Serge Gainsbourg ' "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg" Vinyl, Compilation, LP, 2015 (Decca)

This is volume one of a two-volume set of the vinyl release of Serge Gainsbourg's soundtrack work for French films.    It's an excellent compilation for those who want to put their toe in before putting their entire body into the bath water that is Serge Gainsbourg and his music making for films.  For me, it's impossible to have the name Serge Gainsbourg on a disc or CD label that it's essential for one to buy and enjoy.  But in real life, there is, of course, better compilations or albums out there than "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg."  For instance the CD box set "Le Cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg 

Musiques De Films 1959-1990."

For those who are not fussy with formats of vinyl or CD, the box set is the completist choice where one has all the Gainsbourg film music in one container (three CDs in the box set).  For the nerd, such as yours truly, I need the vinyl edition as well.  Don't ask why.  It's a collector's illness if anything else.  But to focus on this particular vinyl compilation, it's a gem.   Throughout his career, Gainsbourg worked with three great arrangers: Alain Goraguer, Michel Colombier, and Jean-Claude Vannier.  All three are represented in the vinyl edition of "Le Cinéma..."  

This is not a greatest hits collection of songs, but a thoughtful approach to his soundtrack work - which at times he co-wrote with his arrangers.   The one thing that never changes is the lyrics - which belongs entirely to Gainsbourg.   It's a solid and delightful collection of music.  If you are like me, this is a springboard or entrance to the Gainsbourg world.  Enter, and for sure you will be spending more money and time locating the actual soundtrack albums or EP's. 

Serge Gainsbourg & Michel Colombier - "Le Pacha" Vinyl, LP, Album, OST, 2018/1968 (Wewantsounds)

This newly released album is the original soundtrack of the film "Le Pacha," composed and made by Serge Gainsbourg and Michel Colombier.  The critical song here is Requiem Pour Un Con, which is one of the classic Gainsbourg pieces.  Easily my top three for four (or five) Serge recordings.  The relentless rhythm is brilliant, and the minimal guitars, with Gainsbourg's unique and unusual voice over the track, is essential listening.   One of the great dance pieces as well.  Nevertheless, the genius of Gainsbourg, besides his literary talents, is his ability to work with arrangers who contribute significantly to his recordings.  Michel Colombier is one of three significant arrangers who worked with Serge, to make fantastic music.  Colombier's talents were used for the late 1960s recordings. 

This release is the first time where all the music used in the film is on vinyl.  The theme of Requiem Pour Un Con runs through the album, and it's fascinating to see how they play with this remarkable melody.  Included in this package are two songs from "Mr. Freedom," a film by William Klein, which one can get through Criterion.   Funky soul, but French style.  Another win-win from the Gainsbourg/Colombier team.  Serge made numerous great OST albums or EP's and "La Pacha" is very much an essential Gainsbourg purchase and listen. 

Sacha Distel - "La La Song" 7" 45rpm EP, French, 1964 (RCA)

The Last of the International Playboys, if that were a social club, then surely French singer/guitarist Sacha Distel would have been a member.   I discovered him through my obsession with the world that surrounded Boris Vian, the author I published with my press TamTam Books.  Distel was a guy who was in the right place, Paris, and to be specific, at the Saint-Germain des Prés nightclubs and had an obsession with be-bop jazz.   Studied under and pal with the great Henri Salvador, Distel played guitar with artists like The Modern Jazz Quartet, Dizzy Gillespie, as well as with top French jazz musicians.  In the late 1950s, he became internationally famous for being Brigitte Bardot's lover, which in turn introduced himself into a favourite vocalist.

When I think of Sacha Distel, it is in two separate compartments.  One as a massive French pop singer star, and the other as a great jazz guitarist.  Rarely did the two forms of music met on his recordings.  For the casual fan, he is probably thought of as an entertainer who sings.   It's much harder to locate his work on vinyl/CD of his Jazz-leaning guitar work.  I went to Amoeba yesterday and found this French issued 7" EP, of Sacha singing  "La La Song," which is not fantastic, but nevertheless a good French pop song.  The other three songs on the EP are based on Amerian songs with French lyrics written by Maurice Tézé, who worked a lot as a lyricist with Distel.   The best song on this EP is J'aimerais Être Là (I Wanna Be Around) which is based on a Johnny Mercer tune.   The real stars of these recordings are the arrangers.  Three songs are arranged by the Boris Vian/Serge Gainsbourg associate Alain Gorgaguer (as well as doing the futuristic soundtrack to the animated "La Planète Sauvage) and Michel Colombier, another artist who worked with Gainsbourg.  For those in the know, when you see those names attached to a recording, it is usually a good sign that they're good. 

