Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son is the legendary French vocalist's fifth album. Released in 1965, it is best remembered for its Serge Gainsbourg-penned title track that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. As a whole, however, it offered a shift in direction from saccharine ye-ye pop and embraced a decidedly French version of the Mod and "psychedelic" sounds coming over from England and the U.S. Produced by Denis Bourgeois and arranged by Alain Goraguer, the material found here -- penned in 1964 and 1965 -- is more ...
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Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son is the legendary French vocalist's fifth album. Released in 1965, it is best remembered for its Serge Gainsbourg-penned title track that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. As a whole, however, it offered a shift in direction from saccharine ye-ye pop and embraced a decidedly French version of the Mod and "psychedelic" sounds coming over from England and the U.S. Produced by Denis Bourgeois and arranged by Alain Goraguer, the material found here -- penned in 1964 and 1965 -- is more consistent in quality than her earlier records. Another Gainsbourg composition, "Laisse Tomber Les Filles," borrowed its vamp directly from Neal Hefti's surfadelic "Batman Theme" groove and is among the set's many highlights. Another is the hip Euro-pop-cum-jazzy fusion of "Le Coeur Qui Jazze" by her father Roger Gall and Goraguer that provides an early example of the more disciplined and mature singer who would emerge during the '70s. "On Se Ressemble Toi et Moi" is a melancholy, melodic pop/rock ballad with horn and strings that equals the best mid-'60s Burt Bacharach/Hal David material, while "Le Temps de La Rentree" is an unusual, jerky-tempoed, minor-key track that melds harpsichord and driving guitar, it's Gall's best rock number of the decade. These two tracks demand a place on any responsible anthology of Gall's best work. "T'Avait Prévenue" -- also penned by her father with Vline Buggy and Guy Magenta -- is modeled on the girl group sound pioneered by Phil Spector and Luther Dixon. "Un Prince Charmant," by Jacques Datin and Maurice Vidalin, is a catchy ye-ye number delivered with a bright, colorful horn chart framing an unforgettable melody. There are songs that aren't quite as successful. The Roger Gall/Alain Goraguer composition "Au Clair de La Lune" is an example: Its formulaic melody and twee production combine to reveal Gall's limited vocal range. "Nounours" is sad lyrically, yet bright and tuneful musically, as it weds chanson to breezy American-styled pop. Closer "Bonne Nuit" (also penned by her father and Goraguer) combines a nursery rhyme melody and lyric with jangly folk pop instrumentation to send the record off optimistically. While Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son doesn't approach the high-water mark set by 1968, it does offer some of Gall's greatest material from the era and points to the direction she would follow through the end of the decade and into the '70s. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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Add this copy of Poupee De Cirepoupee De Son Poupee De Son to cart. $25.99, new condition, Sold by Record Exchange of MD rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gaithersburg, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Third Man Records.
