ghosts of halloween past

Does this look awfully lazy me re-visiting ghosts of halloween past? Sorry if it does, but I just don't have the time to find and compile anything new (and I like to think there are still people out there who haven't come across either of these mixtapes yet).

Quelle Horreur! is my original mix of ghoulish Gallic psyche, creepy freakbeat and blood-thirsty femme-pop...

1. Stella - Si vous connaissez quelque-chose de pire qu'un vampire, parlez m'en toujours, ça pourra peut-être me faire sourire

2. Serge Gainsbourg - Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde

3. Christine Pilzer - Dracula

4. Les Maledictus Sound - Kriminal Theme

5. Evariste - Connais-Tu I'animal Qui Inventa Le Calcul Integral

6. France Gall - Frankenstein

7. Jany L. - Mon Joli Vampire

8. Gérard Manset - Animal on est mal

9. Les Maledictus Sound - Monster Cocktail

10. Nicole Paquin - Mon Mari C'est Frankenstein

11. Brigitte Bardot - Le Diable Est Anglais

QUELLE HORREUR! VOL. 1 (40.9mb zip file)

Quelle Horreur! vol. 2 is dripping with sinister synths, creepy claviolines, demonic drum machines, and eerie electronica...

1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind - The Shining (Main Title)
2. Kap Bambino - Batcaves
3. Relaxed Muscle - Beastmaster
4. Future Bible Heroes - I'm a Vampire
5. Ladytron - Miss Black
6. John Carpenter - Halloween Theme (Main Title)
7. Zombie Zombie - Walk Of The Dead
8. Broadcast - Evil Is Coming
9. Les Georges Leningrad - Cocktail Vampire
10. Suicide - Ghostrider
11. Mount Vernon Arts Lab – Hobgoblins
12. Stereo Total – Film D’Horreur
13. Lio - Bébé Vampire
14. I Monster - The Blue Wrath
15. The Moontrekkers - Return of The Vampires

QUELLE HORREUR! VOL. 2 (57.1mb zip file)

I got the blues for Françoise

'Scuse me for possibly being a little bit fashionably late for the party, but I got violently ill at the weekend and, well, some things (like being violently ill*) are more important than blogging.

I've been rather enamoured of late by the new Ace Records Françoise Hardy compilation. which brings together her English language output between 1968 and 1972, a period when she worked a lot with Tommy Brown and Micky Jones (who also worked with Sylvie; and then as Johnny's backing band The Blackburds; and who have had honourable mention before here and here), and a time when rumours that she might work with Nick Drake, sadly never came to fruition.

You get 2 almost complete albums of post-psychedelic folk rock and Françoise charming your ears with her delicate, slightly hesitant English. Some fine sleevenotes from Mr Bob Stanley too!

You can (and should!) buy the CD direct from Ace Records for £11.50 inc. free delivery in the UK via the following link >> Francoise Hardy - Midnight Blues Paris London 1968-1972 (Ace Records)

Now, if only my mp3 files were accessible, I would post a song... but they ain't so I'm currently looking round for a more reliable host body. Watch this space.


*such things are not necessarily as much fun as, though they are often a lot more work than, blogging... Both can certainly be draining though.

C'est Halloween, moi j'ai peur

Time to dust off those Halloween mixtapes again.

If you like ghoulish Gallic psyche, creepy freakbeat and freaky femme-pop, look no further...

1. Stella - Si vous connaissez quelque-chose de pire qu'un vampire, parlez m'en toujours, ça pourra peut-être me faire sourire

2. Serge Gainsbourg - Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde

3. Christine Pilzer - Dracula

4. Les Maledictus Sound - Kriminal Theme

5. Evariste - Connais-Tu I'animal Qui Inventa Le Calcul Integral

6. France Gall - Frankenstein

7. Jany L. - Mon Joli Vampire

8. Gérard Manset - Animal on est mal

9. Les Maledictus Sound - Monster Cocktail

10. Nicole Paquin - Mon Mari C'est Frankenstein

11. Brigitte Bardot - Le Diable Est Anglais

>>DOWNLOAD QUELLE HORREUR VOL. 1 (40.9mb zip file)>>
[previously posted here >>]

This one is chock-full of sinister synths, creepy claviolines, demonic drum machines, and eerie electronica...

1. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind - The Shining (Main Title)
2. Kap Bambino - Batcaves
3. Relaxed Muscle - Beastmaster
4. Future Bible Heroes - I'm a Vampire
5. Ladytron - Miss Black
6. John Carpenter - Halloween Theme (Main Title)
7. Zombie Zombie - Walk Of The Dead
8. Broadcast - Evil Is Coming
9. Les Georges Leningrad - Cocktail Vampire
10. Suicide - Ghostrider
11. Mount Vernon Arts Lab – Hobgoblins
12. Stereo Total – Film D’Horreur
13. Lio - Bébé Vampire
14. I Monster - The Blue Wrath
15. The Moontrekkers - Return of The Vampires

>>DOWNLOAD QUELLE HORREUR VOL. 2 (57.1mb zip file)>>

[originally posted here >>]



***BONUS PIECE OF DISTURBING SCREAMO FREAKBEAT NASTINESS POUR VOUS***

Jacques Filh - Wraaaach!!!

[you can buy this Jacques Filh track on the new Beginner's Guide To French Pop compilation]

Beginner's Guide To French Pop

Well looky here, a new compilation of 60s Frenchness has come my way  - the Beginner’s Guide To French Pop is touted as a “Triple CD set of the most thrilling 1960s French pop from the vaults of EMI full of classic yé- yé, Beatles-esque** hits & psych-pop all with a Gallic twist & compiled by Kid Loco”

What this means, is that there is a copy writer out there who really needs to work on breaking up their sentence structures; and, more enticingly, that French DJ and homme de l'électronique Kid Loco has been let loose in the French EMI archives, given free reign to plunder long deceased labels such as Odeon, Pathé Marconi, Trianon, Ducretet-Thomson, Columbia, and La Voix De Son Maître (His Master’s Voice, to you and me).

Now, the artwork/design really doesn't do it for me (it looks like the kind of thing you can only buy in petrol stations) and the sleeve notes are minimal, no detailed artist biographies here, instead Kid Loco provides us with a pithy one-liner about each track. What really hooked me was when I saw the tracklisting and only recognised 14 of the 45 artists, and even then not all of those individual tracks. Oh yeah and the fact that it was cheapcheapcheap - Here's my money, send me the CDs!

I wasn't expecting much of Disc One (1962-64). I was wrong. Mmmm, it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling with its jazzy Hammond grooves, finger-poppin strut-alongs, Beatnik rhythm'n'blues, galloping surf guitars, exotic percussion, and big band orchestral pop. Thems were more innocent times, but I'm still getting that thrill of dropping the needle onto a crisp vinyl biscuit, hearing the pop and crackle, and then the full-on rush of those naïvely produced sounds all crammed together into a couple of minutes of treble-y hysteria. 

My faves? Les Chats Sauvages & Dick River's racey rock'n'roll surfer C'est Joli Comme; Curt Martin's Hammond instrumental re-working of Alice Dona's C'est Pas Prudent; Hector's Hong Kong, an as-unhinged-as-the-original, cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You; a sappy, pure pop with harpsichords ditty by Gérard Brent (who later played guitar for Jean-Pierre Massiera and Jacky Chalard!); and this moody, cinematic, comme John Barry, epic from Ken Lean. 

Ken Lean - La Nuit



Onto Disc Two (1965-66), and now we're swinging into more yé- yé territory: skipping past the lush orchestrations of Serge et Michele Arnaud's Les Papillons Noirs, Dani's pneumatic Ta Machine, and Christie Laume's just-on-the-right-side-of-out-of-tune L'Adorable Femme Des Neiges, you'll find some swoonsome orchestral pop and soulful big band belters, a dose of dark, sitar drenched psyché-rock, a couple of Northern Soul-style floor fillers, and even some Lee Hazlewood-esque baroque pop.