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.  

Various - Jean-Pierre Melville - "Le Circle Noir" CD, Compilation, 2008 (Universal Music)

As far as I know, this is the only compilation of soundtrack music to Jean-Pierre Melville's cinema.  I can't think of anything more pleasurable than being in a theater in front of a Melville image/narration.    The word "perfection" comes to mind.  Not only for the mind but the physical pleasure of being glued to one's seat and watching the world of French gangsters do what they do best: drink, rob, and existential dialogue.  

"Le Cercle Noir" is a CD that came out in 2008 that pretty much covers all of Melville's film work.  We have the great theme by Jo Boyer doing "Bob Le Flambeur" as well as the haunted score for Le Samouraï."  For a CD, the packaging is great with a wonderful essay both in French and in English.  Not the easiest CD to find, but very much worth the hunt.  I think I got mine in Paris, which is odd because usually, I have a hard time locating French New Wave soundtracks in that city, even though the CD is made in France.  Japan tends to be the capital of French New Wave albums/CDs. 

ist Hide Credits

		Bob Le Flambeur (1956)
1	–Jo Boyer	Thème De Bob Composed By, Trumpet – Jo BoyerPerformer – L'Orchestre D'Eddie Barclay*	2:32
		Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan (1959)
2	–Christian Chevallier	Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan (Générique)	1:51
3	–Christian Chevallier	Déambulation Nocturne	2:07
4	–Christian Chevallier	Filature	2:00
5	–Christian Chevallier	Street In Manhattan Lyrics By – Jo WarfieldVocals – Glenda Leigh	3:52
		Léon Morin, Prêtre (1961)
6	–Martial Solal	Léon Morin Composed By – Martial SolalHarmonica – Albert Raisner	1:54
		Le Doulos (1962)
7	–Paul Misraki	Le Doulos (Générique)	3:22
8	–Paul Misraki	Jazz Rapide	3:17
9	–Paul Misraki	Final	2:16
		L'Aîné Des Ferchaux (1963)
10	–Georges Delerue	Les Appalaches Composed By – Georges Delerue	4:36
		Le Samouraï (1967)
11	–François De Roubaix	Le Samouraï Orchestrated By, Directed By – Eric Demarsan	2:03
12	–François De Roubaix	Fatalité / La Blessure Orchestrated By, Directed By – Eric Demarsan	3:09
		L'Armée Des Ombres (1969)
13	–Eric Demarsan	Thème De Gerbier	3:13
14	–Eric Demarsan	Le 20 Octobre 1942	1:38
15	–Eric Demarsan	Mathilde / Les Barraquements	3:05
		Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
16	–Eric Demarsan	Le Cercle Rouge	1:50
17	–Eric Demarsan	Quand Les Hommes Ont Rendez-vous	1:08
18	–Eric Demarsan	Final Inédit	4:03
		Un Flic (1972)
19	–Michel Colombier	Un Monsieur Distingué	3:20
20	–Michel Colombier	Un Casse	2:57
21	–Michel Colombier	C'est Ainsi Que Les Choses Arrivent Lyrics By – Charles AznavourVocals – Isabelle Aubret	3:58
		Musique Inédite Pour Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
22	–Michel Legrand	Chassés-Croisés	2:43
23	–Michel Legrand	Visions	2:49
24	–Michel Legrand	Engrenages (Final)	2:21

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.  

Barbara - "L'Aigle Noir" Vinyl LP, France, 1970

Barbara – L'Aigle Noir

Vinyl LP, France, 1970

Philips

My very first introduction to the French singer Barbara was the recording of her song “L'Aigle noir.” That song got me right between the ears. It was so euro-beautiful, and the arrangement by Michel Colombier convey a sense of grandness. Listening to the whole album, it reminds me of Scott Walker. If nothing else, Scott is very much a French Chanson singer than a British/American artist. One would think that anyone really into Scott, would eventually end up with a Barbara album. L'aigle noir is a beautiful arranged album, and it seems Colombier and Barbara are acting in one body.

Barbara had a hard life that resembles Serge Gainsbourg's childhood. Both Jewish, and both in consistent danger during the Occupation. That experience had added a sense of purpose to her music and career. Even though I don't speak French, I sense a great amount of edge in her work. If for nothing else, one has to pick up the title song “L'aigle noir” because it's so perfect in the way it builds and builds.