Tete Carre

Les Alexandrins pt I

2011-12-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today I realized I haven't posted for a long time and I have also never posted anything about Les Alexandrins. Les Alexandrins are a duo consisting of husband and wife, Luc and Lise Cousineau. They started off in the mid 60's as a kinda square folk rock duo, almost like French Canada's answer to Ian and Sylvia. Their first few records are not that great. They mostly contain a mix of folk and more mainstream pop influences, with the type of traditional showbiz string and horn parts that wouldn't be out of place on a Tom Jones or Dionne Warwick record. They basically sound like young people making records for old people (or pretentious college students).

These records are just ok.

I have not heard this record, but I bet it is a little better than the first 2. This song is on it:

However, like Robert Charlebois, when folk rock began to turn into psychedelia, their records got a lot better. I think leaving Capitol Records for Polydor might also have helped. Double Jeu was their breakthrough record in this new sound. Suddenly instead of sounding like they made their record with Sammy Davis Jr.'s horn section riding shotgun, they sound like they recorded in a cold water flat on Mont Royal with a bunch of hippies sitting around rolling jays and discussing the coming revolution. Which is to say, they finally sound cool and like they are making music for people their own age. Like Charlebois, they also enlisted the talents of the Quatuor de jazz libre du Québec in order to help them make the transition from slick folkies to loose rockers. For a free jazz band, the QJLQ were very adept at playing rock.

This record is great!

After this, they only recorded one more single under the name "Les Alexandrins," and instead changed their name to "Luc Et Lise" for their next LP. The last single they released under their old name was "Angela Mon Amour."

This is one of my favorite Les Alexandrins songs. It still has the the sophisticated vocal melodies of their early stuff, but it sounds like genuine rock and roll, as opposed to pop songs that have rock grafted on to them.

Angela Mon Amour- Les Alexandrins

Champale N Wide Lapels: a mix

2011-09-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

1. Ain't Got Time- Lindel Hill (St. Louis, MO)

2. Hard To Handle- Dick Jensen (Hawaii)

3. 1000 People- Boyd McCoy (Rochester,NY)

4. What You Want From My Life?- Natural Gas (Toronto, Canada)

5. Forever Gone- The Mauds (Chicago, IL)

6. I'm Coming To Get Ya- Central Nervous System (Halifax, Canada)

7. Nowhere To Run- The Messengers (Winona, MN)

8. Give It To Me- The Mob (Chicago, IL)

9. Funky- ST4 (Long Island, NY)

10. Did You See Her Eyes?- The Illusion (Long Island, NY)

11. You Could Have Been A Lady- April Wine (Montreal, Canada)

12. I've Cried A Million Tears- Steam (New York, NY)

13. Dance A Little Step- Mashmakhan (Montreal, Canada)

14. Break The Ice- Atomic Rooster (London, UK)

15. Ma Vie- L'Artimis (Montreal, Canada)

16. Hey Mama (What'cha Got Good For Daddy)- Flaming Embers (Detroit, MI)

17. Tout Ecartille- Robert Charlebois (Montreal, Canada)

18. Theme From Ravenwood Burne- Michel Pagliaro (Montreal, Canada)

Hopefully the above picture helps you visualize the vibe I was going for in this mix, because I'm not quite sure how to describe it. There is definitely a lot of what some people call "horn rock" in there. For those not up on their obscure record jargon, it just means bands that sound like Chicago. Though, the horn in this type of rock could also mean this:

I guess the point of the mix was to highlight funky records from people who have no firsthand contact with what "funky" is. All of the songs have singers who are going for some aspect of "soul" in the vocals, with varying levels of success. Now obviously there are some songs on here by groups who actually performed for black audiences on occasion (Flaming Ember for one), but the majority of these bands played in suburban white clubs, frat houses, high schools, etc. As funky as this stuff can get, there is an essential level of unhipness. I mean, The Mob eventually became a Las Vegas/cruise ship show band!

Compare ST4's version of the tune "Funky" with the original by the Chambers Brothers and you have this mix distilled in it's purest form. The singer from ST4's voice conjures images of feathered blow-dried hair, polyester shirts, gold chains, and swinging singles.

And surprisingly, a large number of Canadian bands ended up on here. I actually had no idea Central Nervous System or Natural Gas were Canadian, but after a while it was almost like a pattern emerged. Putting music from Montreal on there was a no-brainer, because Montreal and its music is a summation of the swinging 70's. I am in no way slandering Pag or Charlebois, but sometimes if the shoe fits... I felt like there was enough Quebecois stuff on there to justify posting the mix on here, so here goes...

Enjoy!

Champale n Wide Lapels- a mix of horn rock and white guy soul from the US and Canada by Peter Gunn on Mixcloud

Francoise Hardy pt III

2011-08-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Francoise Hardy released tons of material in the mid 60's. It's hard to keep track of it all, because she recorded in French, English, Italian, and German and had her records released all over the world. The same material was repackaged and recycled for each country, with the US versions being a minor curiosity. How does one sell a cute French girl with an acoustic guitar to American audiences in the 60's? By using lame puns and putting her inside a shipping crate, of course!

Anyways, I have a fair amount of this stuff, but don't listen to it as much as I used to. But, recently something caught my ear. A friend of mine played me the following tune by the Dirty Beaches:

As many people have noted on Youtube and other corners of the Internet, the best part of the song is the piano loop. The rest of it is some stoned low-fi version of Jesus and Mary Chain and Serge Gainsbourg; ie. a dude mumbling in a low voice. There was definitely something familiar about that goddamn loop. I admit, I couldn't place it and let my fingers do the walking. Sure enough, it's a Francoise Hardy song:

I admit the whole mania about this song and the Dirty Beaches song escapes me. The Dirty Beaches song sort of confirms to me why I haven't bothered to keep track of any new indie rock for the last 10 years: it's boring and derivative.

As for the F. Hardy original, it's a nice tune and all, but I guess I like her less arranged stuff. If you do want that song, get the album pictured at the top of this post. It's a great record and contains the following songs as well as "Viola":

The guy in the Dirty Beaches lives in Montreal, so I guess he may have come across the record up there. Or, he could have heard the sample in a Robbie Williams song:

So, this just gets weirder and weirder. Some dude finding a Francoise Hardy record at a thrift store in Montreal and going home and making a silly song in his bedroom is something I can understand (and relate to). But, Robbie "Millenium" Williams, sampling the same record two years earlier? This confuses me to no end. And making a ridiculous video where he is in a fluffy bunny costume? So, is Robbie Williams hipper than the Dirty Beaches guy? Can someone point me to some signposts so I can find the dividing line between mainstream and underground culture? I just don't know anymore... Find out and tell me, I will be home digging through the rest of my Francoise Hardy records looking for loops, yo...

Nanette Workman

2011-06-25T03:08:00.001-07:00

I am kind of surprised I haven't done a post on Nanette Workman yet. I recently gave my mother her autobiography as a late late Christmas present, so that kind of put her back on my radar. Unlike some people who write autobiographies, she has certainly had an interesting life. She was raised in Mississippi and moved to New York after high school and sang in Broadway shows and nightclubs and apparently hung out with low level mafiosi. Tony Roman discovered her in a nightclub and she went to Montreal to make records with him. The records they made are very much patterned after singers like Lulu or Dusty Springfield; polished pop music with a soulful edge. With Roman she does nice duets of "Hey Joe" and "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (the jazz tune made famous by Cannonball Adderley). On her own, she does a pretty cool version of "Paint It Black."

After these records came out she moved to Europe, mostly living in France. While in Europe she recorded back up vocals for the Rolling Stones (on "Honky Tonk Woman" and a few others). She then became a backup singer for Johnny Hallyday and had a relationship with him while he was engaging in his famous breakup with Sylvie Vartan. After that, Nanette returned to Montreal (with her French much improved!) and began making records that straddled the line between rock and r&b. Her most famous record from that period is probably her version of Labelle's "Lady Marmalade", where, in addition to the infamous chorus of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir", she sings the verses in French as well.

My favorite record of hers from this era is the one below:

The cover photo is taken in Mile End's famous deli Wilensky's Light Lunch, which looks much the same today (except you can no longer smoke inside). They only have one thing on the menu (a grilled salami and bologna sandwhich with mustard) and make all their sodas by hand with syrup and seltzer.

Lately, the tune that has grabbed me most from the LP is "J'ai Le Gout De Baiser." It's written by Angelo Finaldi, a Montreal rock session player for Tony Roman and others. The song definitely scratches one of my itches: funky disco rock. The groove of the song's intro is similar to "Soul Makossa", so the proto-disco force is strong with this one. The guitar breaks remind me a little bit of "The Mexican" by Babe Ruth. This tune came out in 1975, so it's a little late to put out a record that straddles genres like this, but Montreal has always been a town for a lot of cross pollination in it's music scene.

Nanette Workman- Peint En Noir (Paint It Black)

Nanette Workman- J'ai Le Gout De Baiser

Pierre Noles

2011-03-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

While Pierre Noles has had a long and interesting career in Quebecois music, and someone should certainly write a whole history of it, I am not sure if now is that time or I am that guy. But, I will attempt to do a brief run down. (Note: I am not stealing that photo, please click on the "Pierre Noles" hyperlink above and get a very cool and wonderful rundown of his various 60's productions courtesy of fleursdevinyl.fr).

The history of the last 50 years of the Montreal music scene tends to lay itself out in a way that certain trends and archetypes reappear again and again. There were only so many "players" in this game and in order to make a decent living, one had to be willing to work within whatever particular style of music that was selling at the time. So, you have people like Gerry Bribosia who started out playing fierce garage rock with Les Miserables and ended up making novelty Dracula Disco records. This is a pretty common Quebecois musical arc as both garage rock and disco were big trends in Quebec. What's relatively unique and interesting about this story is that the same people were making both of the above records. These guys were lifers. There were enough studios and enough of a market that if you were cagey enough, you could make a decent living jumping from scene to scene for decades. So, perhaps it's very telling that one of Pierre Noles' first productions was a French version of "Kookie, Kookie, Let Me Your Comb."

Pierre Noles was actually more multifaceted than most of his contemporaries (which certainly benefits his status of being "French Canada's leading producer-arranger-composer"). While he was producing some of the most infamous garage rock ever with the Sinners, he was also making orchestral novelty dance records aimed at the parents of the kids who were buying those Sinners records. Hit to every field, keep every base covered, uh, never steal third with two outs... They weren't quite "Sing Along With Mitch" level of squareness, but they certainly weren't hip. They were dance records, ("Avec l'orchestre de Strict Tempo") with the dance style for each song noted after the title. Perhaps something is lost in the translation, but though I grasp what a Foxtrot, Cha Cha, or Merengue (saucy!) is, I am confused as to what constitutes a "Triple Swing? Or are we back at baseball metaphors?

He cranked out these records. Many of the bigger arrangers/producers in Montreal did these records. They probably took a weekend to do and were easy money. While they are mostly tame, there are some dance numbers on some of the 60's ones that definitely have an interest to the retro 60's/bachelor pad music/swinging playboys sort of music fan. In fact, Noles was so skilled at churning out these dance craze records, some were even picked up by US labels:

I am picking one of my favorite songs from these records to highlight: the Pierre Noles Orchestra version of "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones. It's a little too wild to imagine Madame and Monsieur "Moral Majority" du Quebec circ. 1966 frugging it up to it, but maybe that's the point? A walk on the wild side, a decadent stroll w/ M. Jagger and his stroppy bunch; their faux Indian swagger filtered through expansive horn arrangements. Anyways, this song is a hit with ME and I hope it fills up all your go-go's and swinging soirees.

Pierre Noles- Paint It Black

Les Lionceaux

2011-01-24T01:18:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I gotta reach into the wayback machine and pull out something from the archives. In this case, it's the LP "En Direct du Bilboquet" by Les Lionceax, something I bought back when I'd buy any record by a band with Les followed by a French noun. And if said band was doing a cover by a popular British "beat combo," well, forget it, put me down for two!

Anyways, so I bought this record for 8 dollars sometime back in the early, heady days of the Bush administration (W, natch) . I bought it, took it home, spun it a few times and then let it molder on a back shelf. I think I may have once played a Kinks cover on there out at a mod night somewhere. It's a live record of British Invasion covers done with a minimum of pep. These guys look like grouchy square older brothers on the cover of the record and they sorta sound like it, too. I know this a fake live record because an audience cheers loudly after (and often during) every song performed.

Recently, I've been shocked to see this record priced for 70 bucks and up, both online and in the real world. Are people fiending that hard for fairly mediocre funky uncle garage rock? I guess so.

In the interests of consumer awareness I'm gonna post a couple songs here. I picked their versions of "I Wanna Be Your Man" by the Beatles and "Gone, Gone, Gone" by the Everly Brothers, because they're less common songs to cover and I think they pull off both songs pretty well. Honestly, this is not horrible stuff, it's just not primo either.

And to my ears, it's not 70 dollar sounds, either. I am guessing the high price on this record is because Les Lionceaux were from France. Bands from Quebec doing this sort of material are a dime a dozen. But, self-contained rock and roll bands were not a big trend in France at this time, so perhaps that would account for the higher value.

This record is available on CD, if this taste has wet your whistle. If you desire more info on the band itself, they have a fairly big web presence. In fact they still play out regularly...

Mourir Un Peu (Gone, Gone, Gone) - les Lionceaux

Je Te Veux Tout a Moi (I Wanna Be Your Man) - Les Lionceaux

Vente De Garage

2010-11-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

While up in Montreal at the end of summer, I had the pleasure of attending a get-together of record collector nerds/fellow bloggers, hosted by Felix of the excellent blog, Vente De Garage. After a delicious meal of hot dogs and Indian food, Felix treated us to some amazing old footage of Denis Lepage's soul band, The Persuaders. For a sorta geeky guy, clearly uncomfortable on stage, Denis has an amazing white soul voice. And his trumpet (or was it flugelhorn? (which blogspot spellcheck does not recognize? WTF?)) playing was pretty ill.

Afterwords, I got to dig around Felix's records, including some that were for sale. There was some really great stuff in there. The four 45's I picked up from him were some of the best records I bought my entire time in Montreal. They were the following:

Masking Sound- Supernil (Les) Masking Sound are from Montreal. They put out a handful of 45's on various labels. The ones that I've heard all have a r&b influenced sound, ranging from funky rock to latin soul to disco. One of them goes for alot of money. It's not this one.

On this particular 45, one side, "Silence", is basically library music. It's baroque and funky and sounds like something DJ Shadow and RJD2 would have loved the shit out of 10 years ago. Tres Trip Hop. I am not gong to post it because someday I might get some initiative and sample it. The other side, "Supernil" (which would have made a great name for a grunge band), is a raunchy proto-disco tune, the type of which I am very much attached to (having done a mix CD of tracks in this vein). There's a female chorus chanting nonsense syllables and going "Ooooooooooooooh" (they also ruin the break in the song by going "Ahhhhh" over it, but I bet I could still loop it on some RZA shit) , fuzzy guitar, a flute part strongly reminiscent of "Hustle" by Van McCoy, and elegant strings. For some reason, the groove reminds me of a sped up version of "Machine Gun" by the Commodores. They play this joint on the Love Boat right after the champagne toast at midnight, for real...

Records like this prove again and again Montreal's currency and crown as the 2nd biggest disco market in North America. Records like this also make me wonder what the deal was with Les Masking Sound, as their records are all on different labels and are spaced fairly widely over quite a few years (judging by sound and music trends). So, while they sound like a pure studio band, studio bands tend not to stay together for 4+ years whilst only making (relatively) unsuccessful records.

Pierre Voyer- Oui. Very cool sort of orchestrated funky pop. Pierre Voyer was the singer for La Famille Casgrain, a soft psych group. But this record is equal parts showbiz schmaltz and funky rock, with bongos and wah-wah guitars competing with (or complimenting?) slick horn parts and lush harmonies. My guess is early Chicago Transit Authority and Blood, Sweat and Tears may have been an influence along with the usual Byrds and Mamas and Papas LP's.

