Bonjour peeps, welcome to show 8 of the GBU podcast. This edition come to you post Polnareff live, post Utrecht record fair and post a trawl of the record bins of Northern France. And w have some deep cuts ready to rock your world. So, on with the show. As always, all of this played off original vinyl, some well loved, so the sound quality is what it is!
Via Lucifer – Dick Rivers
Let’s start the show with the singer who made his name in the beat band Les Chats Sauvages (the Wild Cats). This is a great song showcasing all the tropes of the sixties, echoing vocals, sitars and the devil. This is an underrated psych masterpiece from 1966. What more could you ask for?
Paperback Writer – Daydé
The was an amazing find at the Utrecht Record Fair. I liked the other Daydé we played a few months back, but I thought, Beatles track, what could go wrong? Well, this track is so hard, almost like a French Joe Cocker, with brilliant guitar work and is HEAVY. It’s from 1971 and was released on the Barclay label. Play it loud
Good Bye Madama Butterfly – i Pooh
Italian pop psych now from the north of country and the brilliant named i Pooh. This tracks was released in 1969 and is a good example of song that transverses the peace, sounding quite seventies in places and then nicely sixties with the organ break
Je Suis L’Amour – Johnny Hallyday
Released in 1968, this is part of Johnny’s golden period. By this stage he didn’t need the ‘Hallyday’ he was just Johnny and everyone knew who he was. This is a lush piece, slightly out of character with the more psych stuff he was putting out at the time. Pretty damned good though
Les Roses Fanées – Jacques Dutronc
Dutronc. Gainsbourg. Birkin. You can’t go wrong with this 1975 track, written by Gainsbourg, delivered by Dutronc and Birkin (in a slightly ‘comic strip’ style).
La Décadanse – Jane Birkin with Serge Gainsbourg
From the Sex Shop BOF 7” released in 1972, another dirty track from these two perverts! This is the B-Side La Décadanse which was release don some editions instead of the instrumental track from the film. This dirty song was orchestrated by the master Jean- Claude Vannier. The single is marked not to be sold to people under 18 years of age. The film was directed by Claude Berri who went onto later direct Jean De Florette.
Je N’Sais Pas – Alice Dona
You can’t really follow Gainsbourg very well, of course. So I didn’t try and just played this sweet little Swinging Mademoiselles track from Alice Dona. Alice Dona is entirely underrated and underrepresented in the yé-yé catalogue. This slightly Beatle-esque track came out in 1964 and was written Alice herself.
Un Bon Mois D’ete – Sylvie Vartan
Always like have the wonderful Ms Vartan on this show. It took us many years to see past the slow burners and trashy pop of the early EPs and to dig deep onto EPs like the 1967 classic with an incredibly funky organ break. It is apparently a Neil Diamond song ’The Boat that I row’ from his first LP. Love it. You can’t ignore it.
Miss Caroline – Eddy Mitchell
Double Diamond. This time from Eddy Mitchell. Released in 1969, this is a great cover of the Neil Diamond classic (Sweet Caroline if you were wondering). Produced and orchestrated by Jean Claude Petit, you can’t go wrong with the gravel voice of EM and the brilliant songwriting of Neil Diamonds (as he is credited!)
On Ira Tous au Paradis – Michel Polnareff
What can we say? Polnareff in Dijon and Strasbourg was simply amazing. His voice was so strong and the the visuals were stunning, even for jaded old hacks like us. So, we end this show with this great song from 1972. It was the final song of the night and was sung along exactly as it on the record, with the lyrics broadcast on the screen. Kurac, SCSI-b and myself were singing along at the tops of our awful French accents. The title for non-French speakers translates as ‘We will all go to heaven’ with he next line ‘meme moi’ meaning even me!