Jackie DeShannon - The Definitive Collection

I must have listened to the first half of this comp a hundred times. It's full of super-catchy pop-rock with great instrumental and vocal tone. The second half, however, leaves something to be desired, but I included it anyway for posterity's sake. Things fall apart after "What the World Needs Now", but before that it's pretty much perfection. On here you get "Buddy", a rockabillyish homage to Buddy Holly, the ORIGINAL (and superior) versions of "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room" (both covered and made more famous by the Searchers), Jackie's version of the Irma Thomas song (that Jackie wrote) "Breakaway", as well as "Dream Boy" (co-written by Jackie and Jimmy Page), which is on that girl groups compilation). I don't have TOO much to say because I'm sick and out of it, but I was fairly obsessed for a moment there. Check it out!

Buddy
Heaven is Being With You
You Won't Forget Me
Needles and Pins
Hellos and Goodbyes
When You Walk in the Room
Till You Say You'll Be Mine
Breakaway
Should I Cry
I Remember the Boy
Dream Boy
Don't Turn Your Back on Me
What the World Needs Now

WARNING: THE REST OF THESE TRACKS SUCK

A Lifetime of Loneliness
Come and Get me
Splendor in the Grass
For Granted
Windows and Doors
I Can Make it With You
500 Miles from Yesterday
Where Does the Sun Go
It Shines on You Too
Reason to Believe
The Weight
Come and Stay with Me
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
Love Will Find a Way
Brighton Hill
Radio Commercial 1
Radio Commercial 2

P.S. I started using sendspace (duh)

Ok I'm back

I've been locked out of this account for a while, working as a decorative painter and killing my brain cells with drugs, alcohol and harmful painting-related chemicals. I'm going to start posting again very soon, though, both for intellectual exercise and to spread music (but not right now).

re: missing tracks

If you've tried to download any of the posted albums lately, you may have noticed missing links. Apparently archive.org doesn't like me. Anyways, I will try a new method of online file storage when I have the chance.

Chantal Goya - Les années 60

Yep, yet another yé-yé singer, but this one was also a "vedette" of the French New Wave, starring in the famous Godard film, "Masculin, féminin", in which she plays a young yé-yé singer (insert corny joke about how easy the part must have been).

On my first few listens to this collection I didn't really care for it; it seemed generic and boring. However, after many listens, the pop hooks dug into my brain and now I find myself humming "La pluie du ciel" and "Comment le revoir" while at work. Neither the singing nor the instrumentation are anything special, but the vocal tone is nice, the inflection is great and the melodies are pretty catchy. This collection is definitely worth a few listens, even if you can only find one or two songs that you really enjoy.

Chantal with David the gnome:



Chantal last year; no thanks:



The music:

Chantal Goya - C'est bien Bernard

Chantal Goya - A ls sortie de ma classe

Chantal Goya - Oh raconte-moi

Chantal Goya - Dis-moi ton nom

Chantal Goya - Une écharpe, une rose

Chantal Goya - Comment le revoir

Chantal Goya - La pluie du ciel

Chantal Goya - Sois gentil

Chantal Goya - Tu gagnes au flipper

Chantal Goya - Tant de joies

Chantal Goya - Il court les filles

Chantal Goya - Tu m'as trop menti

Chantal Goya - Laisse-moi

Chantal Goya - Dans la nuit

Chantal Goya - Ce soir on danse

Chantal Goya - Mon ange gardien

Chantal Goya - Pense pas trop

Chantal Goya - Ma première tendresse

Chantal Goya - J'ai le cœur en joie, j'ai le cœur en peine

Chantal Goya - La flamme et le feu

Just in case you thought he was serious...

So yea, you've danced to "Ça plane pour moi"...congratulations. You probably also know the Elton Motello/Plastic Bertrand connection. You might even know that PB, aka Roger Jouret, is Belgian, not French. Well, I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but it seems pretty negative...so anyways...here's one of several Plastic Bertrand compilations:

Plastic Bertrand - Le meilleur de plastic



In case the cover didn't give you the hint, this is some wacky/tacky pop garbage, though it's not quite as bad as this super 90's-looking "art" would have you believe.

For the music, It's pretty vacuous 50's-inspired "punk"/new wave/pop bullshit, but it's kinda fun, at least for a few listens. "Ça plane pour moi" is on here, of course, as well as a couple of other songs off of his first LP ("Bambino", an old French song, and "Le petit tortillard", a song about a train...wow). Additionally, there are a bunch of pop throwaways with a few worthwhile hooks here and there, and, one of my favorite's by PB, "Super cool". Also, there's a "cover" of "Walk Like a Man" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. For some reason they decided not to include many of his later synth-drowned abortions and his attempts at rapping in this "best of". Oh well!