This record also foreshadows prog rock, because it's 4 minutes long, but has about 14 separate parts; endless pre-choruses, verses, breakdowns, and bridges. Then at the end of the song, there's an instrumental outro vamp (and a nice little break... again, I am an asshole for pointing these things out) that ratchets up the funkiness quite a bit. I bought it because I saw producer Louis Parizeau's name on the label and recognized him from his work with Les Sinners. This record doesn't really sound like Les Sinners at all, but it is a really amazing piece of pop songwriting and arranging. And whoever the bass player is, he's killing it.

Les 409- Un Amour Complique. This is an amazing record and definitely one of my favorites that I picked up this trip. It sounds like a Quebecois "Northern soul" record. The arrangement is extremely dense and chock full of dramatic arching strings, and full, punchy, horns. It sounds a bit like the type of arrangements Johnny Pate laced Impressions records with, which is to say it's this close to being too busy and orchestrated to be funky, but of course it still is. There is an urgency and emotional weight to the vocals that evokes "soul", without the posturing and posing that was endemic among most white singers treading in those waters at the time. And the bass player is doing it again. I can date this record approximately, as the other side is rote cover of "Hello, Goodbye" by the Beatles. So, early 68? Seems about right.

Les Preachers-Dis-Moi Si Tu M'aimes. This is probably the most conventional record of the four; a nice slice of funky garage rock in the style of Sir Douglas Quintet. This sounds like it could be a cover song, but I really have no idea. It's groovy, uptempo, and inoffensive. It would kill it at one of those mod nights where girls wear headbands and snap their fingers alot and the whole place smells like talcum powder, but no one ever asks me to DJ at those.

Listening to these now, I have realized that every single song I bought off Felix has a horn section. So, I guess Felix either loves or hates ("horns again?!?! SELL PILE!!!") rock records with horns. And all of these records are funky. So, cheers to Felix for having so many funky Quebecois records that these ones go in the sell pile (And a quick note so you know I am not disparaging his tastes in ANY way, as in a few cases I was buying his trade copy and he had the gem mint one in his home stash).

So, if this was the stuff Felix lets go, you can imagine the stuff he holds on to (I have dreams about the Long Chris LP he owns. I am just happy I got to touch his copy.). Please check his blog often and support his label, as he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve coming from that end right about now... DL links are in the song titles listed above for the slower students in class...

Laughter and Sorrow

2010-09-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

I recently got back from a couple weeks north of the border, including a fun filled frolic at scenic downtown Niagara Falls:

While up there I had the chance to record a couple radio shows with Simon from Psyquebelique and Seb from Patrimoine PQ. You can hear them both at my Viva-Radio archives. Sometimes you need to click on the page twice to see the list of old shows. Viva is a little glitchy, truth be told.

(top secert stuff with Simon)

(Doing the Sepra-twist w/ Seb)

While recording Seb's show in his wonderful swinging pad of records and vintage gear and knick-knacks, I brought up the record at the top of this post, figuring it was certainly old hat to a psych nut like him. To my surprise, he didn't know it, so I figured it was worth blogging about.

Unlike the vaguely effete pop music I have been writing about lately, this track is definitely pure rock n roll. It's a strange sort of record; a fuzzy, tribal build up with vaguely soulful screeching vocals. It's divided into two parts, a simple fade in/out slice that doesn't really help the record out much. However, good luck finding two copies in order to make a seamless live mix (ALTHOUGH I HAVE HEARD THAT THERE IS THIS PROGRAM CALLED SERATO WHERE ONE COULD DOWNLOAD THE MP3 FILES BELOW AND MIX THEM LIVE AS IF THEY WERE RECORDS AND IT WOULD BE AS IF ONE DID HAVE TWO COPIES OF SELF SAME RECORD!).

This song was definitely made to be listened to in one go, not as separate parts 1 and 2. That said, I prefer part 2 (What's up with those James Brown records that are labeled Pt 15 and 16? Also, what's up with those Rufus Thomas records where Pt 2 is NOT a continuation of Pt 1, but a different take of the same song? Really.). The fact that this song was issued as a 45 is funny in and of itself. Songs like this are albums cuts, pure and simple. In this context, 45's, with their self contained 3 minute blocks of sounds seem like greasy kids stuff; relics of a bygone era before Progressive FM.

I am guessing that Pax, not being a humongous label, didn't want to take a chance on a LP by an unknown (?) act. Pax was primarily a 45 label, so perhaps they wanted to stick to want they knew. Or maybe Laughter and Sorrow were like the early Stooges and only had one song.

The song itself is basically just one big buildup. No chord changes, no chorus, no bridge. Just a one chord vamp. In fact, it doesn't even sound like a song at all until about 2 minutes in. And by the time Pt 1 really gets going, it's time to flip the record over.

Pt. 2 actually features vocals, and the singer sounds a bit like a young Bob Seger. He has a nice white soul voice, although you can't really understand what he's saying, outside of faux-gospel shouts of "Give us a sign" and "Liberation!," which sort of get enveloped in the nasty wah-wah freakout going on over in the guitar player's area.

So, I am a big fan. But, I know nothing about the group. I can assume they are anglophones from Montreal, but this just an assumption. Anyone with any info on this group out there? I'm all ears.

Laughter and Sorrow- Liberation pt 1

Laughter and Sorrow- Liberation pt 2

Regine

2010-07-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

Regine's life story is probably more interesting than her singing, which is utterly average. Her voice is flat, unaffected, and anonymous. But, this so-so cabaret singer survived a childhood spent as a Jew during World War II in Paris to become the Queen of the Nightclubs.

Regine was one of the pioneers of the modern discoteque formula. When she became manager of Paris' "Whiskey A Go Go" nightclub at the age of 24 in 1953 (working her way up from coatcheck girl, naturally), she took out on the jukebox and brought in dual turntables in order to facilitate seamless music.

"I laid down a linoleum dance-floor - like in a kitchen - put in coloured lights, and removed the juke-box. The trouble with the juke-box was that when the music stopped you could hear kissing in the corners. It killed the atmosphere. Instead I installed two turntables so there was no gap in the music. I was barmaid, doorman, bathroom attendant, hostess - and I also put on the records. It was the first ever discotheque and I was the first ever club disc-jockey.

For those who don''t know, this set of "Two Turntables and a Mixer" has been the basic DJ set up to this day (although not becoming particularly well known until the beginging of disco in the early 70's). Clubs like Regine's were essentially the dawn of the modern nightclub era. The idea of a DJ providing music, as opposed to live entertainment, was revolutionary. Regine's became a hangout for the international jet scene, and the people who went there brought the idea of a "discoteque" with them back to where ever they came from.

"Everybody, just everybody, knew Regine from these incredibly decadent nights in Paris, which was considered the height of chic by New Yorkers those days," says jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane. "We would dance until dawn to music that wasn't around here back then -- rumbas, tangos, merengues -- and then there you were, heart open and gay, stepping into a waiting limousine in Paris at sunrise."

Oddly enough, many of these "unheard musics" were native to New York, but chances are your average upperclass jetsetter wasn't going to social clubs in Spanish Harlem to dance the merengue or the Twist.

Regine's clientele in the early 60's was rich, well traveled, urbane. She claims her first nightclub (of many) under her own name was financed by a Rothschild heir. Eventually, this cosmopolitan, international vibe enabled Regine to open 25 eponymous nightclubs worldwide. It is worth noting that to cater to this monied crowd, Regine also invented the idea of bottle service, back in the 50's!

It would be natural that the Parisian Queen of Nightclubs would cross paths with Serge Gainsbourg, although I am not sure when or how. All I know is that Regine ultimately recorded a handful of Gainsbourg's songs. From the mid 60's on, it seems like her albums always have a song or two by Gainsbourg on them. Maybe Gainsbourg was captivated by her charm and talent or maybe he figured a donation of a song or two would get him a better table?

The song I picked, "Tic Tac Toe" is from 1978. It sounds comparable to Gainsbourg's own disco era material, albeit sligtly more cheesy and less sleazy!

Today, the nightclubs are gone, but Regine is still making music and apparently has plans to open a piano bar.

Tic Tac Toe- Regine

Isabelle Aubret

2010-06-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know too much about Isabelle Aubret... Well, I mean, I can google as well as the next guy... I guess I mean that I don't CARE too much about Isabelle Aubret. I bought an LP by her because one of the songs had a Serge Gainsbourg writing credit.

Besides being a singer/songwriter of his own material, Serge had a profitable sideline in the 60's writing material for female singers, some of the Ye Ye persuasion, like young France Gall who won the Eurovision song contest singing Serge's "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" in 1965. She also sung Serge's dirty ditty, Les Sucettes, an ode to licking a, um, lollipop. If you're not good at reading between the lines, this blatantly pornographic video clip puts the b in subtle...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bbLU5RITEM

Why the two losers who have uploaded this to youtube don't want the clip to be embedded is beyond me. Your stolen Youtube video is that precious? really? But, anyways, props to dirty, liberated, French culture for showing a bunch of random girls giving popsicles head a good 20 years before anyone in the USA even thought of such a thing... really!

Besides, France Gall, Serge also wrote for Francois Hardy:

Despite not sucking on any popsicles, F. Hardy is about 10,000 times sexier than France Gall in this video...

Funnily enuff, the supposedly sexiest of Gainsbourg's chansonniere's, Bridget Bardot, looks remarkably asexual in the video for "Contact", another Gainsbourg composition:

Sort of a Grace Jones vibe, no?

Anyways, I am no Serge Gainsbourg expert, but I do know the man was a workaholic in the 60's and he churned out songs like crazy, many of which were cut by female singers. With that in mind, I present "Pour Aimer Il Faut Entre Trois" by Isabelle Aubret. Even in these sort of workmanlike efforts you can hear what made Serge different back then. He has a feel for elegant faux latin jazz. This song in particular reminds me a little of some of the soundtrack stuff Lalo Schifren was doing in the mid 60's, but with a nice restrained vocal by Isabelle...

Isabelle Aubret- Pour Aimer Il Faut Entre Trois

Jenny Rock

2010-04-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Jenny Rock is probably the most famous of the Quebecois Ye Ye singers. She starting recording in 1963, but made her name in 1965, when she had multiple hit singles on the charts and was named Best Female Ye Ye Singer at the Festival du Disc award show in Montreal, as well as Discovery of the Year at the Gala de Artists ( a more general entertainment show, as opposed to the music based Festival du Disc).

1965 was her breakthrough year. In addition to her awards, she also opened for the Rolling Stones in Montreal in April of 1965. At that time her repertoire consisted of a mix of covers and originals. For a female singer, Jenny definitely focused on the rawer and more energetic side of things, covering songs like "Johnny B. Goode" and "Walking the Dog." For a Quebecois girl just out of her teens, she had a great feel for R&B, sounding more raw and natural than her French counterpart Sylvie Vartan.

She also had a playful pop side, as evidenced by the following Scopitone clip of her frugging and posing in earnest to her hit "Douliou douliou Saint-Tropez":

In the later part of the 60's, she veered towards more of a rock direction, covering many of Johnny Hallyday's covers of English songs. She covered Johnny's version of "Black is Black" by Los Bravos and her version of Deep Purple's "Hush", is a cover of Hallyday's version, "Mal", albeit much faster, funkier, and wilder:

However, the Jenny Rock material I decided to focus on is the album "Jenny 67" on the Apex label. It's basically her soul album, with prominent horn arrangements and covers of "Cool Jerk" and "Land of 1,000 dances". This album also features a couple attempts to break into the Anglo market, with a cover of "Come A Little Bit Closer", recorded in New York City.

At this time, United Artists was reportedly interested in signing her, but I guess they got cold feet. I can understand why; how much of a market is there for a white, French speaking soul singer? Honestly, she really pulls this material off well, and not just on the upbeat stuff. She handles the deep, slow stuff as well. "Seul" is a cover of "Boys" by the Shirelles and "A Go Go" is a cover of "Cool Jerk" by the Capitols (a song also revived by beloved Boston new wave group Human Sexual Response in the early 80's...)

The entire record is quite good, I just picked these two tracks as a decent representation of the LP as a whole. Incidentally, Jenny is still performing and still doing her old favorites:

Jenny Rock- Seul

Jenny Rock- Go Go

Le 25 Regiment pt III

2010-03-19T01:45:00.000-07:00

I have done some previous posts on 25e Regiment, and I have had a request for a reposting of one of their LP's. Rather than a a simple repost with no new material, I thought I would also post another IMAGINARY EP, this one consisting of Le 25e Regiment's material on Tony Roman's Revolution label. They produced 3 singles for Revolution, which came out around 1969-70 (if my hunches are correct...).

These are some of my favorite singles from the late 60's/early 70's era. Taken as a whole, the 6 songs are a great representation of Le 25e Regiment. There is a nice mix of covers and original material. The covers are of "Venus" by the Shocking Blue and "Evil Ways" by Santana (credited here as "Ballade" by J.Zack and G.Thurston). I have already done one post on the Georges Thurston original "Toute All-Dress", but the other originals are solid as well, with "L'Ange De Los Angeles" being a particular favorite of mine. This stuff has elements of garage, psych, pop (and even funk), yet it's somehow none of the above.

Georges Thurston went on to greater fame as Boule Noir, but this is my favorite material by him. He never seemed this raw again. Which is not to denigrate his later material in any way, but hearing an r&b artist do rock material in this manner is interesting to me.

The other LP I am posting is a repost of Le 25e Regiment's earlier LP. To me, this stuff is OK, just a little uptight and unfunky compared to the stuff on Revolution.

Le 25e Regiment- The Revolution Singles

Le 25e Regiment- Ecology

Claire Lepage pt. II

2010-02-26T01:30:00.001-08:00

While my last post on Claire Lepage focused on her more obscure hard rock material with the band Compagnie, I decided I would do a quicky post featuring material from the tail end of her Ye Ye girl solo career, specifically the track "La Souris Et La Guitare" from 1967.

Sadly, since I do not have this on 45, but on a "Disques D'or" LP, I do not know who produced it. My gut says it was Michel Pagliaro, as it is heavy on the guitar side of things. The tune itself is a delicate, mournful sort of melody in waltz time. I am not sure how to describe it genre-wise; maybe it borders on that "baroque pop" thing people seem to like so much nowadays... You could sort of see it as being a Kinks song circa "Something Else." Anyways, the guitar (as benefiting the title) is quite gnarley, and for a straight pop song from 1967, it's practically Sonny Sharrock... really... If it is NOT Pag strangling those strings, I would like to know the identity of this mystery man...

La Souris Et La Guitare- Claire Lepage

French Hip Hop circ. NOW

2010-01-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

I just got from back from Morocco and Spain, where in addition to getting some local North African music, I also got some French hip hop. None of it was amazing, as for the most part, the production is essentially aping US hip hop standard bearers. However, scattered here and there were some interesting tracks.

First off is an R&B track by Zaho. The song is one of those kiss-off-to-a-no-good-boyfriend tracks that girls have recorded for other girls since Edison cut his first disc. Zaho's persona reminds me a little bit of Pink back when Pink made R&B tracks; which is to say aggresive and tomboyish, whilst still being sexy. The vocal melody on the track reminds me of "Family Affair" by Mary J. Blige, although I can't quite say why.

Zaho was born in Algeria, but presently lives in Montreal. Thus, I feel guilty about putting a mp3 up without her permission. Being that I bought her song on a bootleg mix CD in a market stall in Marrakech, I would wager that it's hard enough for her to make money from music without my meddling. If any of my Montreal readers have any more info about her, please pass it on as I'd love to hear more of her stuff.

Booba is a French rapper who has done collabortations with A-list US stars like 50 cent and Akon. This song, with its dramatic organ lines, owes a debt to Hustlin' by Rick Ross. In this video Booba present himself as a "pimp of the industry" a la Fiddy. The video hos in French videos seem to be of a higher caliber than video hos in US videos. Look out for Booba's snuff smut collaboration with Gaspar Noe in 2012.

Funnily enough the following video by AP du 113 was shot in Marbella and Puerto Banus, right down the street from where I stayed in Costa Del Sol. Below is a picture I took while drinking coffee in Puerto Banus:

Later someone parked a Lamborghini right outside the restaurant we were eating at and passersby did everything BUT film a rap video next to it. The assorted rabble and hoi poloi ALMOST put me off my 30 dollar pork chop.

