Couleur Café

Serge Gainsbourg

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 1997)
• Original Release Date: February 11, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001EI8
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #122,733 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Largely unknown in this country, Gainsbourg has become the toast of the rock underground in recent years, with hipsters ranging from Beck to the Bad Seeds readily dropping his name. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Gainsbourg dabbled as a painter and pianist in the mid-'50s while sipping Pernod in the seedy nightclubs and cafes of Pigalle. He finally found his true calling in 1958 at the age of 30 when he launched his recording career by delivering romantic and risqué monologues about the Bohemian arts scene with a distinctive voice best described as a mix of Lou Reed and Maurice Chevalier. Mercury Records has compiled two albums from Gainsbourg's early career, each presenting his French-language raps over very different musical backings. Du Jazz dans le Ravin collects jazz tracks released between 1958 and 1964. A fan of Monk, Miles, and Dizzy, Gainsbourg had great taste even if his own playing wasn't extraordinary. Coleur Cafe chronicles the same period, but it focuses on Gainsbourg's attempts to introduce France to various "ethnic musics," including Latin American rhythms and what today would be called Afro-pop. Tunes such as "Erotico Tico" and "New York USA" reek of novelty, but they're still better than most of what fellow world-beaters David Byrne and Paul Simon deliver. Sadly, Gainsbourg isn't around to enjoy his big comeback: He died of a heart attack in 1991. But he was consistent to the end. "For me provocation is oxygen," he said, and he caused an international scandal months before his death by voicing his explicit carnal desire for Whitney Houston on live TV. Let's see if Marilyn Manson can top that one. Jim Derogatis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stop plucking your nose hairs and buy this CD, September 26, 2000

By	TUCO H. "H. TUCO" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

Gainsbourg was an incomparable French composer of high-quality, sophisticated pop tunes of all kinds. He sounds like a much more upbeat, hipper, peevish version of Leonard Cohen. In fact, if you don't understand two words of French, Serge's music sounds even better, since your imagination is free to roam anywhere it likes.

There are 3 major compilations of Serge's '60s output that are on the market, "Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin," "Coleur Cafe," and "Comic Strip." All three are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL music for self-respecting pop conneisseurs. In fact, whip out your credit card right now and buy all 3, because THERE IS NO BETTER POP MUSIC MADE BY ANYONE ANYWHERE.

"Coleur Cafe," which is a mostly Mambo, Latin, and African beat influenced collection is the most consistent of the three. "Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin" is a Miles Davis/Dave Brubeck influenced collection of ultra-cool Jazz-pop fusion. "Comic Strip" is a less consistent, late '60s, psychedelic-rock influenced set which features some of Serge's most spectacular songs such as his collaborations with Brigitte Bardot (Bonnie and Clyde) and Jane Birkin (je t'aime...moi non plus).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loungey French with African & Latin thrown in, February 11, 2002

By	jumpy1 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Serge Gainsbourg put his extraordinary talent to merging Euro-Pop music with Latin and African rhythms on this album, and comes up with the most hip & happening lounge music you'll find. I gave my Esquivel away because after getting hooked on this, it just fell short. Couleur Cafe never fails to make everyone feel like having a party and transports one to an easy state of mind. At first listen, I smiled and laughed. At the second listen, I was chilling out in my own space and at the third, I realized Serge is an extremely sensitive, deeply philosophical man who can extract the very elements of an eclectic range of styles that, when combined, lightly uplift the soul.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars comment about the critics, June 18, 1999

By A Customer

I just wanted to make a comment about "What the Critics Say:" Maybe the author of that critic should have made better research about Jane Birkin. She was his WIFE. She sang a lot of songs that Serge Composed. She was not just put in that song because of the song being "filthily." If you want to check other songs where Jane sings, check-out the Gainsbourg "Musiques de Films." There you can find a lot of songs that he composed for movies and where Jane Birkin sings. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to the album right now. He was a great composer and I remember when he passed away, it was a great loss. Also did you know about a dictation that was givin by the French Academy to some French celebrities (song composer etc.), Serge scored best. He might have been very eccentric but that was what made him. He could intimidate a lot of scholars that way, even though he always had a glass of alcohol and never forgot his cigarettes "Gitannes."

Cardamar.