the Addict on the box

An abridged version of this advert may have caught yr eyes and ears on the telly lately: heavily influenced by Roger Vadim's Et Dieu... Créa La Femme, and with assorted Nouvelle Vague references thrown in (the Madison scene from Bande à Part, and Umbrellas of Cherbourg, anyone?), plus music by our fave Franco-German lo-fi/punk/rockabilly/8-bit/electronic pop/trash duo Stereo Total. Even for someone who finds the whole "perfume thing" over-rated, over-expensive, throat stinging and eye-watering, the Dior Addict advert is a visual and aural treat*



It's not the first time Stereo Total's I Love You, Ono has been used in an advert, and we hope that Plastics get a little cut of the royalties on each and every play, for it was they who wrote the song.


[If anyone out there has any music by Plastics, we would love to hear it - get in touch.]


*trust me, you absolutely will not see me heading for the nearest perfume counter.

I spy (with my little eye)

Everyone out there’s ranting on about James Bond double-o seven… Now we have no idea what a Quantum of Solace is, and we couldn’t really give a flying Nick Nack.

Let’s go back to a time when Bond themes were good, and when CGI wasn’t relied upon as a valid plot-replacement device: It’s 1969, Jean-Jacques Perrey unleashes The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound of Jean-Jacques Perrey. Track 7 is his very own Moog-ed up homage to Her Majesty’s number 7 spy - a poignant, understated little ditty, which probably wasn’t even considered for official Bond-theme material because its composer was French!

Jean-Jacques Perrey – Mister James Bond

[Space Age Pop has a nice little biog of Perrey including links to get hold of his albums.]


Rewind three years: At the height of her fame, Petula Clark must have been itching to get her voice ‘round a Bond theme. But Mister Barry snubbed her, so she penned her own, complete with comedy dying sound effects.

Petula Clark – L’Agent Secret

[Dans Mon Café posted this song in January 07. It’s all gone quiet over there at the moment, and I imagine the mp3 link is long-dead now. However, a helpful reader left a comment with the lyrics in English and French, so you can see all the ways those secret agents died, and how to be the best!]


Here's something every spy should carry in their briefcase:

But there are other spies too y’know…

Plastics will tell you all about the most elusive spy ever to operate out of Tokyo:

Plastics – Top Secret Man

[I love Plastics, they’re like Japan’s answer to Devo and The B-52s. If anyone out there knows where I can hear more Plastics, please write in.]

And talking of Devo, here’s their De-volutionary cover of the US Danger Man theme from Duty Now For The Future.

Devo – Secret Agent Man

[I much prefer this earlier jerkier garage-version featured in the short film In the Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-evolution. Things to look out for: Booji Boy’s wayward hand-jiving; 2 ape-masked men paddling the behind of a strange looking china-doll lady; the monkey-masked man that goes “SE-CRET!”; and the home-made electronic drums that look like car hub-caps. One thing to ignore: the idiot who introduces the video]

Devo – Secret Agent Man