Francoise Hardy

Joseph Gainsbourg (Better late than never)

  • Posted on 29/12/2010
  • /Under Musique

Christmas 2010 did already pass, I know, Christmas A Go Go already shut its door for this year, but luckily there’s always room for some Serge Gainsbourg paraphernalia here at FS.

In 1965 a television show started at ORTF in France called Dim Dam Dom, which stood for Dimanche, Dames and D(h)ommes. The show ran for six years until 1970 and intended to be informative and humoristic with musical intermezzi. It was presented by girls like Françoise Hardy, Mireille Darc, Nathalie Delon, France Gall, Marie Laforêt and Sheila.
In 1966 Dim Dam Dom made ‘Noël à Vaugirard’, a rather bizarre Christmas abattoir edition with a talking cow and donkey, singing nuns and Serge Gainsbourg as Joseph and Chantal Goya as Mary. Other appearances came from Guy Marchand, Sylvie Vartan and Jacques Dutronc.

Enjoy 17 minutes of Christmas strangeness here!

UPDATE: FS-reader Jan Willem recognised the music in the beginning of this movie, turns out it’s the ultra-cool Gil Evans:
Gil Evans – Where Flamingos Fly

FS Rerun: Sarah Nixey

  • Posted on 15/12/2010
  • /Under Musique

Though Sarah Nixey is British, she’s a fille to boot, levitating effortlessly between the realms of innocence and lasciviousness, the subversive and the sublime. With Black Box Recorder – assisted by Luke Haines of Auteurs fame and John Moore, ex-Jesus & Marychain –, she recorded three of the smartest, though too much neglected pop CDs of the last decade. French Rock’n’Roll from Recorder’s brilliant second record Facts of Life echoes the spirit of Jane & Serge, London-style, and features even a few lines in French:

Black Box Recorder – French Rock’n’Roll

Solo, Sarah also did a trippy club cover of Francoise Hardy’s hit Le temps de l’amour, written by Hardy’s future husband Jacques Dutronc in 1962, and Ici avec toi, a gauloised-up translation of her original song When I’m Here With You.

Sarah Nixey – Le temps de l’amour

Sarah Nixey – Ici avec toi

Last not least, another of Sarah’s French connections from the compilation The Worst of Black Box Recorder: Her version of Terry Jacks’ weeper superhit Seasons of the Sun – cover of Jacques Brel’s classic chanson Le Moribond – reverberating an entirely different quality: the dizzy state when awakening from a already half-forgotten dream.

Black Box Recorder – Seasons in the Sun

C’est chic

  • Posted on 01/12/2010
  • /Under Musique

Looking for the Perfect Christmas Gift? C’est Chic!, a wonderful compilation on the reliable Ace/Kent reissue label. It features ’24 hand-picked gems form France, epicenter of the 1960s yé-yé-girl phenomenon’. A few hits, like Anna Karina’s Roller Girl and France Gall’s Laisse tomber les filles, but a lot of fairly obscure gems indeed. Like Michèle Torr’s Non, à tous les garçons. A song written by Serge Gainsbourg. Or the baroque Je ne sais pas ce que je veux (a cover by sixties-band Nirvana,reworked by Hardy herself). A thick booklet with great info (main informant: Graham from the excellent Ready Steady Girls) comes along with it. This is no cd you’d want to download, this is one you want to own. And I’m not saying that ’cause this blog is mentioned as a reference source. A nice surprise.

Françoise Hardy – Je ne sais ce que je veux
Nirvana – Tiny Goddess
Michèle Torr – Non, à tous les garçons

UPDATE: FS-visitor Teyo mentioned in the comments that Andreas Dorau sampled the Hardy-track. For a wonderful song, I might add.
Andreas Dorau – Allein im Park

Natacha Atlas

  • Posted on 27/09/2010
  • /Under Musique

Combining traditional Arabic and African elements with Disco, Drum ’n Bass, and Hindi Pop, Belgium-born singer Natacha Atlas features as one of the premières divas of the cha’abi moderne, a term she invented herself to describe her style. Natacha cooperated with colleagues such as Peter Gabriel, Nigel Kennedy, and Jean-Michel Jarre, but if those names aren’t really your cup of tea, also with British enfant terrible Jah Wobble or French world music entrepreneurs Les Négresses Vertes. She explains the concept of her brand new, tenth album here – last not least, Mounqaliba (In a State of Reversal) stars Le cor, le vent, a fine after-hours piece with wistful accordion, and La nuit est sur la ville, a lightly orient-ified cover version of Francoise Hardy’s 1964 ballad.

Natacha Atlas – Le cor, le vent

Natacha Atlas – La nuit est sur la ville

On her 1998 album Gedida, Natacha already covered another Hardy chanson, the widely popular Mon amie la rose, transferring Hardy’s Gallic teenage melancholy to the dancefloor of Arabian Nights.

Natacha Atlas – Mon amie la rose (Radio Mix)

Vanessa Paradis

  • Posted on 22/06/2010
  • /Under Musique

Charlotte Gainsbourg was in the Cirque Royal last Saturday, tomorrow Vanessa Paradis plays an acoustic set there.  This is part of an extensive tour that will end in the Chateau de Versailles, where the show will be recorded. Thanks to SOM, here’s raw footage from that tour, Vanessa doing Françoise Hardy’s Le temps de l’amour.

Vanessa Paradis – Le temps de l’amour

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