Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bonjour Massive
Posted by David Wright on 9 September 2011 - 7:48am.
Once again, I call upon the services of The Massive. I'm cooking a french meal next Saturday evening and require some appropriate French music. I have some Air and a ready supply of accordian music, Stephane Grappelli and some French jazz, but would welcome any other suggestions. Many thanks in anticipation, for a good playlist. So far I have Green Onions, as I'm cooking onion soup for starters.
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Les Negresses Vertes
Quite A few Of their tracks on Spotify
Merci Monsieur Radio
Will have a listen thanks, they sound like a French prog band!?
They Sound Like
A French Dexys,try the album Familles Nombreuses great album
Cheers
Thanks for that, will check that album out.
Or
A French Pogues.
Great band.
I bought their first album in the late 80s
and I had them down as Gallic Pogues too. Are they still going?
I seem to remember
their lead singer died from a heroin overdose, but I think they carried on, albeit in a rather different guise. A French Pogues would also have been my description. A great live band in their time too.
Some ideas
MC Solar - French rap
Francis Cabrel - acoustic guitar driven slightly angsty - try "La Corrida", "Je t'aimais, Je t'aime, Je t'aimerai"
Axelle Red - French popette, whispery vocals
Bill Deraime - 70s blues rock with a bit of chanson thrown in - try "Plus la peine de frimer"
Sandrine Kiberlain - Je m'envoyer les fleurs
Pervy old Serge Gainsbourg
There's always "D'eux" by Celine Dion too...
Where's Hannah?
She did a French-themed CD a while ago for one of the Northern Massive get-togethers which has some cracking stuff on it. That alone would be a perfect soundtrack to your evening.
I'm here! Thanks Paul!
David, if you'd like, I'd be delighted to send you a copy, just dm me your address.
Wonderful
Many thanks Hannah, that would be great, I'll drop you a line. Thanks for the info Paul as well.
Seconded
My wife and kids love that CD and it is on regular rotation in the car.
Aw, thanks Bisto!
That's made my morning. Chuffed the Bistos like it!
Aww shucks
My eldest is really getting into French at the moment and Foux de Fa Fa by Flight of The Conchords has become something of a show-piece for her and her sister in the car. Every time it's played both of them have tears of uncontrolled laughter streaming down their faces which just sets off Ma Bisto and I.
I'm intrigued!
Can we have a track listing please Hannah?
Bonne idée
I have some nice French stuff, I shall do a comp. Ta for the idea! Mebbee swap next week?
Mon plaisir, M. Renard Renard
HANNAH'S FRENCH FANCIES
1) St Tropez - Brigitte Bardot.
Not such a lovely lady (she's been fined five times for inciting racial hatred) .
Let's move on swiftly and simply enjoy this cracking tune.
2) To The End ("La Comedie") - Blur featuring Francoise Hardy.
I entirely love this song. I possibly love it even more mostly in French. Francoise Hardy has sung in French, English, Italian, Spanish, German and Portuguese. Not at the same time though.
3) Snow Cherries from France - Tori Amos.
A sweet and sad little song about something that doesn't exist. I used to be a huge fan of Tori Amos; these days I sometimes find her music a little too draining. This little song, however, is quite perfect.
4) Foux du Fafa - Flight of the Conchords.
There is possibly no-one on the planet that I fancy more than Jermaine from FotC. *sigh*
5) Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk.
Daft Punk only ever appear or perform dressed as robots. AMAZING.
6) Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals - Saint Saens
Saint-Saens was rather concerned the CotA was frivolous, and would damage his reputation as a serious composer. So he only permitted the entire suite to be published after his death.
7) Promises of Paris - Sylvie Lewis
Sylvie Lewis quit music for teaching in the mid 90s. Two years later, she read a newspaper article about the worst paid jobs in the US: teacher was number 2 and musician was number 1. So she decided to go straight for the top and return to being a singer / songwriter.
8) La Vie En Rose - Yves Montand
In the French dubbings of Looney Tunes, Pepe le Pew's voice is based upon Montand's performances. He (Montand, not Pepe) was Edith Piaf’s lover. Oooh la la!
9) French Rat Race - The Double Six of Paris
The Double Six of Paris were active between 1959 and 1966. This was written by Quincy Jones.