Why one would leave one's 200,000 dollar automobile in the street when one could park it in the safety of Plaza Antonio Banderas is simply beyond me...

The track reminds me of the production style that DJ Quik used on his recent "Blaqkout" LP with Kurupt, which is a high compliment. This is how rap is supposed to sound in 2010.

That said, the music I got most excited about on this trip was most definitely the stuff native to North Africa, specifically a track featuring Algerian Rai singer Cheb Bilal and Moroccan rappers Group Fnaire. Although both countries are predominently Berber, there have been border disputes and problems between the two countries ever since Algeria's independence from France. As far as I can tell, this collaboration was done partly to showcase commonalities between the two countries.

The video below features Group Fnaire hanging out at the border with Algeria and blasting the tune from a stereo and waving at Algerians on the other side of the border. Pretty cool.

Since people tend to get grouchy if I give them nothing to DL, here is a track by French rapper Sefyu. There are lots of gun noises in it. That combined with a slow BPM, heavy kicks, and fuzz bass tends to be an equation I can't resist.

If anyone has any questions about this stuff or wants to hear more, just drop me a comment... Remember, we're here to help, yo...

Sefyu- Au Pays Du Zahef

Les Classels

2009-12-18T00:42:00.000-08:00

Les Classels are best known as a wacky early 60's pop group in Quebec. However, they had a long career and eventually recorded a disco Christmas song of sorts in the late 70's as Gilles Girard Et Les Super Classels. The song, "Les Trois Cloches", was best known in the Francophone world as an Edith Piaf song. The lyrics are about a vaguely Christ-like birth as far as I can tell... Anyways, Les Classels, in a bid for being one with the kids and whatnot, decided to cut a disco version in 1977 (keep in mind, Les Classels formed in 1962)...

They released a few more disco themed records in 1977 and 78 and none of them are particulary good. I was just posting "Les Trois Cloches" in an attempt to be topical. The instrumental flipside, "Disco Cloches" is groovy enough on its own, though.

However, turning back the clock to the late 60's, Les Classels did release some cool sounding rock stuff, a real hodge podge of fuzzy guitar, horns, and straight vocals. "Je M'Eveille" is a favorite of mine, from the late 60's. It is far better than a record from a band with a square reputation like Les Classels should have!

Sorry for the brevity of this post, but I am about to go on vacation and wanted to put SOMETHING up for December.

CLIPS FIXED:

Tres Cloches

Je M'Eveille

Les Coquettes

2009-11-17T02:09:00.000-08:00

The song Sunny by Bobby Hebb was an amazing piece of pop songwriting. It was essentially an instant classic; a song that was a huge hit for Hebb, and then began being absorbed by musicians from all corners of the globe. There are countless covers ranging from heavy rock to straight middle of the road schlock with many of these collected on multiple newjack compilations.

Often times with cover songs there are particular versions that stand out. Some go through transformations with arrangements drastically changed from the originals. Hey Joe became a fast garage rave-up when The Byrds covered it, and then a year later became eternally set as a dirge when Jimi Hendrix recorded his version.

Sunny lent itself to many types of arrangements, although most versions were way more laid back than the original, which attaches a Motown-esque drive to the haunting chord progression. However, one version out of Quebec makes the original look staid and square.

Les Coquettes were a Quebecois girl group composed of four sisters. I cannot seem to figure out if they were manufactured (as many of their records seem high profile, given the average level of their talent) or a genuine teenage group. Whenever a band consists of nothing but family members, one has to assume extreme parental guidance is playing a factor (see: Jackson 5, the Shaggs), but I admittedly can deduct nothing about this one way or another from the music of Les Coquettes.

Les Coquettes' version of Sunny starts out with a guitar line that owes a lot to the intro of You Keep Me Hangin On by the Supremes, some classy horn arrangements, and a nicely harmonized chorus of the word "Sunny." This suddenly breaks into doubletime full band groove, with a bizarre high energy vocal chant that reminds me of the ones in silly disco records like Get Off by Foxy. The band keeps up the energy with a looney, almost frantic arrangement that is somehow equally garage rock and cocktail bar sleaze (just check out the EZ listening breakdown at a minute and a half in, complete with some mellow jazz flute and, yeesh, that piano run @ 1:53 ). Then, ever conscious of the dancefloor, the record ends with the same cukoo chorus that starts the record.

Sunny- Les Coquettes

April Wine

2009-10-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

April Wine are best known as an arena rock band from the late 70's and early 80's. However before their breakthrough they were just another struggling underground rock band. Initially from outside of Halifax, they moved to Montreal around 1970. To me, this is interesting because it summons up an era where Montreal was a rock and roll town; a place where bands would move in order to have ready access to a large market of college age kids who go out and see live music.

My own hometown of Boston had a similar vibe around that time. It's hard to picture native New Yorkers like Steven Tyler and Peter Wolf moving to Boston to "make it" (with Aerosmith and J.Geils Band respectively), yet that was what they did. Even bands that were based out of New York like the Velvet Underground played Boston more often than their hometown.

The move to Montreal is also interesting because April Wine are a 100% Anglophone band. Whether they interacted at all with the city's Francophone musicians I don't know, but the fact that they moved to Montreal at all says a lot about the size of the city's English speaking market at the time. After arriving in Montreal they picked up a local bass player, Jim Clench, and signed to Aquarius Records, a recently formed local label, that, while putting out mostly Anglo artists, did release a couple singles by ex-Sinners singer Francois Guy.

Their second LP for Aquarius, 1972's "On Record", is my favorite. It's a dirty, dusty, rock record with loads of catchy hooks. It's all originals except for two interesting covers. Firstly, "Bad Side of the Moon", written by Elton John of all people. I am not at all familiar with the EJ OG, but the April Wine version starts off with a Cats in the Cradle feel, before going into some prime early 70's hesher groove.

The second cover is a version of Hot Chocolate's "You Could Have Been a Lady." Hot Chocolate are best known for lightweight disco flavored pop like "You Sexy Thing." To me, this track is still pop, in that way that the years 1970-1972 occasionally allowed some heavy jams to be considered pop music.

April Wine took the tune and sped it up, turning it into more of a rock song. The slinky funk of the original becomes a more straightforward chugging groove complete with one of those "Errryboy put yo' hands togethah!" groovy breakdowns.

Of course, NEITHER version holds a candle to this one:

Digging around the internet, someone has ripped the entire April Wine LP "On Record", check it below:

http://massmirror.com/f66c6d1a6a449a072af3d855f374c87e.html

Jacques Dutronc

2009-08-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

In the 1960's, rock and roll was still a novelty for the majority of the French public. And listening to their homegrown product, it's hard to blame them. There is something about rock and roll that your average French pop singer of the day just didn't get. He either takes it too seriously and sounds like he has a hernia, or regards rock and roll as children's music and doesn't take it seriously at all.

Either way, it doesn't sound cool, which is sort of ironic, as in the countries where the musicians COULD rock, like America and England, French celebrities like Brigid Bardot and Jean-Paul Belmondo were held up as examples of continental cool that was simply unobtainable.

Yet, there was one French singer of the late 60's who could genuinely sing rock and roll in a manner that was both unforced and impeccably stylish. I am speaking of Jacques Dutronc. Dutronc could sing rock and roll as good as anyone on either side of the Atlantic, yet always with a Gaulic cool.

His first song "Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi" was written as a dig at French folksinger Antoine, who was studiously copying Bob Dylan's self involved Folk Rock period. The lyrics go as follows:

Seven hundred million Chinese
And me, and me and me
With my life, my little home
My headache, my Persian cat
I think about it and then I forget
That’s life, that’s life

Dutronc has quite a few early songs where he seems very influenced by Bob Dylan's phrasing himself. He doesn't go imitate Dylan as slavishly as Antoine did, but there is no doubt where his cadences were coming from.

After his first LP, the ersatz Dylanisms faded away, and Dutronc came into his own. Don't let me mislead you though, Dutronc was making solid, original music from the beginning.

In this day and age, his most well known song is probably, "Les Responsable", which has been comped numerous times and is a DJ favorite of mod/go go nights worldwide. It's easy to see why, as Dutronc's performance on this song is amazing. His swagger matches Mick Jagger's and his timing is impeccable.

My personal Dutronc favorite is "Restons Francais, Soyons Gaulois", a hard, heavy, groovy number. I won't babble on to much about the track, but it is funky rock in the best 60's sense of the term. I was overjoyed when I discovered there was a Scopitone for it, but it's fairly bland. Dutronc does look like a pimp in the country estate, though. Too bad the video quality is so poor. Anyone with a high quality rip, please get at me.

Jacques Dutronc - Restons Français

Renee Claude

2009-07-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

Just back from a great week in Montreal for Jazz Fest... Got there on opening night in time to see Stevie Wonder in the street with like 100,000 people, managed to see most of the show from about 300 yards from the stage, not bad at all... There was so much good music going on that week, from Beantown pal Eli "Paperboy" Reed to dubstep producer The Bug, who brought MC's Daddy Freddy and Flo Dan (a personal favorite of mine from the Roll Deep Crew) along with him. Also, I attended a Quebecois music blog BBQ, hosted by the lovely Sebastien of Patrimoine, PQ, and attended by the folks in my Fellow Travelers list to the right, among others.

I picked up a grip of good records and figured I am long overdue on updating. I bought a really good Renee Claude LP, which made me pull out the one I already have. I went through both LP's and pulled 3 tracks from each.

Renee Claude started recording in the early 60's in a traditional chanson style, recording her own versions of songs by French singers like Leo Ferre. She eventually began to move away from French covers and towards songs mostly written and produced for her by Stephane Venne (staff producer at Barclay Canada and the man who wrote the Expo 67 theme song). She was a polished performer, having come up in the cabarets of Quebec City and seems to have played everywhere. She appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1967, performed at both Expo 67 in Montreal and Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan and even appeared with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1970.

The material I am using is from her late 60's/early 70's records on Barclay, all of which are produced by Venne. They are very interesting records, with very sophisticated arrangements that reference both underground rock and mainstream pop. For some reason, they remind me a little bit of Gal Costa's material from this era, thought not quite as experimental. It isn't just the arrangements that separate this from run-of-the-mill chanson stuff, Claude's voice and phrasing is also a cut above.

Renee Claude- Imaginary 6 song EP

songs are:

Combien J'Aime La Vie
La Rue De La Montagne
N'y Vas Pas
Qui a Peint La Terre En Rouge
Salut
T'oublier

Johnny Hallyday Update

2009-06-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ol' Johnny has been in the news quite a bit in the last week or two. Reading the New York Times last week I opened up to the Arts section to see a front page article on the Cannes Film Festival featuring a picture of Johnny and prominently mentioning the film he's now starring in called Vengeance. Johnny plays an aging ex-hitman who travels to a foreign country (in this case, Macau) to investigate his daughter's murder. Sounds cool, but I may have liked it better the first time when it was called The Limey.

It's directed by Hong Kong director Johnnie To and is very much a homage to the 60's and 70's French gangster films of Jean-Pierre Melville, to the extent that To originally wanted Alain Delon, the star of multiple Melville films to play Hallyday's part. Melville himself was always interested in Eastern philosophy and began his film Le Cercle Rouge with a Buddhist quotation scrolling down the screen in silence. Hong Kong directorial icon John Woo called Melville's film Le Samourai "the closest to a perfect movie that I have ever seen."

Check the trailer here:

Also, apparently last month, Johnny has announced his retirement from being Johnny, stating his desire to plain old Jean-Phillipe Smet. He is currently on a 6 month goodbye tour. If this is true, I admire the ironic decision to end his career with dignity. As Johnny says, "I saw Frank Sinatra sing at 80 and despite his immense talent, I was disappointed.” I get where he's coming from. And especially with rock and roll, a genre built on youth and energy. Speaking of, apparently the Stooges are now going to tour with Raw Power guitarist (and current Sony Electronics Executive James Williamson on guitar). Will this guy still be able to produce solos that sound like caged ferrets being poked with sticks?

Anyways, with Johnny in the news again, thought I'd repost my Johnny Hallday mix. Enjoy!

Jacques Duvall, In the Ginza

2009-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

According to the book my mom got me about the history of the French language (which, in and of itself is hilarious, as I DO NOT SPEAK FRENCH...), in France, the Quebecois accent is often mistaken for a Belgian accent. I relate this amusing anecdote as a way to luring my faithful Quebecois readers into learning about a song sung in English (an exception I have previously only made for Michel Pagliaro).

According to the liner notes of the compilation these songs are from, they were "chosen by a jury of 31 personalities from the music world of Belgium's French Community." In fact, the record was made with the assistance of the General Commission for International Relations of the French Community of Belgium. Their insidious stratedy must have worked, as I found this record at a store in NYC and now have a fairly high opinion of French speaking Belgians (including their unofficial worldwide ambassador, Jean Claude Van Damme).

My favorite song on the record is "Casual Feelings" by In the Ginza. It's an amazing track, an arty post-punk attempt at pop with tinges of electro. The opening horns recall stuff like Konk; a skronky approach to the classic disco horn line. The geeks who stood in the corner at high school dances attempt to make a dance song. I can't tell if the drums are programmed or triggered. The snare clapping sound is definitely digital, but the overall feel of the drum is human, like a guy beating a kit, not programming a machine.

Anyways, the song has a very special vibe to it, like if "Enter the Groove' by Madonna was recorded in an art gallery in Bruselles in 1984 by European punks who just got sent a package of Washington DC Go-Go records in the mail. The chorus melody is catchy and epic, without being overblown. The last record of this sort that got me this juiced was when DJ Gilles LeGuen played me the Chandra 12" in 2004 (pay attention bloggy come laters...)

In the Ginza were a French speaking group (just not FRENCH SINGING) from Brussels. I guess they were not well known in Belgium or otherwise, as I can't find much of anything about them. The bass player has his own web page, but only mentions them in passing and and in a somewhat dismissive manner.

However our second subject, Jacques Duvall, has plenty of info online... Has his own web page and myspace and everything... Apparently he co-wrote Belgium's entry into the 2009 Eurovision song contest. He has put out three solo records, but only one during the 80's, as far as I can tell. His track on the Bruxelles Rock comp is not nearly as arty as Into the Ginza, it's way more of a straight ahead white funk/rock workout. If this record had some out 3 years later, it would have sounded like INXS. However, the groove is nice and Jacques pulls off a credible white man funk vocal.

He recently recorded a fairly interesting cover of Leonard (born in Montreal) Cohen's "I'm Your Man" as part of a duet album with Elisa Point. Well, she sings it (and without changing the sex of the protanganist... well, golly what will they think of next?), but anytime someone takes a song from Leonard's Casio period and records it with real instruments, it makes me happy.

Casual Feelings- In the Ginza
Belle et Rebelle- Jacques Duvall

Jacques Desrosiers

2009-04-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

Jacques Desrosiers is best known in Quebec for being a fucking clown. Like Bozo... See?

Generally speaking though, he was known as a comedic actor, in both film and television, starting out in the nightclubs and caberets of Montreal in the 1950's. Working throughout the 60's and 70's, he appears in the famed Quebecois "maple syrup porn" "Apres-Ski" (a movie more known for its funky soundtrack by Jacques Crevier than for any cinematic merits). He eventually settled into the role of Patof, the Bozo of the North, for which he is beloved to this day.

Coming of an age in the caberets of the 50's, naturally Derosiers had singing experience. He seems to have had quite an active recording career, yet as an outsider Anglophone, I can't figure out if it's serious or not. He appears on cast recordings for caberet shows he was in, as well as albums under his own name.

The first of his records that I heard were Nino Ferrer covers (Le Telephone and Mao et Mao, I think) that added nothing to the original. I am still confused by them. Is he slavishly aping Ferrer in a bid for respectability, comically imitating him in a "look at these crazy kids!" way, or merely hopping into the studio to make some quick cash?

Neither record is worth posting here. However, he DID record a very cool original single in 1970, called "Pollution De L'air."

