L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.21

Greetings Chaîne fans, for link 21 you just need to take the title of the last song 'Metal Horse' and drop the equine noun, and you get...

'Metal'.

By Gary Numan.

Metal is taken from Numan's 1979 The Pleasure Principle album, his 1st 'solo' album after two under the collective Tubeway Army guise. It sees Gazza dropping the guitars completely and embracing full electronic/synthetic instrumentation throughout. And on the cover he appears to be trying to divine 'Pleasure' from a small red pyramid.

Hmmm, nice conceptual cover Gary, wonder where you got the idea from?

According to the wikipedia entry (your only trustworthy site on the interweb kids!*), 'Metal' is sung from the "perspective of an android longing to be human". Which leads me to ponder once again: Is Numan Human?**

Gary Numan - Metal
[you can buy The Pleasure Principle from all yr usual online outlets. Or you can go to a real shop and buy it for real from a real person.]


*joke
**I used to have a badge with a rather crude Numan drawing on it and the legend "Is Numan Human?" in a hi-tech digital typeface

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Join in...
Please leave your suggestions and any reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue > Sandie Shaw - L'Orage > Ars Post Tergum Introet - Ford Mustang > Simon Bookish - Metal Horse > Gary Numan - Metal > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.20

Looking at my blog stats the other day, I was heartened, yet slightly baffled, to see some of the most visited posts are those from my ongoing L'Amour à la Chaîne sequence. So with that knowledge under my hat, I s'pose it's time I added another link to the ongoing chain.

Previously on L'Amour à la Chaîne it was a Portuguese cover of Serge's 'Ford Mustang'...

The Mustang was named after the free-roaming horses descended from those brought to the Americas by the Spanish, and now regarded as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West, which continue to contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people."

Each and every Ford Mustang has a metal horse emblem affixed to the radiator grill (unless it's been half-inched), so in tribute to this iconic hunk of chrome, here is METAL HORSE!

"Glittering horse, you were sold, in a shady shop on the Edgeware Road"

[image source]

I still love this hefty slab of cutandpaste 8-bit reductivist electro pop by Simon Bookish, hope you like it too!

Simon Bookish - Metal Horse
[Metal Horse was originally released in 2005 as a limited seven-inch on Tomlab Records. You can still buy it direct from Tomlab's European and US online outlets. There was no mp3 release.]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue > Sandie Shaw - L'Orage > Ars Post Tergum Introet - Ford Mustang > Simon Bookish - Metal Horse > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.19

Now that I've sorted out those pesky mp3s, I reckon it's time we got back to la Chaîne.

The last link was Sandie Shaw. She was born and brought up in Dagenham, Essex and briefly worked at Ford Dagenham, one of Ford Motors' British production plants (and location of the famous women sewing machinists' strike of 1968, fact fans!).

So, for the next link I give you the song 'Ford Mustang' by Serge Gainsbourg. But instead of the original, here's a cover-version en Portugais (I think!). This version was originally released in 2000 on the Gainsbourg tribute album Lucien Forever (Pussycat Records).

It's not often these days that a search on the interweb yields scant results about a band or artist, but that is the case with Ars Post Tergum Introet. If my search engine of choice is to be believed, they have released just this cover and possibly one other song 'Rien'. There is nothing else about them whatsoever, other than link upon link to (mostly) non-existent mp3 downloads of this song. If anyone has any info, it'd be great to know more about them.

Let's just enjoy the song now, eh?

Ars Post Tergum Introet - Ford Mustang
[I can't seem to find any copies of the Lucien Forever album anywhere either, so, sorry, no links to buy the CD]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue > Sandie Shaw - L'Orage > Ars Post Tergum Introet - Ford Mustang > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.18

A fine choice from Kitty for our next stage in the slowly growing Chaîne: After the Andre Popp-penned, Eurovision '67 cover by Future Bible Heroes, she suggested Sandie Shaw en Français. Why? Because Sandie skipped barefoot to the number 1 spot in the very same Eurovision contest with 'Puppet On A String', bien sur!

On this 1966 ep track, Sandie, with a bit of help from Ken Woodman and his orchestra, summons up the stormy sound of all those early 60s death-disc melodramas...

Thunder rumbles overhead, the wind howls, and there's a palpable sense of panic in Sandie's voice.

The English language version of this song has her running from the arms of an over-bearing monster of an ex-lover. Run, Sandie, Run!