10) Paris is Burning (Paris s'enflamme) - Ladyhawke
Philippa "Pip" Brown is the front woman of Ladyhawke. She only wears mens' clothing.
11) Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'en Vais - Serge Gainsbourg.
Possibly the best dumping record ever, "I'm just here to tell you I'm going" has been covered splendidly by Jarvis Cocker.
12) Paris 1919 - John Cale
You probably know more about John Cale than I do!
13) Je Danse Donc Je Suis - Brigitte Bardot
14) Que N'ai-Je? - Keren Ann
She's on the Word CD this month with a track from her new album. This is from 2005's Nolita.
15) 1901 - Phoenix
They're an alternative rock band from Versaille. This is their biggest hit.
16) Gnossiennes No. 1 - Erik Satie
Satie coined the word "gnossienne" (the apparent derivation is from "gnosis"). He also used many novel names for his compositions, borrowing architectural terms and suchlike.
17) Paris - Flanders and Swann
Michael Flanders' daughter is Stephanie Flanders, BBC Economics editor.
18) La Chanson des Vieux Amants - Alison Moyet
Alison sings the Jacques Brel composition. Brel was only 49 when he died.
19) La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin - Debussy
The Brodsky Quartet here play "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair".
20) J'ai Deux Amour - Josephine Baker
Josephine was often accompanied on stage by her pet cheetah, Chiquita, who was adorned with a diamond collar. The cheetah frequently escaped into the orchestra pit, where it terrorized the musicians, adding another element of excitement to the show.
21) Playground Love - Air
From the name Air is derived the backronym Amour, Imagination, Rêve which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream.
22) Those Dancing Days are Gone - Carla Bruni
She's half French and married to the French PM. She probably wins some sort of being French prize.
23) La Cigale et la Fourmi - Charles Trenet
I really love Charles Trenet. He came from an era in which it was exceptional for a singer to write his or her own material. Despite this, Trenet wrote prolifically and only ever recorded his own songs.
24) April in Paris - Thelonius Monk
Apparently, Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.
25) Lonely Night in Paris - Julie London
London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her -school classmate, Arthur Hamilton.
Mercy buckets, Hannah.
That is the finest track listing I have ever read. Je salue votre goût raffiné!
Thirded.
It's Gallic charm is oft heard hereabouts.
Françoise Hardy
The Vogue Years is my favourite, lots of other good stuff too. And anything by her old man Jacques Dutronc will get the party swinging. Also I absolutely love Georges Brassens - if a guy cooler than this has ever lived I’ve yet to see him:
Francoise Hardy
Love her voice. The sound of French camping sites of my youth.
Françoise again
Almost too beautiful to bear. The song I mean.
Franc
I'd forgotten about Francoise, I have a CD of hers somewhere, thanks for the reminder.
Et alors il y a du fromage
Now I’m off to teach French
Popular in France, no question
But I think he is Belgian.
Perhaps a different angle.
three selections from three classic French LPs: Daft Punk - Homework, Etienne de Crecy - Super Discount, Bob Sinclair - Paradise.
Probably not everyone's cup of tea on here - but all 3 are classics. The Super Discount & Paradise LPs would be great as background music
Here is a track you will have heard:
[Jacques Dutronc - Mini, mini, mini]
Oh, and a bit more old school French rap:
[Soon E MC - Elucider ce mystere]
Oh and a more modern track
This is good for a dinner party:
[Sebastian Tellier - La Ritournelle]
My favourite
This is lovely
Can't go wrong with him
And try these for some ye-ye fun! All five volumes preferable
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pop-Paris-Vol-1-Various-Artists/dp/B00006IX1C/r...
St Germain Des Pres - Tourist
Start with Tourist, but any of the St Germain Des Pres Cafe series of CDs will do.
try this for starters: So Flute...
(Via Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Germain-Pres-Tourist-Various-Artists/dp/B00004SU5J...
Coralie Clement
Her second album, Bye Bye Beaute is really good.
When you want your guests to leave,
you could play this...
(Bill Wyman/Je Suis Un Rock Star)
Bit of French Hip Hop
Not Samantha Cameron, Sarah Brown or Cherie Blair...
...though I can well imagine their husbands have given some thought to her on occasion...
