Ripping Vinyl - Karo

Would Madame et Monsieur care for a little vinyl warmth to start le weekend? How about a double-serving of pure, unadulterated Québécoise sweetness by Karo, on the Trans-Canada Vedettes imprint?

You French pop fans will probably know Karo (real name Caroline Vallée), for her sugar-y 60s HIT 'Un Garçon En Mini-Jupe' (what was it back then with all those boys with long hair and mini-skirts and girls with short hair in trousers?). What you may not know is that she penned the music and lyrics to most of her songs, which certainly wasn't the norm for most female pop artistes back then. These two being perfect examples of her oeuvre, encapsulating an, undoubtedly rose-tinted and very saccharine, world view.

Here she is in double-vision with her ever-present smile and schoolgirl bunches:

[image source]

And here she is oiling up her motorbike, though possibly not getting ready to join the Ton-Up Club...

...As this evidence suggests...

Could anyone make the prospect of riding pillion with a roaring motorcycle between your legs sound quite so twee as Karo does? "VRROOM! VRROOOOOM!" She squeals as she wraps her arms around her leather-clad beau and they race off down the Route TransCanadienne.

Karo - Sur Ta Moto


On the flip-side, Karo hauls a gang of school kids in and together they summon up the joyful sound of going away on summer holiday (and not a Cliff in sight!). It's absolutely brimful of sunshine and happiness, and then she slips in a key-change and the cup of glee runneth over.

Altogether now, everybody cheer: "HEYYYYYY!"

Karo - Je M'en Vais En Vacances

[you can download a compilation of Karo's 60s material Un Garçon En Mini-Jupe from 7digital or archambault.ca. If you'd like to buy the 45, there's one in the US on musicstack, a snip at £22.37.]


I have a couple more Karo 45s hanging around, so if you like these songs and want to hear more from her, leave nice comments and it will encourage me to dig them out.

Ripping Vinyl - France Gall

I promised a France Gall vinyl rip, so here are 2 songs that were not included on the Made In France compilation, but date from the same era.

I warn you now, despite successive attempts at cleaning this record, the tracks are still rather crackly (hence my decision not to post the other 2 tracks which are both readily available on various FG compilations already). If any readers out there are any good at removing hiss and crackle from audio files, and fancy trying to clean them up, drop me a line and I'd be happy to share the masters.

Right, onto business!

Le Premier Chagrin D'Amour is a gentle number co-written by France's papa, with some easy-listening brass that Mr. Bacharach himself would have been proud of.  Okay, it's not her catchiest song, but it's not just vinyl-filler either.

On T'Avait Prévenue finds France crammed into the vocal booth with a gang of menacing sounding school-friends. Yep, we're back in altogether more yé-yé territory. I really can't understand why this hasn't appeared on any re-issues, its catchy, bouncy, jangly, cute, there's some tasty guitar licks, and Alain Goraguer is at the helm: surely all things that make a bonafide French 60s pop hit?

France Gall - Le Premier Chagrin D'Amour

France Gall - On T'Avait Prévenue

Ripping Vinyl - April March

I can't believe it's been nearly 4 months since I posted that ace early 60s Tienou 45! But I have finally made myself a little time to get some more vinyl ripped, and now I just need to find the time to post it. So if you enjoy this one, please do leave a comment and it will certainly encourage me to post some more...

Today we have a rare and tasty treat from April March: a 10" clear vinyl ep Dans les yeux d'April March, with Bertrand Burgalat on production duties, released in 1999 on French label Tricatel (the first release from their 'Tricatel Club' series).

Track 1 is a sparkling synth/lounge pop re-working of Chantal Goya’s delectable Mon Ange Gardien. This is a slightly different mix to the version you may have heard on All's Fair In Love and Chick Factor, with cleaner production and a little lighter on the reverb and effects.

April March - Mon Ange Gardien

Glucide is a purely instrumental mix of the song Sugar (the opener on her Chrominance Decoder album). Removing April’s (occasionally too cloyingly) sweet vocal has allowed Monsieur Burgalat’s retro-futurist production sensibilities to shine. The result: a sinister 70s synth-funk workout.

April March - Glucide

And first on Face B is Magic Ass: A raw'n'gutsy freakbeat-y number, with a cool sitar breakdown and a chorus which seems to go “Cos Johnny’s is a magic… I can tell by the way she walks”. I like to think it’s a reference to Jane Birkin’s character in the taboo Gainsbourg-directed film Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus. Magic Ass indeed!

