C'est Chic! (Ace Records)

My copy of the new Ace Records C'est Chic! album dropped onto the doormat this morning...

It fulfils its role as an introduction to "French girl singers of the 1960s", and still has something to offer enthusiasts/trainspotters like me seeking new gems to sate their appetite.

Over the 24 songs, they've picked a few familiar tracks that have popped up in films and TV ads (B.B. as recently heard on a Stella beer ad; Françoise Hardy's Voila, which soundtracked a Horlicks ad, then was plundered by R*bbie W*ll*ams;  Laisser Tomber Les Filles, which the whole world will no doubt recognise as April March's Chickhabit from that Tarrantino flick).

There's also a handful of yé-yé 'classics' like Roller Girl, C'est La Mode, and, possibly the most comped French pop track ever Les Filles C'est Fait Pour Faire L'amour by Charlotte Leslie (5 compilation inclusions and counting), and it does sometimes feel like these outshine the more obscure numbers.

A real bonus is the hefty booklet filled with record covers and photos of the featured girls, plus the extensive track-by-track commentaries penned by the people behind Ready Steady Girls.

For me, it was worth the entry fee alone for Louise Cordet's scratchy violin twister, Michèle Torr's Gainsbourg-penned canter-along, and especially the closing Liz Brady number: Il Suffit D'un Jour sounds like a long-lost Bond-theme (in French of course). A heady 2 minutes 48 of  John Barry-esque strings, brass, harpsichord and timpani-laden drama directed by Jacques Denjean.

Liz Brady - Il Suffit D'un Jour
[buy C'est Chic! from Amazon.uk]

a post about Les Beatles

There’s been a big hoo-har this week about the new Beatles box-set – They’ve cleaned up all the albums and taken out all the extraneous sounds and pops and clicks and bum notes (i.e. everything that gave the songs character and charm). The back catalogue is now sterilised and polished and made far too shiny and new for the digital generation. In about 10 years time they will probably add noise and vinyl hiss to all the master tapes so that they can re-package them again and sell them to everyone who already has them, claiming that they now have all the analogue warmth of the original reel-to-reel tapes just as they were first heard in Abbey Road studio 1.

[image from Sun boiled Onions by Vic Reeves]

Did you know that back in the times of Les Beatle-mania, Liz Brady entertained The Fab Four? She flirted with them and they played along, she taught them some cute chat-up lines en Français and they dutifully bleated them back: a quartet of mop-topped Mersey-beat parrots. Ringo thumped out a beat on the table and a Pastis-fuelled sing-along was recorded. The boys had picked up a few tips to woo all those sweet mademoiselles they would meet as they toured around the French provinces. And Liz had a baudy little call-and-response number for her next single. They bid her adieu and trooped off in their Beatle-boots. She never saw them again.

In the cold light of day, it would appear Mlle Brady was duped by a gang of faux-Scouse chancers. Those comical accents are more Marx Brothers than Mersey Beat, and the hooky John Lennon just had to get the last word in “Soww Lanng Leeeez!”

Liz Brady – Un Garçon Dit a Une Fille
[this was re-released on Girls In The Garage Volume 10 - Groovy Gallic Gals!]


Pssst! Don’t tell Paul, but Françoise Cactus loves Ringo, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It’s understandable, Françoise plays the drums. Ringo plays the drums too. Françoise thinks they could connect over rhythm methods. Just don’t tell Paul, he says Ringo’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles.

Stereo Total – Ringo, I Love You

Pssssssst! Definitely don’t tell Paul, Françoise loves Yoko too.

Stereo Total – I Love You, Ono
[buy Stereo Total: iTunes | Risi-Bisi Popshop]