Johnny Hallyday

Johnny Hallyday. Yes, the mere mention of his name makes a lot of people roll their eyes. To hip music fans, he's poison; "Mr. Showbiz."

He’s the “French Elvis”, if by “Elvis”, you really mean Ricky Nelson. Dude is cornball supreme and a national icon. He’s still making news (and records) in France to this day. His plastic surgery makes Kenny Rogers seem like a spokesperson for aging gracefully in comparison. And just as it seems odd to picture saccharine Kenny cutting tunes like the lovely and bugged out “Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In”, it’s equally difficult to picture Johnny Hallyday doing anything truly dope. But, low and behold he did. Like a lot of performers who change musical directions to match current trends, Johnny has some great late 60’s records, when the musical trends in rock turned lysergic.

To be fair, Johnny has always surrounded himself with good players. Like for example, Jimmy Page. Jimmy Page played on two Hallyday cuts from 1967, “A Tout Casser,” an almost funky heavy rock thing, and “Psychedelic”, which is sorta like the Yardbirds filtered thru Davie Allen exploitation movie trash. There’s no doubt it's Page because in the solo in “Psychedelic” he uses a trademark bending lick a la Albert King that he would use a few years later in one of the guitar breaks in “Whole Lotta Love.” Anyways, I have no idea what the lyrics are about. Being that Johnny is about as mind bending as a Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast and that the EP this is from also has a cover of “San Francisco (be sure to wear some flowers in your hair)” on it, I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s not giving Syd Barrett a run for his money... 

Psychedelic- Johnny Hallyday