Customer Reviews

Baby Pop: Gold Music

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France Gall was one of the charming young, French female singers like Françoise Hardy and Jane Birkin that made the Yé-Yé sound of the Mid-60's. (The term comes, presumably from "She Loves You." Yeah. Yeah.) The closest American equivalent might be Leslie Gore or, for the Brits, Petula Clark. It was music by teenage girls for teenage girls, a notion that didn't really catch fire in the States until Debbie Gibson 20 years later.

But the Gallic spin on the British Invasion contained elements purely French. There are touches of Jazz and sophisticated torch music that would make the average American teeny bopper scratch her head in confusion. But that's part of the alure to 60's-crazed, Kitch-obsessed current Americans now looking to these albums to feast on. And this is among the best.

Part of the particular alure of this album is that it knows it's fluff. That's the point of the title track, "Baby pop." Only the French would dare release a single that basically says "This music is worthless and identical to everything else on the shelves." Au contraire, M. Serge Gainsbourg, composeur and French legend in his own right. But this is the man who penned for Mlle Gall, "Poupée de Son," a song where she basically sings she has no idea what she's singing about.

The arrangements on this album try to approximate Pet Clark, who, in turn, was ripping the Wall of Sound, to nice, not too derivative effect. Particularly sweet are the orchestrations on "Faut-il que je t'aime" and Bacharach-like horns on "On se resemble, toi et moi." Other 60's clichés are tossed around. But the best track outside the title, in my opinion is another Gainsbourg composition, "Attend or va t'en," which is the only song that seems to escape all the conventions, with an insistent beat and harmonica accompaniment.

Your best bet still is to get a compilation, most going by "Poupée de son." Check carefully to make sure it has enough songs as some are shorter than others. But if you're looking for the most solid, classic 60's album from France Gall, this is it. It's much better than than it's 1966 follow-up, "Les sucettes," which returned her to more juvenile sounding songs like earlier in her career. The truly adventurous should explore the over-the-top Psychedelica of "1968."

What can I say? I just LOVE France Gall and other french singers (Francoise, Brigitte, Jane...) and this record is actually one of the best of the french Lolita-clique. It starts of with the charmy "Baby bop", written by the one and only Serge Gainsbourg and continues with fabulous songs such as "Faut-il que je t'aime" and my own personal fave "Mon bateau de nuit". This is cool 60's club music with its ups & downs (but mostly ups) and if you're a fan of f.ex Nancy Sinatra, you shouldn't hesitate buying this little goldmine!