Customer Reviews

Lemon Incest

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Directly to your heart, if your heart not made of stone! I bye this album -88 "Charlotte For Ever" on the label "Philips" PG 281 830 640-1 prod. 1986. It's a must!

The title of this album implies quite a bit - Serge Gainsbourg produced and wrote this debut album for his then-minor daughter and co-sung most of the songs with her. On one hand, these could be construed as innocent love songs. On another, they are weird and sordid writings of a man curiously obsessed with his own daughter (hence the 'incest' in the title).

This album was hugely controversial in France upon first release, and for the record its out of print both there as well as in other countries around the world.

But really, is it THAT bad? Well, musically this is exactly what you'd expect French pop from the 1980s to sound like. Charlotte was just a child when this was made, and she 'speaks' the words rather than singing them. Still, the track "Elastique" (and its numerous remixes) became a radio staple for a while back there. Its possibly the most un-controversial track on this CD as compared to the title track or the even more bizarre "Oh Daddy Oh".

Its hard for people to 'get' this album, and even if you put the controversial messages aside (an interviewer once asked Serge if he thought that incest with ones' child is appropriate and he famously said that he didn't want to answer the question as people would then be 'upset'), its evident that this is by far one of the weakest Serge-produced record. You would think he would get his daughter to sing some good songs!

"Charlotte Forever", if you're any sort of Francophile, would be instantly recognizable to you - its perhaps the most famous song from this album, but in no way is it a classic. The main problem is the typical use of the 80s synthesizer and keyboard instrumentation - this does not work at all.

If you're looking for some vintage French '80s pop, there are much better albums out there (Vanessa Paradis, Jean Jacques Goldman, Mylene Farmer), and this one pales in comparison. Considering how rare it is now though, Id say pick it up if you ever came across it, as its been out of print for years and is now highly collectible.

Three Stars.