Ah! Melody-Serge Gainsbourg

Thought I'd end my French round up pretty much where we began with Serge Gainsbourg.
This track is taken from his seminal 'Histoire de Melody Nelson'... which of course you all should own in some form or other!

A L'appartement-Michel Legrand

An understated piece from 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg', one of the best known soundtracks not only in France, but the whole wide world I guess.
Quite a divisive film in the way it uses song/lyrics as dialogue but for me it works and the soundtrack is a classic.

Deshominisation(I)-Alain Goraguer

Taken from the excellent animated film, La Planete Sauvage, this track features the main melody which runs throughout the soundtrack.

If you haven't seen the film or heard the soundtrack you can find both on a 'Masters Of Cinema' DVD for ten quid!

I would recommend doing so.

Une Lettre Pour Alpha Diallo-Jean Yves Tourbin

From manufacted hippies to the real thing...maybe? This is taken from the rare album 'Gayan' by Jean Yves Tourbin.
Know next to nothing about him or the record, but it's a good listen...

La Caresse Du Fleuve-Les Fleurs de Pavot

Earlier-ish French psych exploitation album from 1968. Produced Jean Claude Vannier of 'Melody Nelson' fame the tracks on the whole hit the right note, as exemplified here with La Caresse Du Fleuve.

J'ai Je Le Coeur En Joie, J'ai Le Coeur En Peine-Chantal Goya

More Yé-Yé, this time from Chantal Goya. She doesn't do it too much on this track but I really love the way Chantal sings over the melody of the music in an 'off-key' kind of way.

L'Abandon-Jean Le Fennec

This track comes from a much sort after French Psych LP by Jean Le Fennec called Phantastic, which it certainly is.

Chante Avec Moi-Le Petit Prince

Le Petite Prince...or Pascal Krug, in another world, was one of the biggest stars of the French Yé-Yé scene.
Here he is pictured with a couple of pals.
This track is a duet with Frank Alamo, just in case you were wondering whom the deep voice belonged to...worth checking his site out!

L'Amour En Cage-Patricia Carli

Keeping on with the French theme for a little while with this great track from Patricia Carli. Top melody, guitar and organ breaks...not to mention the brass!

Le Mannequin-Annie Philippe

Yeah Yeah girl is a term for a particular group of Freanch female singer's from the sixties, of which Annie Phillippe was one. I guess it comes from the tendency to say 'Yeah-Yeah', quite fast on a lot on these tracks... There are some great compilations out there collecting many of these tracks.

Puis Je?-Kevin Ayers

Ok, So he's not french and this is the second Kevin Ayers entry on this blog (well, it is named after one of his songs!), but I love this track in both it's English and French version, the latter of which is presented here.
You can find this on the re-issue of the superb 'Shooting At The Moon' album

Be Quiet-Jan Tregger

Taken from the rare split single 'Hypnose Réelle', is 'Be Quiet', a great funky,psych attempt at actually hypnotizing the listener...let me know if it works for you!

Can't Get The One I Want-Francoise Hardy

Often an artist has so many quality songs it's hard to just pick one...and that is certainly the case here.
So I'm going back to 'Can't Get The One I Want' as a typical example of her work, great melody, great lyrics and a fantastic vocal... Francoise Hardy

Je Danse Donc Je Suis-Brigitte Bardot

I'm off to Dordogne in a week or so which is a great excuse to put up some tracks by french/French related artistes, starting with this gem from Brigitte Bardot. I was told by a friend that the title of this translates as the well known English phrase, 'You dancing?...you asking?'...I could be wrong...