Again, not speaking French, I have no idea if this is a wide-eyed hippy plea or a wiseassed Great Generation retort. Regardless, it's a great song with a loose, natural, funkiness that doesn't always come easy to Quebecois performers! The earnest folky strumming of an acoustic guitar is offset by the showbiz slickness of the horn arrangements... yup, this a record that hits to all fields!

Jacques Desrosiers- Pollution De L'Air

Jean Claude Vannier

2009-03-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Jean Claude Vannier is probably best known for arranging Histoire de Melody Nelson for Serge Gainsbourg. He worked with most of the other big names in French Pop of the early 70's from Polnareff to Hallyday.

However, he also put out some interesting solo records and soundtrack work, the most revered probably being his 1973 album "L’enfant assassin des mouches,” a concept record of sorts. All in all, I think it's an OK album. It certainly has some peaks, but it can be dull in parts. Luckily, the Youtube clip above features some of the better music of the album, performed live for a Yves Saint Laurant fashion show from 1973.

This clip has made the rounds on the internet, but it's certainly worth posting again. Also, thought I'd bump my recent Eddy Mitchell post.

Ce soir c'est ma fête pt. II

2009-03-14T15:27:00.001-07:00

Yes, Kiss and Tell's annual French pop night is here again! Last year was a blast, Melody Nelson played some great stuff, and I got to play Luc Cousineau for a dancefloor... This year I am going to bring everything from Ye Ye to Quebecois disco, with a few stops inbetween. I promise to play Le Rap a Mad Dog...

For those who can't read the fine print, it's Thursday March 19 at Coco 66 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Ce soir c'est ma fête- Les Sound Track

Les Soundtracks are probably best known for their track "STP", which was featured on one of the Freak Out Total comps. They were a garage band from Trois-Rivières, Quebec. They only put out 2 45's, this is the A-side of their first one. All in all, it may be the weakest of their 4 sides, but hey, it fits the theme... Oh, and it's a cover of "Birthday" by the Beatles.

Eddy Mitchell

2009-03-02T00:14:00.000-08:00

< A reader recently pointed out to me that I had no Eddy Mitchell posts, so I thought I would remedy that fact. Eddy Mitchell is a perfect candidate for this blog, in that no one under the age of 50 listens to him. Like Johnny Hallyday and Dick Rivers, his shtick is that of a Francosized crooning Elvis, complete with generic fake Anglo name.

Out of the above three, Eddy's persona may be the most interesting. Besides an enduring Chuck Berry fetish, he is not as "rock" as Hallyday or Rivers, which is to say unlike them he doesn't seem to have been affected much by the sounds of Swinging England. As far as I know, he doesn't have any Mod covers; no versions of Kinks, Troggs, or Animals songs. His steez is probably closest to Tom Jones, with his earnest erzatz "Soul" singing. He even went as far as to record in Memphis with the Stax-Volt session players.

Sadly, even the best session men in the world (from Paris to London to Memphis and back) could not do much with Eddy's intestinal bellow. After his soul period, Eddy eventually settled into a Kenny Rogers lite country period, much like Hallyday. He recently put out an LP on NYC based Sunnyside Records that is a lot better than it should be. He covers Hank Williams and Eddie Cochran and features guest appearances from both Johnny Hallyday and Little Richard. The years have added a pleasant smokiness to Eddy's voice that tempers his delivery slightly.

That said, like a lot of the more mainstream artists I profile, Eddy has a few gems. He has a trunkload of soul covers like Sunny, Tighten Up, Hold On I'm Coming, Hard to Handle, Superstition, and Spinning Wheel. But, rather than focus on his covers (most of the good ones are on the album "7 Colts Pour Schmoll" which I believe is getting a vinyl rerelease soon), I'd like to present an original track.

First of all, I like Moi, Sans Toi, because even a monolingual moron like myself can understand the title. Tres Droll. I think this is basically leftover material from Eddy's London and Memphis LP, a split LP with one side recorded at Muscle Shoals (note: Muscle Shoals is in Alabama and is about 150 miles from Memphis, but he did book Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns on the session if that counts...) and the other with London sidemen like Big Jim Sullivan and Vic Flick.

Moi, Sans Toi is recorded with these same London sidemen and they are consummate pros. These are many of the same players who recorded Histoire de Melody Nelson with Gainsbourg. In all honesty, their side on the split LP is more impressive than the American one, which feels a little bogged down. Anyways, on Moi, Sans Toi, they cook up an effective funky groove, reminiscent of European "Library" records. Over this backdrop, Eddy sounds good; sincere and theatrical at the same time. It's a solid record and I am a real sucker for the change at the chorus.

Eddy Mitchell- Toi, Sans Moi

Le Nouvelle Frotiere, Le Coeur D'Une Generation

2009-02-24T00:40:00.000-08:00

Record collecting is a funny thing. Terms and genres become coined ages after the records they describe were released. No black singers in Detroit in 1966 knew they were making "northern soul," just as none of the white kids a few miles away knew they were making "garage rock."

Trends come and go in record collecting. Suddenly one year, every gringo in the lower 48 wants "Latin Funk" records. After all the good funk records from 1968-72 are discovered, people suddenly are buying "bump/bus stop/hustle" records (personified by The Fatback Band and early Bohannon) or disco 12"s.

"Soft Psych" is another relatively recent term. It implies a distinction from classic psych bands like Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd or the 13th Floor Elevators. Soft Psych bands have the aesthetic and sonic signifiers of acid rock, but with the emphasis on vocal harmonies and without any aggression. Sonic cues are taken from the Byrds, the Zombies, and the Mamas and the Papas.

This style was very big in Quebec. This laid back interpretation of psych seemed a natural fit, especially when combined with traditional chanson balladry. Many older singers like Jean-Pierre Ferland or Les Classels were able to successfully apply bits and pieces of psych to their style. However, in this post I am not going to talk about stuff by cultural carpetbaggers hitching their wagon to the trends of the love generation, preferring instead to focus on some real deal hippies.

Le Nouvelle Frontiere were probably the first successful hippie group in Quebec. They were formed by Richard and Marie Séguin (twins, yo), who had been singing together as a folk duo (a style that seemed to be quite popular in Canada, from Luc and Lisa to Ian and Sylvie...), but decided they needed to plug in like Bobby Dylan and go electric. Their first LP sounds very much like they took a bunch of acoustic folk songs and slapped some electric arrangements on them. This is not a put down, but certainly by the cover of the record, one might expect a real freeform freakout of an LP, no?

Instead one gets mostly melancholy folk songs (including a Leonard Cohen cover) with fairly hip arrangements, but no acid rock to speak of. I recently burned this record for my Dad. Here is his review:

It’s the easy listening branch of folk-rock. Mom liked it too, but couldn’t believe you did. I pointed out to her that all you said was that I might like it, not that you liked it. The Cohen cover was actually one of my least favorite from the CD. I think his voice has a gravitas that goes well with the meaning of the lyrics and the cover is a little too light and airy for them. All that aside, we both liked it.

Their second LP "L'Hymne aux Quenouilles" is not as consistent as their first record, but more successfully incorporates a rock ensemble feel into their folk songs. Confiture Bleue is currently my favorite track from this LP.

Le Coueur D'Une Generation have a similar sound and feel to Le Nouvelle Frontiere which led me to group them both into one post. However, I can turn up less information on them. They also recorded on the Gamma label. Unlike Le Nouvelle Frontiere they aren't composed of ex-folkies, but of ex-rockers, with former members of garage bands Les Aristos and Les Sultans making up their lineup. However, they still sound like a bunch of folkies posing as hippies.

Que J'Aime De T'Aimer- Le Nouvelle Frontiere

Confiture Bleue- Le Nouvelle Frontiere

A Toi Ton Nom- Le Coeur D'Une Generation

Le Publicite pt 2

2009-02-20T02:50:00.000-08:00

Well, this has been an interesting week. Tete Carre got mentioned on the web page for Christiane Charette, who my friend Simon was nice enough to explain is a really big deal. Beats me, I don't even listen to American radio. But, a big hearty red blooded American "HELLO" to all my referred readers from the Great White Gallic north...

From what I can gather the point of interest of the show was that so much of the musical history of Quebec has been neglected and has languished without simple, proper reissues of classic records. Being a stereotypical record nerd who avoids CDs like the plague, I don't know a lot about that, but one can't help but notice the shoddy presentation value of much of the reissue CD's for Quebecois artists.

Many artists seem to not have classic albums available on CD in their original form, instead being represented by Best Of compilations, which omit beloved b-sides and album cuts. Very few Quebec artists have their discographies available in their entirety.

So, your average everyday Quebec music fan does not currently have access to many of the albums he grew up on, unless he's managed to hold on to all his old records. Apparently, at the end of the piece, it's mentioned that blogs are a great source of some of this out of print music. On the web page for the show, Tete Carre, along with mis amis off to the right in the "fellow travelers" section of my links are listed as resources. This is an amazing honor, and it blows me away to think that my outsider interest in Quebecois music gets noticed by national radio in Quebec.

So, with that out of the way, I had better put a post up quick so some of the people pouring in via the link have some reason to return to my knuckleheaded semi-ignorant corner of the Quebecois music blogging empire!

Aut'Chose

2009-01-31T20:56:00.000-08:00

I just wrote a long essay on this band and erased it. So for now, enjoy the video, and let google do the rest...

Les Classels, Les Lutins, Les Sinners

2008-12-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

Well, presently my computer can't record audio, so I am kind of limited to what I can post, so I thought I'd do a(nother) Youtube post. In past year or two, there was been a tremendous amount of great Quebecois stuff posted on Youtube. The clips from the 60's are a great place to start, because that was a great time for fun pop videos worldwide and a great time for Quebecois pop music specifically.

The following Classels clip has made its way around the internet many times. but it's worth posting. I almost feel bad posting this on a blog dedicating to boosting Quebecois music, because the kitsch factor on this one is pretty high. The video begins with Les Classels descending a staircase and approaching the camera. With their bizarre bleached hairdos and matching outfits, it looks like scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still; as if they just stepped off a recently landed rocket ship and were walking on this planet for the first time.

It is neat to see the shots in the amusement park (Le Ronde?) and actually after you've watched alot of Scopitones, you realize that at least half of them are wooden, creepy, or weird.

Les Classels were more of a pop band than a rock band, but bands like Les Sultans and Les Lutins were amazing garage bands by any standard. and these clips somehow capture the peculiarity of their unique fame. On one hand, they were appearing on TV and were covered in the media in Quebec the same way US and UK pop bands of the period were covered in their countries, yet on the other hand, they simply weren't the Zombies or Tommy James and the Shondells and they knew it. They weren't rich and famous, they were just kids in a band having fun, no different than hundreds of other good garage bands in the US. The Sonics may have been as famous in Washington state as Les Lutins were in Quebec, but WA isn't a country. In this instance, the independence of Quebec plays in the artist's favor. They got a better level of regional attention than bands in the US did. Somehow being a part of a "distinct society" gives more cultural heft to your efforts and more immediate access to media. Magazines, record companies, and TV stations essentially sell culture and in a society as unique as Quebec, there is a need for homegrown culture.

The sad thing is watching this clip by Les Lutins and seeing how good their singer is. I me, this kid has it; that X-factor charisma that great frontmen have (check Kanye West's recent SNL performance for an example of simply not having it). No matter how great they were, Les Lutins would never have had access to a market outside of Quebec. English speaking teens weren't listening to French music and at that time France had no interest in all in real, nasty rock 'n roll, preferring the slicker, studio filtered versions of Jacques Dutronc and Dick Rivers. I love Jacques Dutronc and Dick Rivers, but those records were recorded in big studios with slick studio musicians. It's like trying to compare The Litter to the Monkees (and I love the Monkees). Les Lutins were one of the nastiest garage bands in Quebec, though it's hard to get that from that clip. Their best songs are tracks like "Pretty Girl" and "Je Cherche", which of course there are no films of them performing.

I did however find a clip of a present day French garage band Thee Old Babes (gee, do ya like Billy Childish?) doing "Je Cherche." They do an admirable version of it, though they lose points for their bogus European foppery. Bow tie? Sherlock Holmes cap? WTF?

Les Sinners are another legendary Quebecois garage band with a fair amount of clips up, unfortunately none of which fully captures how hard they rocked. This one is close:

It's good, but there are much better Sinners tracks than that. Like anything off the Vox Populi LP (google it!). But, while looking for clips, I did find this:

A present day dance remix of the Sinners song Les Disc Jockeys by a dude called DMA. I have to say, I am feeling this. A disco/house remix of a garage song. Reminds me a bit of Pilooski's remix of Frankie Valli's "Beggin'", though I wish he had gone the Switch route and thrown some crazy basslines in there. But, I REALLY appreciate a guy going to the trouble of making a reedit of a song hardly anyone outside of serious garage rock nerds (95% of whom don't listen to dance music) even knows. Much respect.

Vicky Leandros

2008-10-13T01:18:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you have to love the internet. I got this record by Biky in Toronto, because it looked interesting. It’s half sung in French, half in Greek and contained a cover of “The Letter” by the Box Tops. After taking it home and listening to it, I immediately thought to post some of it here, yet I could find no information on “Biky.” However, some relentless (and lucky) googling revealed to me that Biky is actually Vicky Leandros, who is well familiar to me from, uh, EVERY SINGLE THRIFT STORE IN MONTREAL… I figure without google it would have taken a good 3-4 years to have that Eureka moment on the identity of Biky.

Viky Leandros was a Ye Ye girl of sorts (hair over one eye, perky photo shoots, miniskirts, father produced her material, sometimes went by just her first name…), but with mostly middle of the road material, as demonstrated by her big hit, “L’Amour Est Bleu.” It’s known to most Americans through the instrumental version by Paul Mauriat, as “Love is Blue”, which hit number 1 here in 1968.

It is interesting how Greek singers like Vicky, Demis Roussos, and Nana Mouskouri also recorded in French and often ended up based out of Paris. I guess Paris was the center of continental pop music at that time. On the album I have by Biky the songs in French are upbeat and poppy and the ones sung in Greek are more traditional sounding ballads. I am not sure what the difference is between Biky or Vicky Leandros and if Biky is some sort of persona a la Sheila B. Devotion or a phonetization (“I am bery bery glad to see you, Bicky”)…

My favorite two songs on this record are French covers of English language material. There is the aforementioned cover of “The Letter” done with a slow, funky, horn driven arrangement that I have never heard before. I wonder if the arrangement is original or a cover of some down low American version I am unfamiliar with? The other cover is a fairly straight forward version of “The Question” by the Moody Blues, a definite late night FM standard.

Biky- La Lettre

Biky- Reponses

25e Regiment Pt 2

2008-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

I don't usually like to post whole LP's, but in this case I'll make it an exception, as this record has never been reissued and I only have the mp3's myself. A lucky google search turned up the entire 2nd LP by 25eme Regiment (a/k/a: 25ieme Regiment or 25e Regiment) entitled "Ecology."

I am a HUGE fan of the 25eme Regiment's stuff on Tony Roman's Revolution label. As far as I know, they only put out 3 singles on Revolution. I cannot tell if they came out before or after this record, as far as I can tell, both came out in 1970. I have read online that Ecology is from 1970 and two of the singles released on the Revolution label are covers of songs from 1970 ("Venus" by Shocking Blue and "Evil Ways" by Santana).

However, I THINK that this came out before the stuff on Revolution, as there are funk elements in the Revolution stuff that makes me think it's from at least 1971.

The big suprise upon listening to this LP is that is entirely in English. I do not think it's Georges Thurston singing, but it well might be. It's a nice soft-psych LP with one or two great moments, but I am kind of suprised how average it is, considering that amount of money (in the range of 100 bucks), i've seen it go for. It is interesting though that unlike their French material, there are no cover songs on here (as far as I can tell).

25ieme Regiment- Ecology

Les Sextans

2008-08-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

The Quebecois garage scene of the 60’s was ridiculously fertile; bands upon bands upon bands. Bands that recorded one single. Bands that recorded album upon album. Bands made up of future disco kingpins. Bands made up of future car mechanics. Bands whose records are worth hundreds of dollars. Bands whose records are worth 50 cents. It's basically a bottomless trove of music, ranging from terrible to amazing.