Sandie Shaw - L'Orage

[Pretty much all of Sandie Shaw's essential French output is collected together on the CD Chante en Français: Pourvu Que ça Dure - available from yr usual mp3 shopping boutique; or, for a sizeable sum, 2nd hand, on certain tax-shy online retail outlets]


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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue > Sandie Shaw - L'Orage > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.17

This was to be my inaugural post of 2013, however it has now taken about 2 weeks to finish composing, and it has been well-and-truly bumped down the list.  I had it clear in my mind that I had no intention of heralding the new year by blowing hot air about how grand resolutions to keep the posts coming and write more regularly for you, my handful of readers. But the lesson has been learned and the stock has been taken, and nowadays I have even less time to devote to hollering into the ether in the vain hope that more people will hear me. Soooooo.....

Instead I shall get on with the next instalment of la Chaîne.

Cast your minds back, dear readers, to my previous link, and that dastardly Invisible Man was getting a bit too touchy feely with his wandering hands, musically aided by Monsieur Andre Popp...

Back in 1967, a young greek chanteuse by the name of Vicky came in fourth representing Luxembourg at the 12th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. The song was 'L'Amour Est Bleu' and it was co-written by Andre Popp and Pierre Cour. The song has been covered by everyone from Jeff Beck to Johnny Mathis, and was a number 1 hit record in the US when Paul Mauriat released an easy listening version in early 1968.

Favourite recordings round our way are Claudine Longet's swoonsome version, and this more recent(!?!) electronic Europop cover by Future Bible Heroes (one of many projects led by the sickeningly prolific genius and indisputible Eeyore of lo-fi indie pop Stephin Merritt)

Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue

[this was released in 1997 on the Lonely Days ep (Slow River Records), which is out of print. There are 2nd hand copies out there, current market value £10-£13]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > Future Bible Heroes - Love Is Blue > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.16

NEWSFLASH! That man in the shadows (Chaîne pt.15) was not The Hacker, it was The Invisible Man...

[image source]

L'Homme Invisible lurks in the bushes, late at night, outside the flats of unsuspecting batchelorettes:

*knock-knock-knock-knock*

----eerie voices whistle and wail and a stalking, slow-jazz rhythm strikes up----

femme: "Who is there?"

----silence----

*takes the latch off the door*

femme: "Who is there?"

*opens the door and looks outside*

femme: "Who is there?"

homme: "L'homme invisible"

----the sinister, brassy orchestration swells----

femme: "What do you want?"

homme: "You... YOU"

femme:  *gasps*

----eerie wailing and whistling continues----

femme: "No... NO!"

----invisible man ravishes woman soundtracked by a saucy, rasping trumpet----

femme: *gasps* *moans* *groans*

----invisible man leaves - a deathly silence hanging in the air----



So ladies, if it's getting late and you hear a faint knock-knock-knocking at your door, and you're not expecting visitors, turn the Dansette up, keep the lights on and just pretend you didn't hear...

[image source]

Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible
[this was re-issued in 2001 on the Andre Popp collection Popp Musique on Tricatel. It's out of print but you may be able to pick up a 2nd hand copy from the usual haunts around the interweb]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > Andre Popp - L'Homme Invisible > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.15

Bet you didn't expect another L'Amour à la Chaîne post quite so soon...

You can thank Darby for planting the seed for this next one. In response to Chaîne no. 14 (Johnny Hallyday's Son Amour Pour Un Jeu), she asked if I could post Françoise Hardy's later version of the song: L'Ombre. Which I duly did, here >>.

Next we have Miss Kittin & The Hacker: synthetic disco rhythms and filthy dirty synthesizers, with a bored sounding European girl making banal observations over the top. This is what we used to call "Electroclash" (Is that still a dirty word? Or is there enough distance yet to re-appraise the seedy/glam niteklub fad? Someone at The Quietus reckons there is >>)

This is taken from their inspiringly titled First Album, and we find Miss Kittin adrift in a vortex of swelling, synthesized strings and hard-edge, detuned oscillators, confessing her fears about the man in the shadows who lurks behind her...

...Ah, turns out she's just talking about The Hacker, though perhaps it's not such a sugary relationship: He seems to have enslaved her, and has taken her out on a never-ending tour, forcing her to sing every night in a new city, in her new life. No wonder she sounds so cold and emotionless. And no wonder it took so long for them to get together for album Two.

Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre

[you can purchase First Album from Zero"]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain?
Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > Miss Kittin & The Hacker - L'Homme Dans L'Ombre > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.14

Heeeeeeeeeeeere's JOHNNY! Hot on the heels of Chaîne no. 13, and making his London concert debut at the Royal Albert Hall this week, it's Johnny Hallyday.