I got a bit foamy at the mouth over Les Ambitieux (who later became Les 5 Gentlemen) - an ultra-urgent beat-group calling everyone to DANSE! DANSE! DANSE! DANSE!; Ken Lean (again!) with some space-age easy-listening from WAYYY OUT; Dick Rivers (on his own this time) and coming over all dark and exotic with a bombastic sitar-psych dirge; Jennifer's John Barry-style spy-flick torch song; Regis Barly's Monsieur Qui Sait Tout - which sounds like it came from an amphetamine-fuelled Lee Hazlewood studio session; and best of all, this brassy Northern Soul femme-pop smasher, with those archetypal Gallic cascading bass runs and fuzz guitar licks all over it:

Nicole Legendre - Tu Veux Tout Changer




We've made it to Disc Three (1967-70). Phew! And we're heading into murkier, more prog-infested waters. One or two of the later tracks tend to drift off into endless, self-indulgent stoner jams, but there's still plenty of sinister, slow-burning psychedelia, trippy freakouts and popsike delights to keep you listening.

My picks are the terrifying screamo freakbeat that is Wraaaach!!! by Jacques Filh; Les Roche Martin's mysterious pop; a Jacqueline Taïeb song that was somehow overlooked  on the Complete Masterworks... comp; a delectable Donovan cover that's all cascading, minor key piano cords by Véronique Sanson; and two tracks from Charlotte Walters, including this punchy, cinematic popsike gem.

Charlotte Walters - Angel Of Sin




So, what did we learn? 'Beginner's Guide...' is maybe a bit of a misnomer. The budget price is sure to attract a few newcomers to the genre, but much of the music probably isn't immediate enough to hook a casual ear and make them want to dig deeper into the realm of vintage French Pop. 'Intermediate' or 'advanced level' are undoubtedly less catchy, but perhaps more accurate

Novices looking to dabble in the wonderful world of yé- yé would get a much better start with the 'best of' double CD Pop à Paris: Psyché Rock et Mini-Jupes or the more Femme-centric C'est Chic: French Girl Singers of the 1960s.


[You can get yr mitts on the Beginner's Guide To French Pop here >>]


** Fact checking types and eagle-eyed readers will notice that aside from the first paragraph I haven't once mentioned a certain ubiquitous band beginning with B. Nothing across the three discs owes very much to The Beatles at all, I can only think the term "Beatles-esque" was thrown in to the tagline as a shameless catch-all term to get a few extra sales. Either that or the Fab Four are now solely responsible for spawning any and all music that features guitars, bass, drums and vocals.

L'Amour à la Chaîne pt.14

Heeeeeeeeeeeere's JOHNNY! Hot on the heels of Chaîne no. 13, and making his London concert debut at the Royal Albert Hall this week, it's Johnny Hallyday.

Listen up! More multiple linkage coming your way >>>>>

link 1) The last post was Fabienne Delsol's sassy cover of Sylvie Vartan. As you should all know, Sylvie and Johnny were married in 1965 and were the "golden couple" of the yé-yé scene.

link 2) Sylvie's song Ce Jour La was written by Micky Jones and Georges Aber, whilst Johnny's is credited to G. Aber / M. Jones / T. Brown (the same Micky and Georges, with session drummer Tommy).

link 3) Micky Jones and Tommy Brown played in both Sylvie and Johnny's backing bands.

link 4) An English language version of the song Son Amour Pour Un Jeu was recorded by Françoise Hardy in 1969 as Strange Shadows. Fabienne Delsol made a version of Strange Shadows for her On My Mind album, which also features, you guessed it, Ce Jour La.

Managing to keep up? Good. Today's offering is Son Amour Pour Un Jeu, plucked from Johnny's imaginatively titled 1967 studio album Johnny 67 (Disque Philips no. B 70434 L). And let's just say it's almost a dead cert that Johnny won't be performing this one at the Royal Albert Hall...

pipe up Johnny!

Johnny Hallyday - Son Amour Pour Un Jeu

[you can buy this re-issued on Le Roi De France: 1966-1969 on RPM International]

...................................................................
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 > ?

Jesus is coming...

...look busy.

I was brought up a good Catholic schoolboy, and as a result I associate this time of year with going to church. A lot. (4 times in 1 week!?!)

The Easter story was preached at me from an early age.  I'm sure you all know it: Jesus died on a cross on Friday, and then a couple of days later he hatched out of a giant egg in a bunny-rabbit suit, in accordance with the capitalist script. At least I think that's how it goes...

But where's he been since he came last Easter, and why hasn't he called or sent an email? Well, SURPRISE SURPRISE, he's ditched the bunny suit and he's here today and what's more he's made a dark&freaky, skronking-sax inverse Pop record* with a little help from his psychédélique disciple Jean-Pierre Massiera.

Jésus - L'Electrocuté

[buy Jésus on Midnight Massiera from Finders Keepers & on WIZZZ! Vol. 2 from Born Bad Records]

*voiced by Marc Roland/Rolland

Do You Know The Beast?

Anyone who downloaded my halloween mixtape 'Quelle Horreur vol.1' will know my views on Évariste and his track 'Connais-Tu L'Animal Qui Inventa Le Calcul Intégral?' which, I've said on many occasions, is quite possibly THE scariest piece of music I've come across.

Well, this came in the post last week: a vinyl re-issue of all of the output from the man known to his mother as Joël Sternheimer, who took his pseudonym from a 19th century French mathematician and politial firebrand, and is now regarded by many fans of pysche and garage music as the French answer to Kim Fowley.

Doctor in Theroretical Physics, mathematician and unlikely dabbler in yé-yé... Here we find Évariste doing his best unhinged-muppet impression and enlisting a legion of teenie-bopping girls to scream in adoration for him. May the freakbeat be with you.

Évariste - Évariste Aux Fans

[Buy Évariste on vinyl from Spin | System Recs | Juno | etc]

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]

Quelle Horreur vol. 1

Last year I mentioned a second Halloween mixtape of electronic/synth music I'd been planning but never had time to finish.  I have had time this year, and it will follow shortly.

In the mean time, I thought I'd re-post the original French pop/psych Quelle Horreur mixtape.

1. Stella - Si vous connaissez quelque-chose de pire qu'un vampire, parlez m'en toujours, ça pourra peut-être me faire sourire

2. Serge Gainsbourg - Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde

3. Christine Pilzer - Dracula

4. Les Maledictus Sound - Kriminal Theme

5. Evariste - Connais-Tu I'animal Qui Inventa Le Calcul Integral

6. France Gall - Frankenstein

7. Jany L. - Mon Joli Vampire

8. Gérard Manset - Animal on est mal

9. Les Maledictus Sound - Monster Cocktail

10. Nicole Paquin - Mon Mari C'est Frankenstein

11. Brigitte Bardot - Le Diable Est Anglais

DOWNLOAD HERE (40.9mb zip file)

Good news from Born Bad

I was rather pleased to have finally picked up a vinyl copy of Wizzz! vol.1 on eBay a few weeks ago, and for a bargain price too!

Then I happened to take a look at the Born Bad Records website and realised they've actually re-pressed it.  So it's good news for everyone!

[Vinyl copies had been going for silly money on eBay and sites like discogs.com for a while.  This seems to be an increasing trend with compilations of rare 60s cuts: The compilation brings the tracks to the attention of the big wide world, which makes the original discs more sought after and the prices rocket. The originals become harder and harder to find, then the compilation goes out of print, and so the price of that goes up and up and up as well - crazy what people will do to get hold of a particular song on vinyl. Don't look at me though, I know my limits.]

For me Wizzz!: Psychorama Français 66-71 (to give it its full title) is the better of the 2 Wizzz! comps - it's a lot more poppy and immediate and it brings together a handful of legendary tracks I'd only ever read about and imagined how they might sound, plus a couple of well-comped classics.

A long-time favourite is this little sitar-psyche sex-funk number

Danyel Gérard - Sexologie
[buy Wizzz!: Psychorama Français 66-71 Born Bad Recs]