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Mid-sixties Gallic film-pop - four songs by Serge Gainsbourg, a guest appearance by Françoise Hardy (with smooth French popsters Air), as interpreted by an all-star assemblage whose typical styles define this CD as well as anything else: Magnetic Fields (although Stephin Merritt sings "Le tourbillon" from the Jules et Jim soundtrack in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic manner), Ivy, the Hang-Ups, Luna (livelier than usual on "La poupée qui fait non," propelled by a double-time tambourine), and Heavenly. Lloyd Cole throws in a ringer, a French language version of Dylan's "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" ("Si tu dois partir") as done by Fairport Convention on their Unhalfbricking album, while the Apples in stereo cheekily contribute an original song, "Avril en Mai," to this collection subtitled "French Pop Classics." Incongruously, John Wesley Harding shows up, oddly accompanied by a drum machine, to deliver a nicely sung version of Gainsbourg's "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais." Of course, I miss a lot of what's going on in these songs because of the rather severe limitations of my single year of college French - but the intentions of ultra-suave Kevin Ayers in the Ladybug Transistor's version of "Puis-je?" are crystal clear anyway. |