Whoever Johnny is, the song is ace and I defy you not to get up and get down to it!

April March - Magic Ass

The final track is another instrumental (this time a version of Mignonette, also from Chrominance Decoder), and it would seem Burgalat’s intention here was to give April her very own Brigitte Bardot Show-style dance workout. Dance, April, dance!

April March - Ningette

[Dans Les Yeux d'April March has long been deleted, but there are 2nd hand copies out there if you are willing to pay good money, see Discogs.com or CDandLP.com.]

Ripping Vinyl - Tienou

Finally got around to finishing off some vinyl ripping I started a while ago. First up, I give you Tienou...

Here are some wise words from the elusive Sasha Monett on the back of that G.i.t.G vol. 12 album I'm still raving about. 

"Les Princesses is a cool French-style girl group. Perhaps they were trying to be the French Supremes. This band features Ariane, Erma and Tienou. Ariane and Tienou (born French Guyana in South America) also went on to release records on their own, some of which (especially Tienou) are very good - look for them!"

Look for them is what I did... And the results of all that looking: I took a punt on a couple of Tienou vinyl 45s without even hearing any of the tracks (nothing on YouTube, no mp3s, nothing on any P-2-P sites, nowt, zero, rien).

So they appeared, wrapped in folded picture sleeves with the same picture front and back, and, behold, they were pretty damn fine - early 60s orchestral pop with clean'n'twangy guitar licks from that brief period between the tail-end of the Rock'n'Roll years and the explosion of the Beat boom. Released in 1964(?), both sides are co-written by Tienou and someone called Gil Carasso (Encyclopédisque has this listed incorrectly as Carso or Gil Carso) with orchestration by Jean Bouchéty - which is always a sure stamp of quality!

File alongside Gillian Hills' early output; Louise Cordet; Bardot's early 60s material.

I really love the tension where the guitar goes TWAANNG-NG-NG-NGGGG and there's just a slight pause - Magic!

Tienou - Si J'Entends Frapper à Ma Porte

This one's got those deep, male backing vocals, played off against super high-pitched strings with Tienou sitting in the sweet spot right at the centre.

Tienou - Tu N'Peux Pas T'Empêcher De Rire

So you might be wondering what happened to the other seven-inch.  Well, I put it in my record box and took it out to DJ a couple of times, but never got round to playing it.  Then one day I took it out of its sleeve and found a large chunk of vinyl missing from the edge - GUTTED!

If anyone out there has mp3s of either of the tracks I'd be truly grateful for copies, as I really can't afford to buy another copy.

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

a good charity shop haul

Last Friday we went for a little day-trip to Bexhill-on-Sea, where we trawled the many charity and junk shops for second-hand treasures. I flicked my way through record-after-record of James Last and Sound Of Music LPs, but I came away with a nice little haul.

In the very first charity shop I picked up a copy of The Art Of Noise's 1984 proto-sample cut-and-stick pop hit Close (To The Edit) for 30p. A little musique concrète gem amongst the Lionel Richies and Band Aids. The b-side is a curious one – a medley/sampler of all the tracks on their album Who’s Afraid Of (The Art Of Noise), and the sleeve has a punch-out token for 50p off the album (offer closes 30th November 1984).












The Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit)









The Art Of Noise -A Time To Hear (Who's Listening)
[buy The Art Of Noise from iTunes | Amazon.uk]

Our final stop of the day unearthed something even better – a 1965 Françoise Hardy seven-inch, the UK version of Le Temps Des Souvenirs sung in English as Just Call And I’ll Be There. And on the flip-side, one of my faves, You Just Have To Say The Word. It used to belong to Hazel, who lost the sleeve, but did stick a little name label on with (age-yellowed) sellotape. And the price: a mere 49p!









Françoise Hardy - Just Call And I'll Be There
Françoise Hardy - You Just Have To Say The Word
[buy Françoise Hardy from Amazon.com]

Other records I picked up:
A Link Wray Early Recordings LP for 50p
A 1981 reissued Sun Records compilation LP Rebel Rockabilly for 50p
And, er, The Most of Lulu for 50p for the track Love Loves To Love Love.

Once we’d got charity shop fatigue we went for a little walk along the prom, and in the evening we went to see our dear friend Bat For Lashes at the De La Warr Pavillion.

[image source]

It was a grand day out.

………………………………………………………………
ps. I’m pleased to say I’ve finally set up my record player so I can record vinyl.