Listen up! More multiple linkage coming your way >>>>>

link 1) The last post was Fabienne Delsol's sassy cover of Sylvie Vartan. As you should all know, Sylvie and Johnny were married in 1965 and were the "golden couple" of the yé-yé scene.

link 2) Sylvie's song Ce Jour La was written by Micky Jones and Georges Aber, whilst Johnny's is credited to G. Aber / M. Jones / T. Brown (the same Micky and Georges, with session drummer Tommy).

link 3) Micky Jones and Tommy Brown played in both Sylvie and Johnny's backing bands.

link 4) An English language version of the song Son Amour Pour Un Jeu was recorded by Françoise Hardy in 1969 as Strange Shadows. Fabienne Delsol made a version of Strange Shadows for her On My Mind album, which also features, you guessed it, Ce Jour La.

Managing to keep up? Good. Today's offering is Son Amour Pour Un Jeu, plucked from Johnny's imaginatively titled 1967 studio album Johnny 67 (Disque Philips no. B 70434 L). And let's just say it's almost a dead cert that Johnny won't be performing this one at the Royal Albert Hall...

pipe up Johnny!

Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu

[you can buy this re-issued on Le Roi De France: 1966-1969 on RPM International]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.13

Right, where were we? Somewhere in the not-too-distant past I posted part 12 of this verrrry slowwwwly progressing Chaîne: It was Jacques Dutronc covers band DUTRONC, but they were covering Les Problèmes - recorded at Toe Rag studios with Liam Watson at the helm, and released on Damaged Goods Records.

I've got multiple linkage for you with this next one >>>>>>>

[image source]

C'est Fabienne Delsol with a candy-coated cover version of Sylvie Vartan's Ce Jour La (written by Micky Jones and Georges Aber).

Now, Fabienne's hubby is one Liam Watson [check], who has of course overseen production duties, making good use of all that vintage valve-powered gear he's got racked up down at Toe Rag [check] - the recording oozes analogue warmth and sounds like it really could have been released back in the early 60s, rather than coming out on Miss Delsol's swoonsome On My Mind album on Damaged Goods [check] in 2010. Oh yeah, the album also includes a cover of Pas Adieu by Les Problèmes [check].

Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La

[buy this direct from Damaged Goods Records]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > Fabienne Delsol - Ce Jour La > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.12

Problèmes, problèmes, we've all got 'em.  Violaine had them decidedly, Antoine had them too.

Here is a cover of Antoine's backing band and "1er Groupe Authentique de Rhythm and Blues 100% Français" Les Problèmes by London's premier defunct Jacques Dutronc covers band, DUTRONC.

Recorded at Toe Rag studios and coming from the same stable as Billy Childish, you just know you're in for a good ol' garage racket. Indeed, producer Liam Watson has done a great job of capturing the sound of a garage band playing in a studio but sounding like they are playing in a garage, and I'd like to imagine it's pretty close to what Les Problèmes sounded like live and in the flesh, back in the day (save a few bad pronunciations in the vocal delivery!)

The album is mostly Dutronc covers, plus a couple of Childish originals and the wonkiest version of/response to Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus I've yet heard.  The sleeve has been authentically set out in the style of a 60s Disques Vogue release, including informations en Français, par example 'Stereo "Watsonique"' and 'Coiffure de Parsley: Gino de Cricklewood' (Parsley is the singer, and this is probably only funny to anyone who, like me, has actually been to Cricklewood. Although there is a rather poignant tribute to Gino, who died in 2006).

Ladies and Gentlemen readers, I give you DUTRONC!

Dutronc - Dodecaphonie

[buy Dutronc! Dutronc! Dutronc! by Dutronc from Damaged Goods Records]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > Dutronc - Dodecaphonie > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.11

Keeping it in the family for this next step of la Chaîne: Chritsine Pilzer is the elder half-sister of another star of the French yé-yé scene - Violaine!

Hers she comes with her sass and her stomp, a whole sackful of problems and a snotty sounding harmonica with enough attack to rival Antoine and make Bob Dylan sound like an asthmatic old windbag.

Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement

[buy Violaine from itunes | amazon.co.uk]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > Violaine - J'ai Des Problèmes Décidement > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.10

We've been clearing Grandmother's house following her recent passing.  So much stuff hoarded away throughout her long and colourful life.  Lord knows what we'll do with Grandfather's clock, that great hulking Victorian beast of a time-piece which forever lurked in the dingy hallway.

Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père

[buy Christine Pilzer from CDandLP (if you have lots of money)]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > Christine Pilzer - L'Horloge De Grand-Père > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.9

Pssst!  I think the coast is clear, haven't seen a zombie for weeks now.  The post of the living dead is over.

In the interim, some sad news: A death in the family - Dear ol' grandma shuffled off this mortal coil.  It doesn't look as though she succumbed in the zombie invasion. No, I suspect there my have been foul-play afoot.

But who killed Grandmother?

Perhaps this ecclesiastic euology from Polnareff will shed some light.  And even if it doesn't, it's sure to get all the tears a'flowing*.

Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman?

[buy Polnareff from itunes | amazon.co.uk]

Thank you Michel, that was beautiful.  Not sure why you had to spoil the moment by dressing up in Grandmother's clothes and baring your arse at the congregation though.


* to paraphrase a certain Mr. Cave (who, coincidentally, once covered Polnareff for a tribute album)
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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > Michel Polnareff - Qui a Tué Grand'Maman? > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.8

Last time on la Chaîne we gave you the delectable Gillian Hills performing a swoonsome rendition of a song by The Zombies, and so the logical next step is...

More Zombies...

Two Zombies...

[image source]

Zombie Zombie - the French motorik-electronik duo who were possibly named after a ZX Spectrum game, and, according to their myspace, sound like "a Zombie limbo party".  But Zombie Zombie have ceased to exist, no they were not culled - you can't kill a Zombie after all (or can you? Answers in the comments please!) - They just split up last summer.  BOO! HISS!

Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia

[buy Zombie Zombie from itunes | amazon.co.uk]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > Zombie Zombie - Psychic Harmonia > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.7

Following kitty’s suggestion we give you the lovely Miss Hills and her achingly beautiful rendition of The Zombies’ exquisite baroque-pop lament Leave Me Be.

The link from part 6 > Our Gillian had a small, but racy, part in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange: when that naughty Droog Alex picks her and her ice-lolly sucking friend up in the local record emporium, inviting them back to his pad to listen to some of his "angel trumpets and devil trombones".

Gillian Hills – Rentre Sans Moi

[buy Gillian Hills from itunes | amazon.co.uk]



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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > Gillian Hills - Rentre Sans Moi > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.6

Remember last time, we took you to the Paris Métro? Today you find us on the Glasgow underground, known locally as the ‘Clockwork Orange’ on account of the 70s brown and orange colour-scheme and the fact it runs like a little clockwork train on a loop around the city centre.

Here it comes now...

...mind your head as you step inside the diminutive carriage.

You know in France they would call it “L’Orange Mécanique”. I’ve heard it’s due a refurbishment, but the locals are too fond of the kitschy decor: peeling paint, cracked tiles, letters missing from signs - like that one over there.

ORA  GE MÉCANIQUE 

We know a song about that. It's by Parisian indie fire-brands du jour Les Shades.

Les Shades - Orage Mécanique
[buy Les Shades from Tricatel | itunes.
also, watch their tasty hi-contrast video]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > Les Shades – Orage Mécanique > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.5

Whenever I’m on the Paris Métro the doors-closing horn always reminds me of that opening klaxon-salvo on Monster Bobby (see pt.4).

Deep in the belly of the Porte des Lilas Métro station, the ticket-puncher sits, going slowly crazy in the half-light.  Day after day after day, over and over, again and again and again: punching "Little holes, little holes, always little holes…"

He dreams of getting away. He's seen exotic places in the Reader's Digest, places he can only dream of reaching on his pitiful wage - if the Métro doesn't go there, neither will he.  He eyes a first-class suit with jealousy as he punches another first-class hole: summer holidays are coming, and I'll be stuck here with this ever growing mountain of little holes gathering at my feet.

And at night: he dreams of nothing but the little punched holes that he leaves in Hansel & Gretel-style trails all the way back to his flea-pit of a home.  He wakes in a cold sweat in the dead of night, the little holes falling like confetti from the ceiling, littering the squalid bed-clothes, and peppering the floor as he staggers to the bureau and feels for the cold, hard steel of his papa's army-issue rifle.

"Little holes, little holes, always little holes…"

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and makes one last little hole

.

And then some poor sod has to dig another, bigger hole to put him in.



There is now a "garden" at Porte des Lilas, dedicated to Serge and his song. Not much bigger than a metro ticket and overlooking the Boulevard Périphérique, it's hardly an oasis of tranquility for your average stir-crazy ticket-puncher. Perhaps they've planted some ornamental cabbages...

