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 > ?

Electro Rapide & Blood Red Roses

The wonderful Finders Keepers Records has just released 2 new Jean-Claude Vannier albums.  Yes two!

The first, Electro Rapide, is a collection of rarities and curios from the Vannier tape vaults, taken from the period before and during his time working with a certain Monsieur Gainsbourg.  It's a bizarre and brief (only 25 minutes long) mix of the epic, comic, strange, and sometimes disturbing mind of the composer-arranger.

More info and soundclips

The second, Roses Rouge Sang, is an album of brand new material recorded with the cream of the session musicians who plied their trade on the 60s scene (Vic Flick, Dougie Wright, Herbie Flowers, Pierre-Alain Dahan, Tony Bonfils, Denys Lable, and Mark Chantereau).  The fruits of this re-union could almost be a long-lost early-70s album by Gainsbourg himself - all brooding strings and taut, rhythmic funk. Whilst Vannier's vocal-style recalls Serge's earlier hesitant chansonnier style.

More info and soundclips


A version of the following song appears on Electro Rapide.  You can find this "mid-tempo version" as a bonus track on Vannier's L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches (also on Finders Keepers)

Jean-Claude Vannier - Je M'Appelle Geraldine (mid-tempo version)
[buy Electro Rapide and Roses Rouges Sang on CD and mp3 direct from Finders Keepers Records - they need your support having lost most of their physical stock in the PIAS warehouse fire back in August]

Souvenirs Souvenirs

So, we went to Nice. Nice was nice and Nice was tres expensive, and so my hope of coming home arms laden with records was slightly foiled...

We did pick up one or two souvenirs that didn't empty our pockets though:

I picked this one up at the flea market for 1 euro: a seven-inch ep of Léo Petit, ses Guitares et ses Rythmes playing "4 Rocks Formidables", on the Trianon label. No idea what year it's from. On side a, Léo and his band twang their way through surf-guitar fave Kili-Watch and give us a faithful instrumental rendition of Johnny Hallyday's Souvenirs Souvenirs. On the flip there's a slowwwwwwwed down stroll through Apache, and some brassed-up primal screaming in Tu Parles Trop. (It's worth checking out Léo Petit's entry at discogs.com - he has quite a CV!)

a1) Léo Petit - Kili-Watch

a2) Léo Petit - Souvenirs Souvenirs

b1) Léo Petit - Apache

b2) Léo Petit - Tu Parles Trop

[buy Léo Petit from CDandLP.com | search via discogs.com]

I thought I'd give you a couple of bonus comparison songs - other versions I have of 2 of the tracks:

There's nothing like a superlative novelty hit getting cashed-in, and dragged-out across a full-length album, and that's just what seventies Moog-toters Hot Butter did with their Popcorn album. Their version of Apache borrows most of the clever arrangement tricks employed on their breakthrough hit, and you can almost sing that famous Popcorn melody over it in some places.

Hot Butter - Apache

[buy Hot Butter from iTunes | Amazon.uk]

Another Stereo Total song! Fittingly, this one was recorded with Alex Chilton (see previous post). Our favourite Franco-German punkrock-disco-bubblegumpop-chansonieres get all heavyheavy on their own rockabilly rumble through Johnny's 1960 hit.

Stereo Total - Souvenir Souvenir

[buy Stereo Total from iTunes | Amazon.uk]

And here is Johnny himself sur la moto