“Il Faut” by Les Sextans has been a favorite of mine for a little while. It’s a nice, sharp pop song with a melancholy edge, straddling a strange grey area between a ballad and an uptempo tune. I’d put it on a few mixes, but I was never sure if it was an original tune or a cover of an English or American song. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I could never put my finger on it. Les Sextans recorded a handful of 45's, most of which are fairly easy to locate. They are probably best known for their cover of Creedence Clearwater's (who were big in Montreal) "Down on the Corner" as "Boulevard St. Germain."

Last week, while going thru a stack of 45’s at a record store in Toronto, I stumbled across the original. Turns out it’s “Sorrow” by the McCoys, an American band best known for their Top 10 hit “Hang On Sloopy.” It seems like there were a few regional covers of this song, as in the UK, the Merseys covered it and had a big hit with. Their version is more orchestrated than the McCoys version, with horn charts and whatnot. However, this was the one that David Bowie covered on his “Pin Ups” LP, which is probably the most exposure the song got.

I can say without reservation that Les Sextans is definitely a cover of the McCoys version, as the backing tracks are almost exactly the same. I admit when I heard it, I was almost a little disappointed, as Les Sextans version is so nice, I had hoped it was an original.

Il Faut- Les Sextans

Sorrow- The McCoys

Montreal Disco

2008-07-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

I originally started this blog as a way for English speakers like myself to get more familiar with French records. When I started record shopping in Montreal, the only name I knew was Serge Gainsbourg. I remember puzzling over album covers in thrift stores, just trying to pick stuff out from the cover. I ended up buying a Donald Lautrec album because he had some great sunglasses on the front that reminded me of the ones Jean-Paul Belmondo wore in "Breathless." It wasn't the best purchase (but, there is one song with a sorta limp wristed James Brown cop courtesy of backing band Les Miserables...). After a while I realized that I needed some more knowledge to guide my purchases, so of course I turned to the internet. April March wrote a great primer to French music somewhere that hipped me to Catherine Ribeiro, Michel Polnereff, and much more. There were also a few Ye Ye Girls sites, the Pink Frankenstein site, and the Slipcure music site. I owe a lot of my French music knowledge to those sites.

And as I bought more records, I discovered great records that were basically ungoogleable. That was my inspiration to start a blog; to highlight records that hadn't been exposed to English speakers. But, I have been surprised by the amount of attention I have gotten from Quebecois readers. I thought I was doing this blog for my fellow clueless Americans, but I get way more readers from Canada. I have been amazed by the amount of great music that came out of Quebec. So, with that in mind I am going to do a Montreal disco post. Two songs with no lyrics, and one with English lyrics, but all recorded in Montreal.

I have touched upon this in other posts, but as a disco town Montreal was second only to New York in North America (there were at least 50 disco clubs in Montreal by the late 70's). The Montreal school of disco was aware of what was going on in NYC, yet even more influenced by Continental European dance hits like "El Bimbo" by Bimbo Jet, "Brazilia Carnival" by The Chocolate Boys, and "Rocket in the Pocket" by Cerrone. There was less of a funk feel to Montreal disco, as it drew on the colder Eurodisco, yet the percussion was often the equal of records coming out of New York and Philadelphia. Artists like Gino Soccio and Lime made Montreal disco famous worldwide, yet they don't tell the whole story.

First up is "Wow" by Andre Gagnon. Andre Gagnon started out as a classical piano player, who put a bunch of fairly crappy classical and faux jazz records (like Keith Jarrett Lite), until finally doing some decent pop-disco records. You will find at least one of his records in every single record store in Montreal. "Wow" is my favorite, from the "Neiges" LP. It has all the elements I like about Eurodisco: heavy percussion, a driving bass line, and ridiculous melody.

"Free Move" by Bribosia has the same bass line as "Wow" and an even cheesier melody, but, the percussion breaks are just sick. Bribosia is Gerry Bribosia, who played in Les Miserables (a Quebecois garage band of some renown, who also backed Donald Lautrec on the album I mentioned above) and then ended up, like so many Montreal musicians of the 60's, producing some disco records in the late 70's ("Dracula Disco", perhaps inspired by "Soul Dracula" by Hot Blood, was his big hit).

Lastly, "(Everybody) Get Dancin' by the Bombers also has the same general bassline and rhythmic feel as the above two tracks. It also has a beautifully transcendent vocal melody that reminds me a little bit of tracks like "There But For the Grace of God Go I" by Machine or Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up." The Bombers were produced by Pat Desario, who is heavily fetishized in rare disco circles for his "Dogs of War" LP. Almost all of the Bombers records were issued in the US on West End records in New York and they turn up often in NYC disco collections. Their version of Babe Ruth's "The Mexican" (the song where Montreal prog-rock love and NYC B-Boy breakheads meet...) was a club hit in NYC and may have inspired the version by Jellybean Benitez.

Wow- Andre Gagnon

Free Move- Bribosia

(Everybody) Get Dancin'- Bombers

Lara and Hardy

2008-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

I don't listen to a lot of folk music and I listen to even less female folk music. The sound of Joan Baez's voice makes me want poke my ear drums out with the closest available sharp object.

However, in the early 70's, there was a certain strain of post-psychedelic female folk music that I adore. Eerie, spooky, WITCHY music. Music for the Manson girls. Stuff you can listen to while smearing menstrual blood all over your face by the light of the full moon, perhaps with a kitchen knife clenched between your teeth…

Dig the cover on the Catherine Lara record. SPOOOOOOOOOOOKY! Anyways, Catherine Lara was a classically trained violinist who went pop, as it were. Well, pop for the early 1970’s, when a movie like the Exorcist was a hit… “Morituri” was the hit from this record, but it isn’t my favorite track on here. I really like "Avant Le Petit Jour", but the entire record is pretty great. Somehow it reminds me of Leonard Cohen's records from this time, stuff like "New Skin for the Old Ceremony." It's the type of album where you listen to the entire thing and you absorb it as a whole, as opposed to picking out individual tracks. Sadly, all of her records after this aren't as good and range from "almost as good" to "very terrible"...

Francois Hardy is not really that creepy or witchy at all. However, she did call in witchy reserves for her record “Viens’ (also known as “Le Question”), in the form of Brazilian guitar player Tuca, who co-produced this record. This record has way more of a spiritual feeling to it than any other Hardy record I have ever heard. The instrumentation is very sparse, mostly just nylon string acoustic guitars and the occasional bass backing track. Very tropical and mellow (how unGaulic!). My favorite track on here is "Bati Mon Nid", which is seriously one of the best songs I have heard in the last 5 years. So fucking haunting.

Francois Hardy- Bati Mon Nid

Catherine Lara- Avant Le Petit Jour

Toubabou

2008-05-31T00:20:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things about Montreal is that is the least uptight place within 350 miles of NYC. People are not constantly scurrying about, they spent a lot of time sitting in cafes, loafing on patios, and generally hanging out.

However, Montreal has an extremely high percentage of terrible, terrible hippies. White dreads, cargo pants, nose rings, body odor. I was gonna post some funny hippy pictures and say mean things, but then I decided I was too mature for that...

If you want to go hippie watching in Montreal, you can easily start at Tam-Tam. Tam-Tam is a drum circle, you know like in the parking lot before a Grateful Dead show? Kinda like that… A lot of people grooving to the music, doing interpretive dances, and playing with complicated juggling thingies and generally being much happier about being alive than I've ever been...

If anyone knows what either of those things are, please e-mail me, I am thoroughly baffled…

Toubabou is a band led by one of the founders of the Tam-Tam, Michel Seguin. Naturally, he plays percussion in this ensemble. Toubabou was essentially an off-shoot of the Ville Emard Blues Band, sharing many members (including Seguin) and a similar stoned vibe and a love of genre blending improvisations. Toubabou was formed for a live concert on the Plains of Abraham, south of Quebec City in August of 1974. Seguin assembled a group around the nucleus of the V.E.B.B. and also brought in drummers from Mali and Senegal, giving the proceedings a heavy rhythmic flavor. The concert was recorded and released as Toubabou’s first LP, “Le Ble et Le Mil.”

By the time Toubabou recorded their first studio LP in 1975, I believe the African drummers were no longer present and were replaced by Haitian drummer Georges Rodriguez. However, the record is much cleaner and tighter than the live LP, with more focused energy and less rambling. Of course, a little of the magic of improvisation is lost, I kind of wish they had an inbetween album, but they don’t…

Every single song is loaded with tons of great hand drums. The music framing these frequent drum excursions is sort of a fake afro-beat with a heavy prog bent (boy, that sounds like something that should either intrigue the hell out of you or send you running to the hills).

There aren’t much in the way of vocals, just some chanting and moaning on the crazy intense songs and some wordless wailing on the more mellow ones. It sorta sounds like a more New Age version of the singing Flora Purim does on those Return to Forever albums. The female singer is Lisa Cousinou, more well known for her work with her ex-husband Luc Cousineau as Les Alexandrins, and later as Luc et Lisa.

Though I dislike hippies, I love psych, funk, and afro-beat. And like a stoned, smelly, shoeless, spinning hippie, nothing makes me happier than heavy bongos and drums. With that in mind, toke one up and turn this up LOUD.

Toubabou- J'Freak Assez

Johnny Hallyday Pt. III

2008-04-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

So, after doing two posts on him, I have decided to get Johnny Hallyday out of my system once and for all by doing a Johnny Hallyday mix. It spans about 10 years, from the early 60's to the eraly 70's, with the bulk of it coming from 1966-69. Hallyday's recording career spans from 1960 to today, so I am sure I am missing plenty. I am most curious about his early 70's stuff, I bet he's got some glam rock gems I don't know about.

Hallyday has a strange presence in the world, as he is an icon in France, yet he is unknown in the English speaking countries that birthed the rock and roll lifestyle he based his career on. As this excellent article on Hallyday notes, can you REALLY be a "rock star" if in the US or the UK no one has even heard of you?

I recently read an article about a type of Japanese cooking called "yoshoku", which consists of Western dishes like spaghetti or hamburgers made over into Japanese food. "Spaghetti Napolitan" is cooked spaghetti rinsed in cold water, then stir-fried with vegetables in ketchup. Yoshoku has evolved into a major part of Japanese diets and is considered a sort of comfort food with Yoshoku dishes making up the bulk of the menus at Japan’s biggest family restaurants, like Denny’s. As the article states: Until the economic boom of the 1970’s and 1980’s, yoshoku was the only version of Western food known to many Japanese. Ingredients to make authentic French or Italian dishes were simply unavailable. Before expressions like “pasta” and “al dente” became known in Japan, there was only Napolitan spaghetti or “spaghetti with meat sauce.” Johnny Hallyday is sort of like Yoshoku.

“Probably this thing called ‘yoshoku’ is difficult to grasp from a foreigner’s perspective,” said Tatsuya Yokokawa, an executive at Shiseido Parlor. “If it’s not traditional Japanese cuisine, and it’s neither French nor Italian, they’re thinking, What is it? And so they’re unlikely to give it a try.”

Johnny is neither American soul music or British rock and roll, yet neither is he Jacques Brel. Instead he's American and England put thru a French prism. Johnny takes all these foreign things and makes them comfortably French. Look at the picture of him with Sarkozy, they are two peas in a pod; the American rock star and the American politician (or is it the American biker and the American businessman?). Just as no American politician would vacation in New Hampshire, very few American rock stars are as cartoonish as a Hallyday.

And just as ketchup flavored rice would disgust your average American fast food consumer, Johnny Hallyday confuses your average English speaking rock fan. The key is not to expect Johnny to make US rock and roll and enjoy him for what he is. As a singer, he ranges from quite good to very terrible; a gaseous bellowing caricature of the concept of "soulful expression". As Hallyday's longtime guitarist Mick Jones (later of Foreigner) relates in a 1994 interview:

"At one point, Johnny decided he wanted to do a soul album. So I went over to the States to record the backing tracks with Otis Redding's band, to which Johnny would later add his vocals. When Otis heard that Johnny was covering some of his songs, he flew to Paris and sat in on the sessions. That was unbelievable, hilarious! Otis would look at me and say, 'How we gonna help this guy get some soul?' "

The backbone of the band for most of this material is Jones and Tommy Brown, two English musicians who were the core members of the Blackbirds (Hallyday's band from the mid 60's until the early 70's, sometimes spelled "Blackburds"). As well as playing guitar and drums respectively, they handled many of the arrangements. Other British musicians played on Hallyday's records, such as Jimmy Page on "Psychadelic" and "A Tout Casser" and the Small Faces and Peter Frampton on his "Rivière... Ouvre ton Lit" LP. The most overtly Small Faces track on there is "Amen", where Hallyday even apes Steve Marriot's vibrato laden singing style. It is by far Hallyday's best LP. Besides that, he has ALOT of cover songs that may seem pointless to an English speaker, as they are invariably inferior to the original. However, I did my best to pick the better ones and believe it or not, this mix of over 70 minutes long. Enjoy.

TRACKLIST:

les bras en croix
c'est mon imagination (just my imagination)
le penticier (house of the rising sun)
le jeu que tu joues (with a girl like you)
je crois qu'il me rend fou (such a fool for you)
promenade dans la foret du brabant
les coups (uptight) (live)
mal (hush)
je suis seul (what is soul) (live)
absolument hyde park (blackbirds only)
psychedelic
voyage au pas des vivants
je n'ai besoin de personne
a tout casser
riviere... ourve ton lit (live)
hey joe
amen
cheval d'acier
je te veux
a tout casser (live)
le feu
son amour pour un jeu (strange shadows)
l'amour d'ete (love me tender)

DOWNLOAD

Madeliene Chartrand

2008-04-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Just back from Montreal with a pile of records, so hopefully I will update a bit more often in the coming months... (my long threatened Dick Rivers post may at last come to fruition) but, for now yet another quick youtube post.

"Ani Kuni" by Madeleine Chartrand is probably best known for being on the ridiculously excellent "Freak Out Total" compilation, assembled by Satan Belanger. As far as I know, it's the exception to the rule on that compilation; a genuine pop hit (in Quebec) amongst a pile of super rare orchestrated psych gems.

The song itself is based on a Native American (or First Nation as they say up north) song, adapted and given a heavy rock treatment by Tony Roman. The arrangement features electric sitar prominently, a riff on the nature of "Indian" perhaps? HOW META! It's from 1973 and features heavy, plodding glam rock drums in the vein of Gary Glitter, et all. Check it...

I am guessing that is the back of Tony Roman's head at the begining. The video itself is bare bones, Madeleine looking pretty foxy in a vaguely offensive "Indian" get up... Oddly enough, I can't find much background information about her. I know she was a Tony Roman discovery and I have one duet 45 she recorded with Georges Thurston after he left 25eme Regiment, but before he started Boule Noir. One side is sort of twee pop, but the other is nice sort of country rock hybrid called "Prenons Notre Temps." The song is an adaption of a song written by Roger Greenway and Roger Cook, but I am not sure what the original is. Again, the song itself is nothing special,and basically only of any interest whatsoever if you either know of Georges Thurston and Madeleine Chartrand's other work. So, "Ani Kuni" for the dabblers and this one for the nerds...

Prenons Notre Temps-Madeleine Chartrand and Georges Thurston

Ce soir c'est ma fête

2008-03-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

Well, not MY fête, but a party i am djing at... expect whole heaps of the music I blog about... Wednesday April 2nd, for any and all in the greater NYC metro area...

Syvie Vartan, Les Hou Lops, Bruce

2008-03-07T01:13:00.000-08:00

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was originally recorded by the Supremes. The song is driven by a fast stomping beat and an insistent guitar hook that sounded like the ringing of faraway bells. It was a moderate hit for them, coming in the middle of a string of number one hits like “Stop! In the Name of Love”, “Baby Love”, “Love Child”, and “Someday We’ll Be Together", and not standing out amongst them one way or another.

France’s foremost female soul singer of the time (one of those “in the kingdom of the blind…” scenarios) Sylvie Vartan recorded a cover soon after the release of the original on which, to her credit, she does a pretty credible imitation of Diana Ross’ patented bloodless blank delivery (Diana = the original Rihanna). Sylvie Vartan was one of the chief exponents of the Ye Ye Girl style, recording high energy girlish pop music. She was famously married to Johnny Hallyday, a relationship that made them the king and queen of French pop. Like myself, she is half Hungarian.

