotion to Serge Gainsbourg's music and his world.  Still, I don't speak French, but my love for French pop and literary culture is an obsession that is hard for me to explain.  All I know is I want to explore this foreign world, and individuals like Boris Vian and Gainsbourg were the bookends on the shelve that allow me to wander between "BV" and "SG" and back again.  

I adore Dutronc's 60s recording because it reminds me of a hybrid between Ray Davies' commentary on London culture as well as garage rock.  Dutronc seemed to do music that had a wink to the eye, and one of great wit.  Perhaps mostly due to the lyricist Jacques Lanzmann, who was much older than Dutronc, still, served as his mouthpiece with respect to music.    Lanzmann was in his 40s when he wrote lyrics for Dutronc, which dealt with the French teenage culture, but with a profound wit of an older man looking over the scene.  A critical eye perhaps, but I often think of his relationship with Dutronc must have been similar to the much older Paul Verlaine's tutoring the teenage Rimbaud, minus the sexual relationship of course. 

So, I was very curious to know what Dutronc would sound like in 2003, and what I heard was a pleasant shock.  For one, it sounded nothing like his 60s work, but in fact covered in a layer of electronic mood pop music, with Dutronc sounding not that far off from late Serge Gainsbourg.  No longer singing, but in a mixture of talking/phrasing his words for dramatic effect, it had a slightly sinister quality to the music.  Not sure if smoking or drinking, or even aging, has caused the great difference from within his voice, it still had the spirit of Jacques Dutronc.  

The one song that stays in my mind like a fly being caught on flypaper is "Face à la Merde" (In Front of the Shit), which has a haunting melody, and it does have a Gainsbourg approach to life.   A superb album, and as far as I know the last studio album by Dutronc.   I will like to hear from him sometime in 2018. 

Jacques Dutronc - "Les Play-Boys" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1966/2016 (Disques Vogue)

Jacques Dutronc is up there with the great Serge Gainsbourg, as a cultural force and music-making in 20th-century France.  Since I don't know the French language, I have to just presume what Dutronc's songs are about.  I understand the title "Les Play-Boys."   What is provocative for me is his handsomeness but mixed in with a great deal of humor.  Also, I'm intrigued by his songwriting partner and is responsible for the lyrics, Jacques Lanzmann.  A poet and lyricist.  I believe Lanzmann was in his forties when he wrote songs with the much younger Dutronc, who was in his twenties.  Not a great difference of age these days, but in the 1960s, there was a generation difference between those two decades, and unusual for someone much older, working with a youngster (in theory) to write for the teenage/youth market. But perhaps I'm thinking too much of the American or British, who had a distrust of anyone over 30!

Still, one of the most enjoyable albums to come out of France is "Les Play-Boys" which is 12 songs that seem to be absurd, light on the touch, but I suspect that they are also a deep commentary on culture in Paris and elsewhere in France at the time.   Music-wise, Dutronc reminds me of Ray Davies during the 1960s.  I sense he's very disciplined and focused artist and there is a learned or studied charm in his work.   Like Davies, Dutronc (and Lanzmann) are cultural humorists commenting on the fads ("Mini Mini Mini") and the self-absorption of the young generation("Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi").  Superb entertainment!

Jacques Dutronc - "Jacques Dutronc" Vinyl, LP, 1968 (Disques Vogue)

Soundwise, a mixture of Bob Dylan "Highway 61 Revisited" with overtures to Ray Davies circa The Kinks 1965/1966.   Everything else wise, Jacques Dutronc is an original artist.   Dutronc started off as a session guitarist in Paris, and eventually met up with lyricist Jacques Lanzmann, and wrote many hits in the 60s.   The interesting aspect of their partnership is that Lanzmann is a much older gentleman than Dutronc, and I suspect that his lyrics reflect and make humor of issues that took place in the 1960s.    So there is the edge of two minds working as one. 

"Jacques Dutronc" is 12 songs.  I suspect that this recording is a 12" version of 3  7" EPs.   Every song here is a gem.  Borderline psych-rock but very much in a pop mode,  Dutronc expresses a great deal of fun though his music.   The Kinks reference for me is that I sense intelligence, that is beyond the hit-making process.  Dutronc's visuals on his album cover almost convey a joke, but I also think there is something serious under the joking.   For anyone who even has the slightest interest in French pop, need to have this album.  Dutronc's career is a long one, and his much later recordings are of keen interest as well.  More on that later!