un petit peu de Gillian Hills

Since firing off my last post, there's been this little nagging voice in my head going "FerGawd'sSakeMan,JustGive'emWhatTheyWant", and since what the majority of our visitors want this week is the lovely Miss Hills, I now give to you un petit peu de Gillian Hills.

Beginning with the song everyone's talking about, as covered in that opening episode of Mad Men season 2.

Gillian Hills - Zou Bisou Bisou

Next, it's time to stop traffic the Gillian Hills way, here she comes doing the Cha Cha along the central reservation

Gillian Hills - Cha Cha Stop

One of my fave Gillian songs now, and I ain't lying - a proper yé-yé groover which is so yé-yé that April March covered it on her Paris in April yé-yé tribute album.

Gillian Hills - Tu Mens

This next one will get all the boys (and most of the girls) fawning over our Gillian *puff puff*

Gillian Hills - Ma Première Cigarette

and if you don't believe me check out the video

And finally, penned by Gillian herself, this beautifully baroque and Françoise Hardy-esque little gem from her last ep.

Gillian Hills - Rien N'est Changé

If you hurry, you may also find a song in our L'Amour à la Chaîne thread, and there's another featured in one of our mixtapes.

Gillian Hills: Beat Girl, Blow Up doll, ice lolly-sucking devotchka and all-round Swinging Mademoiselle, we salute you!

If you enjoyed this little introduction to the music of Gillian Hills, I can highly recommend the Twistin' The Rock compilation which, although hard to find as a physical CD, is available here, here and here among other places

And if you want to delve deeper into the world of Gillian, I suggest you start by visiting her at her personal website, where she relates her own story and guides you through her music, acting and modelling careers, as well as showing off her poetry and illustrations.

After that, you could check out Cha Cha Charming's profile of Gillian which focusses on her musical output, and then move on to the Ready Steady Girls site for a biog and audio clips.

All aboard the yé-yé train

I still haven't *got* Mad Men, but apparently the makers are willing to meet me halfway by opening the new series (season?) with a cover version of a Gillian Hills song 'Zou Bisou Bisou'



I'm still not sold (is it meant to be so wooden?) and to be honest I have precious little time to watch one episode let alone a whole series. I mean "season". Ahem.

But I'm no TV critic, so what does my opinion matter.

What I do know is that "everyone" was apparently "talking" about it around the mythical "watercooler" come Monday morning, and they were talking so loud it even trickled through to my little corner of the world.

So they'll all be wanting to know what this yé-yé thing is all about, and thankfully someone has hastily provided a handy beginner's guide: A Field Guide to 1960s French Yé-Yé Pop.

Now all this probably sounds like I'm some embittered blogger who thinks the crowds are going to come and take his precious amour away. Au contraire mes amis, it just feels like everyone's finally coming round to my way of thinking.

So if you've just discovered the wonderful world of French yé-yé, and you're reading this, please take some time to look around and enjoy the music on offer (including the mixtapes we've posted on Mixcloud), maybe even 'follow' us...

I would also recommend you check out these blogs and sites as your next port of call

• http://blow-up-doll.blogspot.co.uk/
• http://fillessourires.com/
• http://www.readysteadygirls.eu/
• http://www.chachacharming.com/
• http://www.mondopq.com/
• see also our list of Aimes in the right column

Right, I'm off to do some painting and listen to some French femme pop...

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 > ?

Resolution

Let's face it, the vast majority of people who make their new year resolutions at the start of January will be well and truly off their respective wagons by now, rendering the whole charade a little futile. I've never been much good at keeping them myself - in fact the only one I can seriously remember upholding was my 2006 vow to give up my job before the year was out. Eight months later I escaped the shackles of full-time employment, and I've been skint but happy ever since.

This year I thought I should try and post more music here on L'Amour Electronique. A resolution which was somewhat at odds with last years not-so-successful plan to spend less time on my computer. In the first week of January my computer had to be taken in for some repairs to stop big blocks of white obscuring the display. It was gone for over 2 weeks, which was enough time to get me used to a life sans ordinateur. Yes, I denounced the teachings of Kraftwerk, I fell out of love with computer.

My plan is to make more posts, but to be a bit less elaborate with them. 2010 will be the year of the more prolific/less verbose L'Amour Electronique.

On the subject of New Year's resolutions, any red-blooded males out there trying to give up the smokes, I suggest you look away now.


You see Miss Hills has been hanging out with that bad boy Jimmy. She's only sweet sixteen and he's her little champion, taking her behind the bike-sheds for that quintessentially 50's/ 60's rite of passage. We tried to warn her, Jimmy's nothing but a bad influence, she'll be rolling round naked with Jane Birkin before you know it.

*puff* *puff*

Gillian Hills - Ma Première Cigarette
[buy Gillian Hills: iTunes | Amazon.fr]