ANYWAYS, One year after the Supremes version, the white Long Island rock band Vanilla Fudge covered the song on their debut LP, which consisted entirely of their versions of other peoples materials reworked as heavy rock. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is the stand out track on the album, with the song slowed down to almost halftime and turned into a dirge. Whereas the original had been light as air with its soaring vocals and guitar, the Vanilla Fudge version sounded literally HEAVY; weighted down and stuck in the mire. Oddly enough, this version was a underground FM radio hit and, more importantly to our story, resonated with musicians as well. A Motown tune from a few years back had been given a new lease on life. The Box Tops and Wilson Pickett both recorded versions with arrangements that were near identical to the Vanilla Fudge version, with prominent organ, thunderous chord hits and pounding drums replacing the ethereal guitar of the Supremes version.

The Vanilla Fudge version resonated in Montreal as well. Perhaps by slowing down the song and bringing out the drama in it, they somehow rendered it gallic. My armchair pop sociology aside, they were at least two covers by French Canadian groups. One was by Les Hou Lops who were winding down their career at that point. Like many Quebecois rock bands, they started out as an instrumental group inspired by the pre-surf rock of Duane Eddy, The Ventures and The Shadows. In the early 60’s as the Beatles hit, they begin doing vocal numbers and shifted into a Classels inspired group of bleached blondes known as the Tetes Blanches. Sadly, I could find no pictures. But, could someone who was there please tell me what was up with Quebecois bands and freakishly bleached pompadours?

Les Hou Lops released quite a few mid 60’s singles, that while not quite as crazy as Les Lutins or Les Sinners, were certainly nice, solid rhythm and blues based rock. As rock moved away from R&B, they cut a psychedelic album, covering Deep Purple (via Johnny Hallyday), Cream, The Box Tops, Jimi Hendrix, and Bach (via Jethro Tull), as well as the aforementioned “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” Their version may just be the wildest Hou Lops song, complete with a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG spacey chord intro (setting the mood, dig?) before finally releasing the tension with the full band pounding out the opening chord hits. Oh, and then there is a crazy backwards part. They never reach that level of FREAK OUT TOTAL that the best psych bands do, but for a bunch of semi-geezers hitching a ride on the bandwagon, they are pretty fucking rocking.

The second Quebecois version is by Bruce, a/k/a Bruce Huard, the former lead singer of Les Sultans.

Les Sultans were probably the biggest band in Quebec from 64-67 and deserve their own post. They covered a lot of great British Invasion stuff by the Kinks, the Zombies and Van Morrison’s Them, as well as doing a great (but sort of superfluous) cover of Michel Polnareff’s “La poupee qui fait non.” After they split, producer Denis Pantis brought Bruce into his stable and groomed him in a similar manner as he had Michel Pagliaro. In fact, Bruce’s first solo LP came out around the same time as Pagliaro’s and follows a similar formula: a blend of light rock covers (the Beatles AND Lou Rawls) designed to appeal to both old and young and give Bruce a more serious audience as a singer skirting the edges of Chanson style. As such, his version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is more mannered than Les Hou Lops. Actually out of all the versions that use the Vanilla Fudge arrangement, it's the most normal. That’s not to say I don’t like it. I actually might prefer it the Hou Lops version as the arrangement and vocals are just so tight. It's dramatic while still being poppy and unpretentious.

Anyways, you can decide for yourself… 3 French versions of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”… Enjoy.

Sylvie Vartan- Je N_ai Pas Pu Resister

Bruce- Laisse Moi

Hou Lops- Tu Me Gardes En Suspens

Plastic Bertrand

2008-02-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

In America, Plastic Bertrand is probably known only for his punk spoof song "Ce Plane Pour Moi," which unbelieveably cracked the top 50 here. However, in the French speaking world, his career continued, albeit with little credibility. According to his website, he has sold 20 million records worldwide. Ponder that as you go to sleep tonight.

Although "Ce Plane Pour Moi" sounded like a 1977 punk record, Bertrand did not release many more punk songs, instead developing a pop persona as a goofball chameleon. He jumped through styles and genres in a gleeful parade of parodies, pastiches, and homages. Basically Beck should be shouting him out INSTEAD of Serge Gainsbourg (I call 'em as I see 'em, Beck...)

Listen to the song "Ouais, Ouais, Ouais, Ouais", with its jumpy ska rhythms (no doubt stolen from the 2 Tone sounds of Madness and the Specials) inexplicably overlaid with some faux-raga sitar. Does that not stir to mind the inexplicable banjo solo on Beck's song "Sexx Laws"???

His "rap" song "Stop Au Encore", is rap in the new wave manner of songs like "Rapture" by Blondie and "Wot" by Captain Sensible. That record was huge in the disco boomtown of Montreal, still turning up in the used bins of every store in town to this day. Shortly after the success of "Stop Au Encore", Bertrand toured Canada backed by a group of French Canadian musicians including guitarist J.P. Lauzon, who played on and arranged my favorite Jean-Pierre Ferland LP "Les Vierges du Quebec." Note also on the poster below, the opening act for his Montreal show "Bill", whose hit "As-Tu du Feu?", is a parody rap number as well. Must have been one hell of a night!

Another favorite of mine is "Tout Petite La Planete", a cold robotic disco song with a heavy Kraftwork and Giorgio Moroder influence that looks toward the icy electro of Gary Numan. This and "Stop Au Encore" were both released as 12" disco mixes, which go for a surprising amount of money. I am still looking for the 12" of "Stop Au Encore", holla at me if you've got a spare!

Plastic Bertrand is apparently releasing an album this month.

Plastic Bertrand- Tout Petit Le Planete
Plastic Bertrand- Ouais, Ouais, Ouais, Ouais

Serge Gainsbourg

2008-01-07T01:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, another youtube post... hey, i've been busy, what can i say? Plus, it seems a great way to do a Serge Gainsbourg post, as it almost amazes me i have not done one yet. If James Brown was my entrance into funk music (or Dizzee Rascal my entrance into grime), Serge was my doorway into French music. I can't really recall what or where my first exposure to Serge was. Maybe hearing one of Mick Harvey's Serge cover records on college radio? I'm really not sure. There was a period in the late 90's where suddenly Gainsbourg's name was bandied about in just-under-the-radar pop culture, a name to be casually dropped in interviews and best-of lists. It seems strange now that I can't remember, as for a long period of time, Serge was the only French singer of the rock-era that I could name. I just remember reading and hearing enough about him to be really intrigued.

I finally got some a Serge record on a trip to Quebec City in winter 1998/99. I was really impressed and haven't looked back since. In an effort to remedy my lack of attention on the man who made it all possible, I present "Requiem pour un con."

This is one of my favorite Gainsbourg songs and one I came across fairly late, as it is a semi-obscure soundtrack cut. While Serge has other songs that have a strong rhythmic feel, or that have breaks or been sampled, this is his funkiest track. It was reissued on vinyl a few years back as part of a bootleg series of Serge's film music.

The video itself is awesome. I love the whole "band playing in the studio" thing going on, it reminds me of "The Harder They Come." It's great to see Serge performing on actual film. I know he acted in many roles, but I have never seen any musical clips of him performing with such high production values. He has a twitchy magnetism, that I haven't seen in other clips of him, that reminds me of Bob Dylan...

Pagliaro: A Second Helping

2007-12-02T01:45:00.000-08:00

This post contains a first for this blog: it’s about two songs sung entirely in English. But fear not Quebecois separatists and Francophile fetishists alike, there is good reason. For, despite having devoted two posts to him already, I have decided to do a third post about Michel Pagliaro. After looking at my visitor stats, I have realized that a large number of my visitors are Pag fans and it’s time to give the people what they want.

I am consistently in awe of how many different musical projects Pagliaro was involved in during the late 60’s and early 70’s. From improv freakouts to orchestrated pop music (as well as doing song writing and production for other artists), his name seems to pop up under the strangest circumstances. Thanks to the thorough discography listed over at Pagliaro.ca, it is possible for the casual fan to track down many Pagliaro rarities, providing one has the money and the inclination. However, even the nerdiest trainspotter overlooks things and until I bought this record blindly for 10 cents one summer day (hope you enjoy the crackle), I was not aware of its existence.

I was flipping through records, and noticed Pagliaro's name in the songwriting credits on both sides of a beat up 45 with a pretty groovy looking label. I also saw that longtime Pag producer George Lagios was credited on both sides of the record as well. Sold! Pagliaro.ca confirms that it is indeed a Pag side project, one of his first attempts to break into the English language market.

The B-side,“I Wanna Turn You On”, is my favorite of the two sides. It has a groove similar to “Journey to the Center of Your Mind” by the Amboy Dukes, but with more of a prog-pop feel, (there is some FUNKY FLUTE in the best Ron Burgundy 70’s style all over this track) which makes sense knowing how big progressive rock was in Quebec. The lyrics make it clear that by the time this record was released in 1970, psych was a thing of the past:

We don’t need no hippies, cause we got too much soul
We don’t need no money, cause we got too much soul

I have been taking this as my personal mantra lately, as I neither have money and nor like hippies.

The A-side “We’re Dancing (‘til It Blows Over) has more of a laid back funky groove to it, with drums that are positively in the pocket and vocals that sound a lot like Brad Delp from Boston. This is topped off with a chorus that has some sort of post-Vietnam generation hippie hangover feel to it:

We’re dancing til it blows over, we might dance forever

Taking in mind the whole downer the entire Western world was on at this point culturally, and the particular confusions of FLQ-era Quebec, the head-in-the-sand sentiment of the lyrics has a real poignancy to it. After a worldwide violent and revolutionary period in the late 1960’s, there was an active and almost nihilist desire to somehow escape in early 70’s pop culture (which of course lead to punk, which was a desire to escape FROM early 70’s pop culture…).

I love the entire song BUT the chorus. The whole track has got a great groove, the vocals are nice, but something in the chorus melody is too "AM Gold" for me. It sounds like the soundtrack to Travis Bickle shooting out his TV screen.

And, (allow the pun), there was no second helping from The Second Helping, they disappeared after this single as Pagliaro focused on his rapidly burgeoning solo career. The A-side of this record, “We’re Dancing…”, did appear in French on Pagliaro’s last album for RCA in 1974 as “Viens danser.”

The instrumental track is the same, with the vocals simply redone in French. Surprisingly, the record does not sound dated; if anything it anticipates the type of tight, funky rock that Aerosmith and others would produce throughout the 70’s.

Second Helping- We're Dancing('til It Blows Over)
Second Helping- I Wanna Turn You On

Le Mouvement de Liberation de la Femme

2007-11-16T02:31:00.000-08:00

I have noticed that many of my readers tend to respond more to my weirder posts (see: Mad Dog Vachon). With that in mind, and because I cannot find the goddamn record I intended to write about, I present Le Mouvement de Liberation de la Femme.

Even though I can't understand French, I will bet dimes to doughnuts that the lyrics to this track are hilarious. I mean, they just cannot NOT be funny. The song itself reeks of that era of unshaven female armpits we call the early 70's, when Helen Reddy's "I am Woman" was a chartbuster and sisters all over were doing it for themselves (often with acoustic guitars).

The song is titled "Quand Les Hommes Seront Liberes", which I am guessing means something along the lines of "When the men are liberated", so I suppose all the wacky sound effects and repartee in the song are humorous jibes at us menfolk. I can dig it though, especially when presented with such rosy-cheeked gusto and a vaguely funky backbeat...

My good friend Google turns up absolutely nothing on the record itself, but a great deal on the actual Mouvement de Liberation de la Femme, which, I would hazard a guess, is French for "Women's Liberation." This included a "Criticism of the New American Left" originally written in French that is really really funny when put into English thru Babelfish.

The songwriting credits are for "M. Saintonge, P.Beauchamp, P.Noles." I don't know who P. Noles is, but P. Beauchamp must be Pierret Beauchamp, a singer of some renown in Quebec (Fun Fact: She was one of 16 children), with a career dating back to the 50's, doing material ranging from Latin to Country. I know very little about her, but for some reason after hearing this song I picture her going home and telling her husband to cook his own damn dinner.

The "M" in M. Saintonge stands for Monique (god bless retrojeunesse60 for this info). Ms. Monique Saintonge is still performing to this day, and if my understanding of her webpage is correct, for a price she will perform at your corporate get together, school or church event, or general shindig. I do know she gets along with her husband; he's her soundman. If I were the chairwoman of the Concordia chapter of N.O.W., I would start saving my nickels and see if I could coax Ms. Saintonge into performing "Quand Les Hommes Seront Liberes", possibly while burning Don Cherry in effigy.

For the trainspotters in the house, the record is on a label called "Le Diable-Musicien", distributed by the more familiar Trans-Canada. The other side of the record was orchestrated by Denis Lepage, a man who I seemingly CANNOT avoid on my scenic journey through Le Musique Quebecois (for those not playing along at home, he went on to form disco sensations Lime).

So, please, loosen your minds, open your ears, remove and burn your bra (fellas, your draftcard will do just fine...) and step back into that era where revolution could be fun and even children and housewifes could achieve a Brady Bunch-level modicum of hip-swinging funk.

Le Mouvement de Liberation de la Femme- "Quand Les Hommes Seront Liberes"

Françoise Hardy

2007-10-19T01:47:00.001-07:00

A quicky Youtube post here... Françoise Hardy has plenty of great songs, but for some reason this one stuck with me. It's co-written by her husband, Jacques Dutronc, and there is a strong element of R&B here in a way that isn't present in his own material. To me, Dutronc has the best feel for rock and roll out of all the French singers of his time, but his equally good feel for R&B and soul had been unknown to me. The song is a classic vampy minor-key blues number in the vein of Little Willie John, complete with some funky bass work and icy lead guitar. It's certainly a departure from the more folkier stuff she made her name on. Incidentally, I have no idea why she is in a rowboat, I guess it's typical Scopitone hijinx, but she appears to row well... Without further ado, "Le Temps De L'amour":

Claire Lepage

2007-10-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

Claire LePage is best known as a Quebecois Ye Ye girl, recording mostly French language covers of British Invasion and Motown songs, as well as a couple France Gall covers (although her voice and delivery is more reminiscent of Sylvie Vartan). It’s all pretty groovy, but nothing about it separates her from Jenny Rock and the rest of the French Canadian Ye Ye’s. However, as the 1960’s drew to a close, the Ye Ye girls faded away. Like Gidget and the Flying Nun, they were seen as silly relics of the early 60’s, where the ideal woman was childish, playful, and perky. As the 70’s dawned, musicians were supposed to be serious, weighed down by the ways of the world, and on drugs.

And while the rest of her Ye Ye sistren were hanging up their miniskirts and calling it a day, Claire LePage hooked up with Compagnie, a heavy rock band, and recorded an LP. Unfortunately, I do not have this LP, as it is pretty expensive and hard to find. I do have two tracks from it on some cheapo record label compilations. Both tracks are heavy, funky, rock; with squealing lead guitar, groovy cowbell and tambourines, and nice harmony vocals.

(the record I do not own)

I do wish these songs were mixed with more of an underground ear, with the vocals a tad lower and the crunching rhythm guitar a little louder, but I won’t quibble. The band is funky in an understated, off-hand way that reminds me a little bit of James Gang for some reason. They are definitely playing rock, but the guitar riffs are always in the pocket, and the bass player is deft and adept; bobbing and weaving around the beat. This is a time when radio would play Sly and the Family Stone back to back with Buffalo Springfield and Cream, and this record reflects the times with just as Lepage’s earlier pigtails and knit sweater laden material reflects the mid 60’s.