If you do go to Paris, visit Serge's house, or go and leave a metro ticket on his grave at the Cimetière de Montparnasse.

Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas

[buy Serge Gainsbourg from iTunes | Amazon.uk]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > Serge Gainsbourg – Le Poinçonneur des Lilas > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.4

Hmm, seem to have gone a bit off the boil with these. Hopefully this will kick start la Chaîne again [see pt.3 for the story so far]...

In response to the terrace-style stomp of Cara-Lin we awaken the terrace-style chanting of this little terror.

"YOU'RE NOT SINGING, YOU'RE NOT SINGING, YOU'RE NOT SINGING ANYMORE..."

I reckon by the time Bobby and his thugs are through with us we'll all be going home in a fucking ambulance.


Monster Bobby first reared his ugly head on Add Insult To Injury, the 4th album from, now imploded, analogue synth fetishists/abusers Add N To (X).

But who are Add N To (X)?


Add N To (X) formed in 1994, with a motley arsenal of vintage synths and a perverted mind-set at their disposal.  They delighted, confused and titillated with their Avant-Hard brand of proto-electronic sci-fi robot-sex rock.  They also made some saucy videos, which you can view at your risk: here and here. Then they fell apart in 2003, and an ugly synthesizer custody battle ensued.

There used to be a cool (Channel 4?) documentary about them, but it got removed from bloody youtube


Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby
[buy Add N To (X) from Mute Records | Amazon.uk]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > Add N To (X) – Monster Bobby > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.3

Happy New Year!

Our first (proper) post of 2011 is the next step in the chain of love: The link is Marseille, where a certain Italian composer heard the 3-note police siren that inspired the stirring and monumental Je Changerais D'Avis...

Les 5 Gentlemen formed in Corsica as Les Ambitieux, but set up base in Marseille where they switched names and honed their Franco-R'n'B psych-garage sound. They also had a pop at the British pop charts releasing one single - Daytime: an English language cover of Dis-Nous Dylan - under the name of Darwin's Theory.  It bombed.  In 1966 they released their first ep for Riviera with a true freakbeat stomper as the lead track.

Cara-Lin, is a cover of a song originally written and recorded by the writer/producer team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer (aka FGG Productions) for their faux-Aussie garage band The Strangeloves.

Check out this freakout Scopitone of Les Gents performing under the arches at some crazy, drug-fuelled happening.


Other essentials by Les 5 Gentlemen include the acid-nightmare LSD 25 and piano-led belter Si Tu Reviens Chez Moi.




Les 5 Gentlemen - Cara-Lin
[buy Les 5 Gentlemen from Amazon.fr | discogs.com]


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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > Les 5 Gentlemen – Cara-Lin > ?

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.2

From Jacques Dutronc's L'Amour à la Chaîne we move on to...

Françoise Hardy's Je Changerais D'Avis.

There are some obvious links: We could focus in on Dutronc and Hardy, arguably French pop's most beautiful couple, who finally married in 1981, and only recently separated (though they still remain close); Or on the fact both tracks were released on the Disques Vogue label; It's also worth mentioning that Dutronc penned one of Hardy's early hits Le Temps De L'Amour.

But no, Jacques Lanzmann is the shared interest. It was he who co-wrote the majority Dutronc's back-catalogue, but did you know he collaborated with Françoise Hardy on the French lyrics for Je Changerais D'Avis?

Released in 1966, this is possibly the most emotionally charged song in Françoise Hardy's back catalogue: it opens with a disarmingly understated verse and bridge, then just explodes into a great, big heartbreaking chorus. A brief pause for breath and a snare-roll, then it rockets off higher into the stratosphere. It's one of those songs, like River Deep, Mountain High, that leaves you breathless and ragged, and it never fails to bring a tear to my eye.



And the composer of this musical rollercoaster?  Genius cinematic soundtracker Ennio Morricone.

According to legend the 3-note melody was based on the police sirens Morricone heard from his Marseille hotel room one night. He composed a spiralling, repetitive cycle which ran through 8 tonal transitions, the tension building with each one. The song was originally released as Se Telefonando earlier in 1966 by Italian belter Mina, with lyrics by Maurizio Costanzo.


Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis
[buy Françoise Hardy from iTunes | Amazon.uk | cdandlp.com]

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L'Amour à la Chaîne: what will be the next link in the chain? Leave your suggestions and reasons in the comments.
Jacques Dutronc - L'Amour à la Chaîne > Françoise Hardy - Je Changerais D'Avis > ?