Customer Reviews

Pop Romantique: French Pop Classics

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THE SYNERGY OF COMBINING THE VOICES OF IVY AND FRANCOISE HARDY IS A REFRESHING REINTERPRETATION OF CLASSIC FRENCH SONG.

Like Pop American Style, this compilation is a theme comp drawing from a broad roster of indie-pop bands, plus it includes the vocals of ye-ye pop legend Françoise Hardy on one of the tracks. What is great is the same hand (Skippy McFadden) that picked the songs for the Pop American Style comp also picked the songs for this CD.

Some of my favorites are Ivy doing "L'anamour," (previously performed by Françoise Hardy) Heavenly doing the "Nous ne sommes pas des anges" (previously performed by France Gall) and the Apples in Stereo doing "Avril en Mai." I'm not sure what "Zoom!" is doing on this comp, as it seems out of place. The theme is centered around 1960's French Pop, or Ye-ye as it is called. If you like Françoise Hardy, France Gall, Serge Gainsbourg, and 60's French Pop, you'll like this album.

When you can have John Wesley Harding sing Serge Gainsbourg's "Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'En Vais" why do you need anything else? Okay, JW Harding's version is still not Gainsbourg's (which cannot be imitated or surpassed). But this clever arrangement of songs by contemporary artists performing French pop standards is a classic in itself. Air (French band) team with classic French pop star Francoise Hardy to provide a lovely version of "Jeanne". Probably my favourite track here, apart from John Wesley Harding, is Ivy's rendition of "L'anamour". One of my favourite songs anyhow, and Ivy has a very pleasant sound. There were other surprises... like Luna, Magnetic Fields, and other things. I think, if you enjoy, French pop-or any of the bands on the album-this is a must have. An updated, modern version (tribute, even) to the standards of French romantic pop. It was a great treat for me, at least.

Good idea, especially with Air-Francoise Hardy, Luna, Ivy, the Hang-ups and Godzuki. But I would have liked to have seen April March or Stereolab in here in place of Kevin Ayers, though his track grows on you. FYI: To all the critics of Lloyd Cole who call him gauche for translating Dylan's "If You Got To Go" into French, it's not his fault! Blame Fairport Convention, who did "Si Tu Dois Partir" on their 1968 album "Unhalfbricking." So Cole's actually covering Fairport Convention covering Bob Dylan.