Les Chemins De L'Amour

Rondez-vous Express

Ronnie Bird

2007-09-21T02:25:00.001-07:00

I don’t really know much about Ronnie Bird. Unlike Jean Ferrat and Johnny Hallyday, I don’t think he was actually that popular in France. It definitely doesn't seem like he had a sustained career. He was probably even less popular in Quebec, as until last week, I had never even seen one of his records there, and best believe I was looking. When I first got into French music, I had never heard of the guy, but whenever I tried to talk shop with all the 60’s mod fetishists, his name popped up in conversation way more than Jacques Dutronc or Nino Ferrer, sort of like how Nü Fünk fans will casually toss around the Kashmere Stage Band or whatever without owning a single Kool and the Gang record... So, maybe those mod revival guys bought all the Ronnie Bird records, leaving none behind for me, n’est-ce pas?

Regardless, on my last trip to the Gaulic White North, I finally stumbled upon a pair of Ronnie Bird 45’s, both of which are totally fucking exellent. He is indeed a rocker and a raver. Out of the 4 sides I picked up, the best is definitely “N’ecoute Pas Ton Couer” , a stomper in the best Small Faces tradition, but with much hotter guitar (I love Steve Marriot like a brother, but he cannot shred). The arrangement is credited to M. Jones and T.Brown, a/k/a Mick Jones (later of Foreigner fame, and I believe stepfather or something to superstar DJ/producer/hunk about town Mark Ronson) and Tommy Brown, who were the backbone of Johnny Hallyday’s band for years. I actually did not know they worked with anyone in France outside of Johnny, so this makes me wonder who else they played for? If Mick Jones did the guitar solo on this record, my hat goes off to him, because it is a raga rock burner in the best Jeff Beck tradition, far weirder than anything I’ve heard him play on any Hallyday records (and the volume knob work during the last chorus is stellar as well… for 1966 pre-Hendrix guitar, this is cutting edge stuff). Also, dig the way the bass slides up an octave during the guitar solo in true Yardbirds rave-up stylee. I can see why the mod fops go bonkers for this stuff… Enjoy!

Ronnie Bird- N’ecoute Pas Ton Couer

Johnny Hallyday pt II

2007-07-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

Although he has a terrible reputation in certain musical circles, I have to say Johnny Hallyday consistently surprises me. He is a terrible poseur, and can always be counted on to jump on whatever musical bandwagon is current at the time. However, he does have very solid commercial instincts, a great nose for what the current trend is and how it applies to his sound, and the good sense and money to hire the best musicians available. And he was quite prolific in the 60’s and 70’s. Add all these factors together and you can see why he is going to have more than one or two gems floating around. I have been thinking about doing a Johnny Hallyday mix, but I realized I don’t have QUITE enough great stuff by him for that, so until then I guess I will be content with another post.

I’ve heard Johnny attempt to do American soul music covers, like “In the Midnight Hour” or “What is Soul?”, but until hearing “Le Feu”, I had never heard him play funk before. But, when in Rome… And when in 1973, make a funky rock track. The track shares some DNA with “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, with its funky clavinet-led backing track. The band sounds great and whoever did the arrangements (it’s uncredited on the record) really knows how to write horn parts. All in all, a pretty tasty record, that only has one or two cringeworthy vocal moments (like, say the first time Johnny opens his mouth about 10 seconds in. Trust me, it gets better, stick with it!). Note: This song is not to be confused with “Allumer le feu”, a much bigger hit.

Johnny Hallyday- Le Feu

Mad Dog Vachon

2007-07-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

With all the recent news about Montreal born Chris Benoit and his murder/suicide freakout (not to mention the Dr. Mengele-type experiments he was doing on his son), I thought I would shine a light on a more positive (not to mention musical) member of Montreal's wrestling fraternity, Mad Dog Vachon.

Like fellow Canadian Bad News Brown, Vachon was a "real" wrestler who actually wrestled in the Olympics. And like Bad News, he had far more monetary success as a villain in the squared circle. Vachon achieved that rare level of success for a true heel: to have people love to hate him. With his shaved head and beard, the diminutive Vachon cut a striking figure in the ring. And, of course there was his voice. He sounded like he consumed a steady diet of rusty razor blades and washed it down with battery acid. It was voice made for spitting out the evil patter of a wrestling villain. And it sounds great on record, too!

In the fine tradition of vinyl oddities like Classy Freddie Blassie's "Pencil Neck Geeks" and the WWF's Wrestling Album, Vachon was beloved enough to warrant Denis Pantis of DSP records recording him "singing", of all things, A RAP SONG! Yes, "Le Rap A Mad Dog."

In a way, it makes perfect sense. Montreal was a huge disco town, yet at the time it didn't have a sizable enough black population to have its own genuine hip hop scene. So, in the tradition of Mel Brooks' "It's Good to be the King" (a fairly big rap record in 1981), it made sense to combine Montreal's homegrown disco sound and a homegrown wrestling villain with the novelty known as rapping.

Vachon's lawnmower voice and sizable personality are more than up to the task. I can’t understand anything he is saying (and it be would doubtful I could even if he was speaking English), but the sheer ridiculous force of Vachon’s schtick propels the track. The backing band does a credible job of mimicking the sounds of New York, with divebombing synthe blips, vamping guitars, and handclaps. Vachon calls out Rambo, Rocky, Reagan, Mr. T, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man and more before devolving into a series of incoherent grunts and mumblings.

I have this on 7”. I have no idea if it came out on 12” or not. As DSP was not really a disco label, it may well have not have, as it was probably marketed more as a novelty record than as a genuine disco record, so the need to push it towards real club DJ’s was probably minimal. I also don’t know what year it came out, although my guess is 1982.

Mad Dog Vachon- Le Rap A Mag Dog

Tony Roman R.I.P.

2007-06-14T02:07:00.000-07:00

I was in the middle of writing my second Michel Pagliaro post when I read that Tony Roman had died.

Tony Roman had a successful singing career in the mid 60’s as “Mr. Ye Ye” of Quebec, a dubious honor perhaps. He covered American and British pop hits in the manner of Johnny Hallyday, which is to say adequately but invariably inferior to the original. He was immensely popular, but his records are not quite up my alley. However, he was to make a bigger splash as a producer, label owner, and discoverer of talent. On a trip to New York City, he heard Nannette Workman sing in a nightclub and convinced her to move to Montreal, despite her inability to speak a word of French. She still lives in Quebec today and has had a long and successful career there singing in French.

In addition to scouting talent, Roman was also keeping his ears open to new sounds, specifically the productions of George Martin and Shadow Morton, as well as the more outré sounds emanating from the underground. On his CANUSA and Revolution labels he began putting out some mind-numbing records, most with little information on them, save the words “FREAK OUT TOTAL” printed on the rear cover. There was the Les Malidictus Sound record, a record that offers a funky, freaky take on the type of sounds Pierre Henry was making at the time. The artist behind the record is Jean-Pierre Massiera, a recent arrival to Montreal from France. The record production is credited to Tony Roman and Jean-Pierre Massiera, but I’ve read that Massiera recorded the album in Nice before leaving France and brought the tapes to Montreal. Regardless, even if he had nothing to do with the sound of the record, Roman had the watermelon-sized balls to put it out, as it was not a commercial project by anyone’s standards. Not only that, but he put it out twice, once as “Les Maledictus Sound” on the CANUSA label and once as “Revolution 9” (with the “Freak Out Total!” tag on the back) on his Revolution label.

The record is indeed a tad weird. Massiera uses a sonic palette that contains both inhuman screams of the damned (really!) and pleasant whistling and kazoo melodies, yet somehow never reveals if he prefers one to the other. His work is peppered with enough breakbeats and fuzz guitar to appeal to rare funk and psych collectors (famed New York City cratedigger Dan the Beat Man put “Kriminal Theme” on one of his Dusty Fingers compilations) but his biggest following is probably among fans of exotica and international pop. For every funky or fuzzy track, there are a couple library jazz themes or string laden mood pieces (and don’t forget that kazoo!). However, all of it is done well, and it certainly compares with France Lai or Quincy Jones’ film scoring work from the same time period.

The next records to bear the Freak Out Total badge were all definitely homegrown product. They were the Ouba album and Reels Psychadeliques volumes 1 and 2. All three records were products of jam sessions with the same basic group of musicians: Michel Pagliaro, Tony Roman, Denis Lepage, and Andy Shorter. I would assume Pagliaro played guitar, Lepage was on keyboards and Shorter played drums. I suppose this means Roman played bass, but that still doesn’t explain who’s playing violin on all the reels!

The Ouba record is freeform weirdness from end to end, sounding like a more primitive version of “Interstellar Overdrive” era Pink Floyd or the more rockist moments of early Can. It is also one of the most expensive Montreal psych records and I don’t own it! It has been reissued on CD, for those of you like that sort of thing. The Reels records have moments of genuine gaga freakiness mixed with relatively placid Quebecois violin reels; a truly strange juxtaposition. Besides Pagliaro and Roman, the other half of the ensemble are no slouches. Denis Lepage went on to riches and a sort of fame as one half (along with his wife) of the faceless international disco sensation, Lime. They recorded almost all of their worldwide hits in their home studio in their Montreal house. Andy Shorter still plays drums in jazz combos in Montreal to this day (a recent tribute to Montreal born and bred Oscar Peterson here in New York reminded me of Montreal’s rep as a jazz town as well).

Reels Psychadeliques- Ballade des Bibittes a Feu

Les Maledictus Sound- Jim Clark Was Driving Recklessly

Michel Pagliaro

2007-05-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Along with Robert Charlebois, Michel Pagliaro is the dominant figure of Quebecois rock music of the last 40 years. He has had countless hits in both English and French and released over two dozen albums. His persona as the straight up rock and roller is the flip side to Charlebois’ brainy eclectic.

Sadly, most of his records are pretty boring boogie rock. Kind of like Status Quo sung in French. Chugging Rhythm guitars copping Chuck Berry licks.

However, his early solo material on Trans-World, Spectrum, and especially the DSP label, is amazing. These records are funky, yet sophisticated. It’s late 60’s bachelor pad music. He covers Claude Francois, Bobby Hebb, Otis Redding, and the Classics IV. Hearing songs like “Sunny”, “Spooky” and “You Showed Me” sung in French gives them a continental lounge lizard feeling that sounds impossibly suave to Anglo ears. However, these records are never cornball because there is genuine grit and soul in Pagliaro’s voice. He never sounds forced or awkward doing R&B the way Nino Ferrer or Eddie Mitchell can. His version of Otis Redding’s “Dum Dum Dum” is funky and sure-handed, with the band rising to the challenge as well.

Apparently, Pagliaro did not like being pushed in this pop direction that was supposed to make him palatable to a mainstream audience. He was definitely a rock and roll guy and did not want to be made into Engelbert Humperdink. However uncomfortable he may have been, he sounds good doing this type of material. His cover of “What a Wonderful World”, “Que Le Monde est Beau”, is beautiful, with an orchestrated pop feel similar to Dusty Springfield or the Walker Brothers.

Sadly, Pagliaro left this international playboy music behind forever in the early 70’s, becoming Quebec’s most beloved hard rocker, covering Little Richard and Chuck Berry, in addition to playing his own rock songs. It’s good, solid, meat and potatoes rock, but it doesn’t have either the funkiness or sophistication of his earlier material.

Michel Pagliaro- Dum Dum Dum

Michel Pagliaro- Que Le Monde est Beau

France Gall

2007-03-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a quick one. I have tried to stay away from the more well known French artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Dutronc, or Francois Hardy, just because there isn’t much new to say about them and they are already on the radar of most music geeks in this era of MP3 hoarding. But, today I will make an exception for France Gall. France is probably the 2^nd best known female singer after Hardy among western Francophiles. She has a tiny little girl voice and first came to fame singing Serge Gainsbourg’s dirty old man double ententres in songs like “Les Sucettes.” All of her 60’s material, regardless of writer or arranger, is pretty great.

My favorite song by her is “Laisser Tomber les Filles”, also written by Gainsbourg. The first time I heard it, I was just infected by it. One of those genius pop songs that is inside your head the instant you hear it, and you play over and over again. The faux “Theme from Peter Gunn” riff (only Gainsbourg could have pulled that off with that much panache. The man understands jazz), the vaguely Latin feel, the shrill yet sassy vocals, and the interjecting horns combine into the ultimate swinging 60’s “au go go” pop gem. The arrangement is by Alain Goraguer, showing yet another facet to his genius.

After hearing it, I told everyone around me it was “the best song of all time.” I was being both sincere and disingenuous when I made that statement, yet a few years later, my love for the song has not worn off. If there was some sort of metaphysical soundclash of all music of all time (perhaps if the planet was held hostage by music loving space aliens and the fate of humanity hung in the blance) and there’s two outs and it’s bottom of the 9^th and I’ve got to pick one song to step up to the plate, this song is my David Ortiz.

I’m hardly the first to praise this song, as first generation ye-ye revivalist April March covered it in English as “Chick Habit” from her “Paris in April” album in 1995, back when the whole cocktail music boom led many rock listeners to 60’s French music. I have never heard her version, but I have to give her a lot of credit, as when I started getting into French music, she was someone I looked to for a clue as to what was worth looking into.

The video is pretty great as well. France is innocent and cute, and the Scopitone silliness shines through. Expect some further Scopitone posts (and an explanation as to what they are) later.

Lindbergh

2007-03-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

I figured it’s time for another Robert Charlebois post, but on a different tip. For people who didn’t grow up there and then, his record “Lindbergh” needs context. To put it simply, that record is the “Bob Dylan goes electric” moment of Quebecois music; where the song-craft of chanson met the energy of rock and roll. In Montreal, the garage rock and the chanson scenes were separate. The rock bands played at teen clubs and school dances and the chanson singers played at cabarets. Interestingly enough, Charlebois had been trying to crack these barriers for years. In 1965, he staged a show called "Yéyés vs. Chansonniers", a concept that would have been radical for Paris at that time, nevermind Montreal. But, his three albums before “Lindbergh” reflected a folk singer, albeit one with some interesting influences. They are still folk records and one can imagine only the moodiest sort of beatnik teenagers grooving to these records on a Friday night.

But, his forth album is most definitely a rock and roll record. To hear the album now, it’s just a great late 60’s rock record that mixes in bits of folk, psych, and funk in a totally organic way. What surprises me in retrospect is that it was a huge hit. It even got issued in France on Barclay. The big single off the record was “Lindbergh” (the album itself didn’t originally have a title, but came to be known as “Lindbergh” because of the single), which features Louise Forestier, who is co-billed on the album credit and sings duets and backups on most of the LP. Forestier had a successful solo career on her own, doing mostly Quebecois folk material from the early 70's onwards. However, before she permanently mellowed out, she did cut one or two interesting records, one of which features her doing an alternate version of the song “Lindbergh” with Charlebois. This version is some crazy business that reminds me of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. There are nice, haunting organ lines that sound like Rick Wright and there is some high pitched whooping from Forestier that verges on Yoko Ono territory, except she stays in key. This version is nearly two minutes longer than the Charlebois version and definitely not as user friendly. But, if you’re a fan of the original, it’s nice to hear the song get a little odder treatment (similar to the version of “Octopus” on Opel by Syd Barrett, compared to the one on “Madcap Laughs”).

The song “Lindbergh” was a massive hit when it came out and is a well known song in Quebec to this day. It was the type of song like “Je’Taime” or “Sunny” where record companies would record sentimental organ e/z listening versions of it. Lucien Hetu was one of those aforementioned middle-of-the-road organ cats. He has recorded versions of everything from Paul Mauriat to the Monkees (as well as the obligatory Christmas record) and he was definitely not rocking the boat. That said, his version of “Lindbergh” is pretty groovy in its own way, with some nice work by the bass player. It feels a little repetitive though, and it’s only two and a half minutes long.