Dinner party groove
From the godfather of Marseilles hip hop, Prodige Namor
(PRODIGE NAMOR FEAT. LES NUBIANS - D'OU VIENS TU?)
Voila!
You could always try this:
This is also lovely:
I am not posting this link
as a thread killer but just to give some more suggestions.
I went all French earlier this year and this is what the kind folks in the Massive said to me:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/french-music
Cheers
No worries at all, thanks for the link!
Yann Tiersen's
soundtrack to "Amelie" is delightfully gorgeous, full of stuff like this:
On a similar soundtrack theme, "An Education" has a few gems, such as this from Juliette Gréco:
Juliette
That Juliette Gréco track is gorgeous.
A simple solution
What could your guests appreciate more for an evening of French dining than a career retrospective of Plastic Bertrand?
Er...
Wasn't he Belgian?.
All the best Frenchmen are.
See also: Jacques Brel.
2 favourites
1. Francis Cabrel, who is a bona fide genius
2. Kent
Oh, oh!
The Isis Project by Guy Chambers and Sophie Hunter. Love it. "La mouscade".
Nouvelle Vague
Cover of "I just can't get enough" is amazing.
You can't go wrong with Francoise Hardy (francPhooooar Hardy) more like. Phoooooar.
Two suggestions from me.
Fibre De Verre by Paris Combo
Aux Cafe De La Pain by Thomas Fersen
There's a really fab compilation out there called
Paris After Dark if you want the full moody, magnificent, Boyard-smoking, garlic smelling Gallic effect, which I can heartily recommend:
Ca me semble
Magnifique!
Alors,
je me fais 'Nero' pour toi, mon ami.
Or something. I'm a bit rusty.
Mercy M Renard
Est ce que le Tull est arrivé?
Mais oui, c'est arrivé ce soir.
Madame Renard m'a dit que le stereo avait trop de volume. :)
That's a classic VV
hope the Trenet track is this:
Indeed, that's there.
Along with his La Mer from 1946.
Here's the track listing:
M83
You can't be without a little M83, here's We Own The Sky:
Some new
I heard this lot on French station FIP and thought this was top stuff. Sort of Nu jazz beatsy brooding. WTF does that mean Twang. Mind you I was outside a few gins and obviously the iPad can't play it so can't check. Flash. Who needs it eh. £600 quid to not be able to use the Internet.
http://www.myspace.com/boosterized
Magnificent Massive!
Just been listening to all your suggestions and compiling a playlist. Some excellent stuff, once again The Massive have come up trumps! Many thanks indeed, let's hope the food lives up to the music!
French connection
Would be nice with a soupçon of Sterolab dans le French Disko n'est pas?
Great record
As is this similarly tenuous connection to France:
[Jonathan Richman, Give Paris one more chance]
It is a scientific FACT
that best French song EVER is
7 heures du matin by Jacqueline Taieb.
So good I double posted
*
Arielle Dombasle
Let's not forget the divine Arielle. Married to France's leading philosopher too!
and of course
Noir Désir - Le Vent Nous Portera
Be warned, the lead singer, will probably not pass the Word massive's Fit And Proper Person test, to say the least, having been sentenced to eight years for manslaughter. (He served three.)
Camille
is fantastic. Beautiful voice, a little avant-garde at times but always interesting. Start with Le Fil, then Music Hole (some of which is sung in English).
The joy of Young Mustaphas
in French at the Roundhouse via The Crazy Loquat Nightclub
Vanessa Paradis
I haven't looked to see if she's on the thread linked above, but she should certainly be included here. First album, enjoyable pop fluff with a surprisingly adept crew backing her up. Second album - the fantastic "Variations ...", killer band, lyrics by Gainsbourg ("Paradis, c'est l'enfer") and a knockout rock album. Self-titled third album - the only good thing with Lenny Kravitz written on it. Smart pop for fingersnapping kids on Vespas. Then we 'ave ... Bliss - harder-edged, very contemporary, and ze lovely Divinidylle. There's not a bad track in the bunch, and even the bubblegum first album is a nice listen.
A plus should be that she's not widely liked in l'Hexagone. She cocked 'er preety leetle snook at La Belle France when she moved to LA to be Johnny Depp's list of special things to do.
Please yourselves