In conclusion, I'm in a bad mood, but check out the free music.

I may actually start updating this more often again, but, as I've whined several times in previous posts, I've been really busy.

-DC


Plastic Bertrand - Bambino

Plastic Bertrand - Le petit tortillard

Plastic Berrand - Ça plane pour moi

Plastic Bertrand - Kill watch

Plastic Bertrand - Chewing gum

Plastic Bertrand - Baby doll

Plastic Bertrand - Hula hoop

Plastic Bertrand - Sans amour

Plastic Bertrand - Ping pong

Plastic Bertrand - C'est le rock'n'roll

Plastic Bertrand - Boum dans le cœur

Plastic Bertand - Super cool

Plastic Bertrand - Jacques Cousteau

Plastic Bertrand - Victime de l'amour

Plastic Bertrand - Téléphone à téléphone mon bijou

Here's a video of Dalida, the Italian/Egyptian/French chanteuse, performing her 1956 hit, Bambino, on television.



P.S. I'm not sure what happened with the Les Désaxés songs, but I will re-up them at some point within the relatively near future. I just hope that those assholes don't take them down again for some reason. It's funny, the one thing I had permission to post got taken down. C'est la vie, hein?

P.P.S. Just in case you thought he was straight...

So...

I know I said I was going to update this blog frequently and put up a bunch of new albums, but, as experience has proven time after time, I just can't be trusted when I'm up against my own reluctance to do anything.

I've officially moved back to Brooklyn, Greenpoint to be exact, still as a couch-dweller, though (and a much smaller couch this time). I've also delved into my last one hundred dollars, meaning no more going out for a while and ramen lunch 7 days a week; yay! Anyways, I will update this whenever I can and try to blah blah blah blah.

And, because I have nothing better to do with my time...

Je sais bien que j'avais dit que je mettrais à jour ce bloq fréquemment et ajouter beaucoup d'albums nouveaux, mais, comme l'expérience a établi encore et toujours, on ne peut pas me faire confiance quand je suis contre ma propre réticence de faire rien.

J'ai officiellement retourné à Brooklyn, le Greenpoint d'être précis, et encore comme quelqu'un qui dort sur un canapé (un canapé beaucoup plus petit cette fois). J'ai atteint aussi les derniers cent dollars que j'ai, qui veut dire qu'il n'y aura plus de nuits en ville pour quelque temps et aussi un déjeuner compris de ramen sept jours par semaine; ouais! Quoi qu'il en soit, je mettrai à jour ce blog quand je peux et essayer de blablabla.

France Gall - Baby Pop

It's late, so I don't feel like going too in depth about this album:

This one was released by Gainsbourg's songbird in 1966 on Polygram, and it's chock full of yé-yé greatness.

While there are a few misses (the title track, "L'Amérique" and "Deux oiseux", which sound really immature, even for Gall), overall, this album is fucking great. It's got lots of pop, some rock and even a little jazz thrown in...great melodies, occasionally off-pitch teenage girl vocals and enough variation to really keep it interesting, all without diluting its super-catchy essence.

***IF YOU DON'T HAVE THIS ALBUM AND YOU LIKE GOOD MUSIC, DOWNLOAD IT!

My personal favorites:

"Et des baisers" (The lyrics are retarded, but can you understand French? No? Then who the fuck cares?)
"Faut-il que je t'aime" (Once again, a little retarded, mais n'importe quoi.)
"Cet air-là" (Covered by April March on her 1995 album, Chick Habit, which features a bunch of yé-yé covers, and the title track of which is an English version of Gall's "Laisser tomber les filles" that was featured on the Grindhouse soundtrack.)

Actually, scratch that; I really like all of the songs except the abortions mentioned up top, so check 'em out!

France Gall - Baby pop

France Gall - Faut-il que je t'aime

France Gall - Le temps de la rentrée

France Gall - Attends ou va-t'en

France Gall - Mon bateau de nuit

France Gall - L'Amérique

France Gall - Cet air-là

France Gall - C'est pas facile d'être une fille

France Gall - Nous ne sommes pas des anges

France Gall - On se ressemble toi et moi

France Gall - Deux oiseaux

France Gall - Et des baisers

Just in case you were curious, here are the videos for "Laisser tomber les filles" and "Chick Habit", respectively: