Serge Gainsbourg

[I. Spaceman]

Let's keep kicking.

[Jason]

Yeah, I don't feel like everything's been said with this thread. Maybe we'll get it to 30 pages, that's my new target.

Ian, what's your thoughts on Du Chant a la Une? His first album.

[harveyw]

Man I wish some other people would contribute to this thread.

I made a few comments about 15 pages back, but was basically was told to shut up because I was wrong. I'm a big Serge fan & have been collecting his work for the past 12 years or so, but I know when I'm not wanted.

[Jason]

Harvey, your views are appreciated by me. Please, continue on with us.

[I. Spaceman]

Man I wish some other people would contribute to this thread.

I made a few comments about 15 pages back, but was basically was told to shut up because I was wrong. I'm a big Serge fan & have been collecting his work for the past 12 years or so, but I know when I'm not wanted.

Could you quote that???

[I. Spaceman]

Comparing Polnareff to Gainsbourg is like comparing Bacharach to Zappa. The only reason people compare them is because they're French. Ridiculous.

Ridiculous indeed. However, I wasn't comparing the two artists, just saying I preferred one artist's work to the other's. Even so, I'd say "Polnareff's" and "Melody Nelson" were fairly comparable, as they were released within a few weeks of each other, both are (partly-autobiographical?) concept albums, and both uniquely "French" records. Admittedly the two LPs sound very different, but c'mon, French culture -particularly pop culture- is unlike any other; of course French artists can be compared with each other.
Have you heard "Polnareff's"? Or, eg "Le Bal Des Laze" Ian? If not, you really ought to.

Ahhh, I see.
I didn't mean to come off so rude. I apologise!
I have indeed heard Polnareff's and I love it.

[Evenreven]

The little I know about Serge has already been stated by you two more eloquently. That's why I don't contribute. I read it all, though, so please keep posting, Ian and Jason!

[jazzfascist]

Don't know if anybody knows the reggae track "Libertango" by Grace Jones,  where there's some spoken french parts, which is very Gainsbourg-like, they should have had him do it. It was recorded with Sly and Robbie and some of the other musicians, that were also on "Aux Armes Et Cætera", so who knows maybe it was inspired by their encounter with him, coming to Jamaica to record with them. She was also a little decadent, or at least that was how she staged herself, so they would have made a good couple.

Søren

I've heard of that track, but haven't heard it.

Have you ever read the laundry list of reggae musicians on Gainsbourg's reggae albums? It's shocking.

Oh it's a great track and the rest of the record "Nightclubbing" is also good, same kind of crispy reggae as on Gainsbourgs record. "Libertango" is actually a tango written by "tango nuevo" maestro Astor Piazzolla, it's was a very creative idea to turn it into a reggae and it works beautifully. As far as I can see there was about 10 musicians including three backgorund vocalists on "Aux Armes Et Cætera", that's not so shocking.

Søren

[Jason]

Well it's shocking in the sense that he actually knew who to find for the reggae albums.

[Jason]

Ian, thoughts on Du Chant A La Une?

[I. Spaceman]

I need to listen again.

[Jason]

I think this is the most cabaret of Serge's jazz material, and the most restrained as far as the performances are concerned. It has at least two bona-fide classics on it.

[Jason]

What about No. 2, Ian?

[I. Spaceman]

Very underrated, still a BIT straight, but chez cool. The musicians are a little too in-the-pocket, but the whole deal manages to swing under Serge's baton. A great album for cocktails with your special lady, with Percussions and Je T'aime a cool follow-on as the night gets "cozy".

[Jason]

Dude, we haven't even discussed Je T'Aime here.

This was the first Gainsbourg song I heard (BIG surprise) and it made me want to look further into him (the fact that the Vatican banned it made me want to even more).

I feel two ways about it now. It's probably his most overrated tune, but it's still a great song. Great melody line.

[I. Spaceman]

The melody is almost a complete rip of Whiter Shade Of Pale. I like it mainly for Birkin, my goddess-thing.

[Jason]

Yeah, I thought it sounded like the Procol Harum song myself. There's a very bare-bones earlier rendition of the melody on the track Scène de Bal 1 from  the movie Les Coleurs Verts.

[Jason]

What about L'Etonnant Serge Gainsbourg, Ian?

[jazzfascist]

Well it's shocking in the sense that he actually knew who to find for the reggae albums.

I don't know if it's shocking, Sly and Robbie are probably the most famous reggae rhythm group there ever was, everybody seems to have been playing with them at one time or the other, Sly is/was kind of reggaes answer to Steve Gadd. The I-Threes were Marleys background singers, so they were all pretty well-known.
BTW the melody to WSOP and "Je T'aime" really isn't the same, even if they remind of each other. The intro to WSOP was inspired by Bach, something that Gainsbourg might have taken them up on, I think he did use classical music quite often in his music. "Lady Heroin" is also based on a classical theme.

Søren

[Jason]

"Lemon Incest", too.

[Jason]

BUMP!

[Jason]

goshdarn it I'mma keep bumping this here thread until SOMEONE responds!

[Jason]

Ian, what's your favorite Serge track? After a good month of solid listening, L'Anamour is my favorite.

[I. Spaceman]

La Decadanse.

[theeponymuseudonym]

i really am aroused by this wild uninhibited individual...tell me ha anyone heard Vannesa Paradis'92 collab. w/Lenny Kravitz?? it's tres awesome!!!