When disco got big, one of the quickest shortcuts in the world was to take a 60’s hit and cut a disco version. “Knock on Wood”, “Light My Fire”, “I’m a Man”, “House of the Rising Sun”, etc, etc, etc. “Lindbergh” was a song of that status in Quebec and Quebec was big into disco, hence there is a disco version by Toulouse. And to prove that the Montreal music scene is a small world, Toulouse was produced by Gary “Boule Noire” Thurston. It’s a sort of surreal take on the whole thing; uptempo and chipper without any of the moodiness of the original. About halfway through there is a breakdown with whooshing airplane noises and a voiceover announcement from the pilot with that classic pinched nose voice, about Montreal and Lindbergh. Yup, no worries, my tray table is upright, mon frere…

Louise Forestier
Lucien Hutu
Toulouse

Les Sinners

2007-02-17T02:57:00.000-08:00

Les Sinners are a pretty famous band in certain circles. Garage rock/psych completists are familiar with their three LP’s in their original incarnation. Their first album, "Sinnersime", was put out on the tiny Rusticana label in 1967. It’s on the wall of every record store in Montreal, usually for 100 bucks. It has a heavy Yardbirds influence, with fuzztone rave ups mixed with catchy pop songs. It was bootlegged in

Italy

sometime in the 80’s, and is definitely a known record amongst the garage rock nerds of the world. It is worth noting that the most rocking songs on the LP are the ones sung in English. Les Sinners were from Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a neighborhood with a large Anglophone population so it isn't strange that they would record English material.

After their first LP they signed with Jupiter, a label that was home to mostly more traditional acts like Donald Lautrec. They released two LP’s on Jupiter, the confusingly titled “Sinnerismes” and “Vox Populi”, which were later collected on a “24 Greatest Hits” record, also on Jupiter. These continue the psych-pop sound of the first LP, while dropping some of the more “rave-up” sections and fuzz, in favor of tighter song construction.

“Sinnerismes” has both garage rock rawness and tight, poppy melodies, with Bo Diddley beat riffing supporting sweet harmonies. There's also some weird drug culture babble ("L.S.D. Ha! Ha!) and a Beatles cover song. It's a fun record.

“Vox Populi” is a concept record about the “voice of the people” and has dialogue snippets of "man on the street" banter between every song with a trashy psych backing. Medium cool, indeed. The songs themselves are a little more far-out than the previous records. Their is a definite influence of the Who's pre-Tommy stuff, especially in all the La-la-la-la backing vocals.

After those albums, singer Francois Guy left to form Le Revolution Francaise, who had a huge hit with the song “Quebecois." The Sinners carried on with a new singer and released a self titled LP on Trans-World in 1971. The problem is the new singer kind of had that “drunk uncle accompanying himself on guitar around a campfire” vibe, or even worse the “the cover band playing ‘Mustang Sally’ at an Italian-American street fair” thing.

Even with the decline in the vocal department, the album is still a very solid hard rock record with touches of prog/psych. It reminds me of the first Man LP, or if Procol Harem were a bunch of dope addled punks from Montreal instead of some prissy English guys.

There is actually a heavy tribal vibe on some of the tracks, with lots of bongos and hand percussion like they had just come back from seeing Santana. There are a couple duds on the album, with one ballad about Quebec sounding like your boy Ziggy Stardust on a very off day. Just like the first Sinners LP, the funkiest song on there is sung in English. It sounds sort of like War or Mandrill and has 70's funky flute all over it.

The song I picked to represent this album, is the opening track “OK L’Chien”, mostly because it features one of my favorite musical memes of the late 60’s/early 70’s, which comes in at about 2 minutes into the track (It’s a sort of afro-beat sounding descending riff that was came from, of all places, “Inna-gadda-da-vida” by Iron Butterfly. It’s the bassline that comes in after the drum solo at about 13:00, whilst the tension builds up for the return of the main riff. It next appeared as the bass line in “Rabbit Got the Gun” by the J.B.’s and almost at the same time, popped across the ocean to appear as the bassline and sole melodic element in Max B.’s “Bananaticoco”, possibly my favorite fake afro-beat song made by Europeans ever).

Anyways, this is a nice solid funky rock song with only slightly ridiculous flute solos and slightly ridiculous overwrought vocals.

OK L'Chien-Les Sinners

Le Publicite

2007-02-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

Very nice article on Tete Carre and my love of french music here.

Sheila

2007-02-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Who was the Queen of 60's French pop? Sylvie? France Gall? Nope. While these two are tremendously popular among francophiles and mod/go-go fans now, back then they were just lesser lights compared to the popularity of Sheila. To this date, Sheila has sold 70 million records (!!!), and was easily the top selling ye-ye girl in France and the rest of Europe. Her image was basically that of the nice girl next door, with none of the sexuality that most people associate with ye-ye's. She wore pleated skirts and white socks and wore her hair in a modified flip with pigtails... well, just look at the picture. Basically, she was the French Lesley Gore, with suitably saccharine and sappy music. Cool people were not listening to Sheila. If Jean Ferrat was your dad's music, Sheila was the domain of your little sister.

She is probably best known in English speaking countries for the disco records she made under the name "Sheila B. Devotion", some of which feature her singing in English.

A 17 disc CD career retrospective (only 480 euros on Amazon.Fr!) was recently released and Sheila played some live shows around France in December and January to commemorate the event.

Hopefully, somewhere on those 17 discs there are songs as good as "L'Agent Secret" (tho, I ain't dropping 5 bills to find out...). Sadly, I have a feeling that "L'Agent Secret" is an anomaly in the Sheila catalog; a upbeat go-go number with acid rock freakout guitar running through it. I am curious exactly as to who the session dudes are on here(UK studio cats?), as the bass is pretty lively, too. My favorite part is the pure fuzz chord wrap-around at about 2:10. Nasty...

Once again we can thank the overwhelming trendiness of French pop and the late 60's psych explosion for this inexplicable little gem.

Sheila- L'Agent Secret

REUPPED

25eme Regiment

2007-01-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Boston, hot dogs had one or more of the following toppings: ketchup, mustard, relish, or chopped white raw onions. That’s it. No cheese, no saurerkraut, no chili (the only time I ever had a chili dog growing up was on trips to Canobie Lake Park; an old amusement park located just across the New Hampshire state line). Whether it was at Fenway Park or the snack bar at the public pool, a hot dog was steamed, with the above condiments. I have many fond memories of piling on those chopped raw onions.

Needless to say, I was shocked when I moved to New York City and discovered that relish was an endangered species and “onions” meant some strange, red pickled mess: soggy stewed onions that tasted like a vinegar high colonic. While I appreciate the 24 hour affordable availability of a Gray’s Papaya dog (I fondly recall when they were 50 cents each), I just wish I could get them with relish and some raw onions (nevermind the temptation of a nice New England style roll, toasted with butter).

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Montreal was hot dog central. They have both steamed dogs, called “steamies” (although they steam the bun as well, which I find a little weird) and grilled dogs with butter toasted buns (“hot dog toasted”). And the toppings are essentially identical to what is offered at Fenway Park; chopped onions, mustard, ketchup, and relish are standard; mayonnaise and cole slaw are some of the uniquely Quebecois options. More importantly, due to a ban on street carts, the city is full of small hole in the wall hot dog joints, open to all hours of the night.

If you were to walk into one of these joints and want a hot dog with everything, you would ask for it “all dress." Which brings me to the song of the week: Tout All-Dress by 25e Regiment and their singer Georges Thurston. Having a hot dog oriented song of the week pleases me to no end. Anyways, Thurston released a couple solo singles in the late 1960's before joining 25e Regiment, a fairly average rock band, who divided their material equally between M.O.R. pop and slightly more interesting psych flavored stuff. However, they were definitely not anything you'd ever label hip or funky. Even after he joined, they released some schlock. But, once they jumped to Tony Roman’s Revolution record label in 1970, everything they released was golden, including a great take on Shocking Blue’s “Venus.”

“Tout All-Dress”, also on Revolution, is amazing; a funky rock song with drive (in a Black Sabbath way) and groove (in a James Brown way). There's even a fuzzed out wah-wah solo and a nice funky end vamp. Somehow, it still sounds like Syd Barrett mixed with Tommy Roe.

Anyways, Thurston sings with funk and conviction, sounding kinda like Arthur Lee. If this song had been mixed properly, it would hit you right between the eyes and knock you out. As it is, it just leaves you dazed. Until I ordered a hot dog in Montreal, I had no idea as to what the song was referring to. Somehow I feel it’s a metaphor and not a song about a hot dog party.

Thurston, incidentally, was black (as a Quebec City record store owner told me “He had the first Afro in Quebec!”) and was a native Quebecer. His father was a black American baseball player and his mother was Quebecoise. After the end of 25eme Regiment, he cut a duet single with Madeleine Chartrand in 1972. He eventually abandoned rock and roll in the mid 70’s to form Boule Noire, his disco/funk group consisting of himself and various Muscle Shoals sidemen. Boule Noir released a handful of LP’s (including a reggae record cut in

Jamaica

) and became huge in Quebec as their first homegrown disco/funk band. They are also celebrated in rare groove/modern funk circles. The last I have heard, Thurston has cancer and it's serious. Let's send out a thought for the funkiest dude in Quebec...

Tout All-Dress- 25eme Regiment

Gilles Valiquette

2006-12-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

Gilles Valiquette is a singer-songwriter with 11 albums to his credit, five BMI/PROCAN Certificates of Honor, and three SOCAN Awards for the success of his songs. As creator of the Québec Ministry of Education approved “Computer Assisted Sound Design” program, he is widely known as a leader in the field of new technologies through his Musitechnic College where he holds the position of President and CEO. Gilles Valiquette is a current board member of the Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), a board member of l’Alliance NumériQC and recently served as President of the Board of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) between 1998 and 2003.

Doesn’t seem like the type of guy who’d play lead guitar in a psych band, huh? It’s like finding out your mom used to date John Cippolina of the Quicksilver Messenger Service (happened to a guy i know, really...). But, yes, this respectable member of society wrote and performed the song “Le Magicien” with his band Someone. It's not really a psych song, more of a stripped down rock thing, but the vocals (and I am ASSUMING the words, too) give it that vibe.

On the rocking level, this is about a notch above Spirit and one below Frigid Pink, which is to say it never REALLY gets going, but it does have a nice energy to it, like if someone who only listened to really fey folk music was locked in a room and forced to listen to Jumpin' Jack Flash for a month straight. The guitar solo is actually pretty smoking, the drummer throws some popcorn into the choruses, and the bass players insistance on sticking to the root during the main verses is admirably punky (in a proto-punk way). Also, the song is barely 2 minutes long. Thus, the whole package thrown together recalls a much tamer, lamer, Quebecois take on The Stooges (circ. Funhouse). But, that's not a bad thing, no?

The B-side is fairly average folk rock, a preview of the majority of Gilles' 70’s material, like his album "Chansons pour un café", which naturally sold about 10,000 times better than this piece of wax...

Someone-Le Magicien

Johnny Hallyday

2006-12-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

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

Jean Ferrat

2006-12-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages of coming into French music from a foreign perspective is not knowing which way is up, so you don’t know which way is down either. Outside of a few known names, you end up working without preconceived notions.

Jean Ferrat is a good example of this. First off, please note he looks like a lunatic. His reputation in France is that of an old school, left wing chanteur; sort of like Pete Seeger mixed with a cabaret act. Just as Serge Gainsbourg oozed sleaze, Ferrat oozed sincerity. If you tell people he’s got some funky records, you’ll get some looks.

However, the majority of his records are arranged by Alain Goraguer, who is mostly known outside France for his work with Gainsbourg, France Gall and for the soundtrack for Le Planete Sauvage.

For the most part, it’s hard to connect the dots between the man who made that trippy and funky film soundtrack with the restrained and traditional chanson material that fills Ferrat’s LP’s. But, there are a few exceptions to the rule, a handful of songs where Goraguar unleashes some of the wildness he’s revered for.

"Intox" is one such song. A mind numbing wash of electric sitar, synthesizer howls, pounding drums, and wackjob vocals, it definitely lives up to its title, with the arty psychedelia of the music being used to conjure up feelings of disorientation, and, yes, intoxication. The title is a sort of double entendre with “intox” meaning both drunk and poisoned. The lyrics are actually on a “Television, drug of the nation” type vibe, with Ferrat singing:

                                              Intox intox intoxiqué

                                              Opium opium televise

Or, as my best friend Babelfish tells me:

                                              Intox intox poisoned

                                              Opium televised opium

When interviewed recently, Ferrat was asked (again, Babelfish):

A few years ago, you sang about the TV “intox, poisoned. Televised opium”. Which glance do you relate overall to the TV of today?

To which he replied:

At the time, the Ministry for Information controlled all the television news, as well as the programs. It was the voice of France, and it censure was of setting. All that hardly changed. But today, the TV is under the cut of another form of being able: tradesmen. Television became a machine to make sell products. The consumer, with large C, replaces the citizen

To read the interview in French, click here: http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2003-01-04/2003-01-04-217380

Intox- Jean Ferrat

Robert Charlebois LIVE!

2006-11-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

Robert Charlebois LIVE!
Bell Centre, Montreal
November 24, 2006

This concert was a bit of trip for me, for a lot of reasons. As a record collector, Charlebois represents a type of obscure regional artist that I end up thinking of as a hidden gem; a secret. So, obviously, it was a trip to see him at the Bell Centre (where the Montreal Canadians play, basically as the Fleet Centre is to the Boston Garden, the Bell Centre is to the Montreal Forum: the new area, that for better or worse attempts to replace a piece of history), among thousands of Quebecois. I know when people say “I was the only white person there”, it is usually some bullshit exaggeration designed to build up the narrator, but in this case, I am guessing I was really the only person there who could barely order a beer in French. The crowd was dancing, yelling, and shouting along with some songs, clapping at the breaks of others, flicking lighters at the ballads, etc, etc… This was these people’s shit, the music they’ve drank a thousand beers to. I almost felt like an intruder, except that I enjoyed myself so much,

The show started with Charlebois strumming an acoustic guitar on a platform at center ice, in the middle of the standing room section. He opened with “c’est pour ca”, a tripped out folk song, from his self titled album on Gamma from 1967, his 3^rd LP altogether. I’d love to compare it to Dylan or Leonard Cohen or Syd Barrett or Skip Spence, but although it shares elements of all the above, I can’t really say it resembles any of them. Anyways, I was immediately happy, as I both knew and loved this song, thus alleviating my two fears; One, that I wouldn’t know most of the material, Two, that most of the stuff would be commercial 70’s and 80’s dreck, ignoring his freak-out 60’s stuff (sort of like if you had no knowledge of American music and went to go see Bob Seger because you were a big fan of “2+2=?”, “Heavy Music”, and his other late 60’s gems and ended up hearing “Against the Wind” and “Old Time Rock and Roll” and other car commercial piles of shit…). His second song was also from his Gamma debut, which really put me at ease. I couldn’t believe this guy had such balls. I can’t think of many performers of his generation who would open with two 40 year old songs unless they were playing a Norton records show.

Amazingly, the audience was with him the whole way, including the 7 wifeys on the town who were seated in the row in front of me. He was going from folk songs to straight rock to Cajun flavored folk stuff to psych rock to soul pastiches and everyone seemed to stick with it. What I was most impressed with is I am only conversant with his late 60’s LP’s on Gamma and I knew about 33% of the set. He did three songs from his self titled album with Louise Forestier, (called by some “the Quebecois ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’”) including the breakthrough single “Lindbergh” (big sing along number), as well as “California” (which featured multiple spinning disco balls all over the stage, as well as a conga player for that funk!) and “Engagement” (the song I had been waiting all night for; his weirdest, nastiest, funkiest, and freakiest), which he turned into a James Brown style talking rap as he introduced the band.

Charlebois paced the stage in a sequined Montreal Canadians hockey sweater and was a great performer, acting out his songs with a sense of theatre, with the best part either being when he acting out a lover’s embrace (by putting his back to the crowd and wrapping his arms around himself so that from the audience’s viewpoint they appeared to be those of an unseen lover) or when he hopped on the drums to accompany his other two drummers in a funky breakdown done a la prog rock (as shown in the photo...)

The whole concert was a highlight for me, with even the unknown 70’s and 80’s stuff sounding solid (and always mixed in with 60’s freakout gems….). During the second encore, I knew it was time for me to leave, as Charlebois broke into “Je reviendrai a Montreal” (a clip from a TV special is available on youtube with a host of Quebecois singers joining in from around the globe, including Celine Dion live from Las Vegas!). As I left, I passed two 60 year olds slow dancing together in the main aisle, staring happily into each other's eyes. To me, this song was pure schlock, but obviously not to these two. Now, what other artist could please such disparate people?