I think the "pop" genre has often gotten a bad rap in more independent-based music scenes because of its connotations of commercial appeal over artistic intent or perhaps because it often just makes a shitload of money. I can empathize with this to a certain extent and then I remember that I like pop because its fun. Also if you give any pop music long enough then it will take on some sort of new value. In a sense this like finding a really expensive red leather jacket at the goodwill for 20 bucks (which I have done on two separate occasions at two different thrift stores in two different states). This is how I feel about 60's french pop so that's why I was stoked when I found this 2002 retrospective compilation, Femmes de Paris, Vol. 1. Though perhaps the pop aspect of French Pop is a bit of a misnomer as so much of the genre is heavily influenced by American Rock of the 50's and 60's. You can see a strong parallel between the French Pop movement and cinematic French New Wave with the influence of American pop-culture exploding in France post-World War II and the youth/artistic movements of the 60's being on the receiving end of that.Part of the focus on this style of music is the celebration of the french language with music targeted at french-speaking countries that dominate more than just France including other parts of Europe like Belgium or as far as North America with more than just the Quebecois, extending to all parts of Canada. And lest we forget that so many African nations were colonized by the French. In many interviews I've conducted with bands from non-English speaking countries a vast majority of them want to sing in English because it appeals to such a wide market. Now we've established there are a lot of French speakers, but inherently its a far more niche market so that means there is a Pop movement, which again would traditionally spell commercialization to the fullest extent, and yet here's the artistic integrity. You can call it patriotism, nationalism, traditionalism, and maybe I'm over-thinking but to me its a love for a beautiful language. As a filmmaker that shoots mostly 16mm I inevitably wind up having many discussions about film versus video. I generally see the points made by people on the video side but I truly love film. I'm sure these musicians, their bands, and their producers had many discussions French vocals versus English ones and they came to the conclusion that at least for one song they would sing in their native language (most of these women spent their entire musical career singing in French).
One of the brilliant traditions that comes out of this whole thing is the importance of the cover song. These women sang all sorts of rock 'n roll covers and those are some of my favorites on this disc including Marie Laforêt's "Marie douceur, Marie colère" which is a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black". There's a great minimal quality to the recording of this song that puts a great emphasis on Laforêt's ability to belt out the vocals for this song just as well as Mick Jagger. This is probably the best cover on the compilation but there are also great covers of the Lee Hazelwood-penned "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", "Sloop John B" (a traditional West Indies folk song popularized by The Beach Boys), the Motown hit "Baby Love" (which became The Supremes most successful hit), The Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin", and one of the bonus tracks is a Beach Boys original in the form of "You're So Good To Me".
What I love about the covers and in fact all the songs on the album is that they are all really short with the longest song clocking in at four minutes and nineteen seconds and that is Patricia's cover of "Nights In White Satin" which in its original recording comes in at seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, so for this to be the longest song certainly says something, especially since most of the rest of the songs on this disc are really under three minutes. The reason I like this is because there's almost a snack quality to the songs. These are perfect songs for sprinkling into mixes of other things or as one grouping you're able to get nineteen songs for a fifty minute album.
The covers aren't the only great songs on this comp as some of my favorite are original tracks sometimes penned by other writers, sometimes written by the singers or at least with contributions. Of course its difficult for me to know what's going on in these songs because I don't speak French but in that sense the music has more of a visceral quality in which I have to just listen to the way the voices moves. Of course there are some songs that its easy to get hooked on for at least a suggestion of the lyrics, like Christine Pilzer's "Dracula", which is easily my favorite song on the entire compilation and reminds me of a lot of the great (or at last campy) European vampire films of the 60's and 70's. Jocelyn's "Nitty Gritty" also seems pretty straight-forward.
Speaking of Jocelyn, what winds up being really interesting is that a lot of the singers of this era are just these one name performers like Jocelyn, Patricia, Stone, Elizabeth, etc. This might not seem odd now that we have Madonna and Prince, but keep in mind that this was at least ten years before Prince and twenty before Madonna. I suppose that you could point out the misogynistic quality of the French in creating commodities of these women, but I think in retrospect they wind up having mythical God-like qualities like Hercules or Athena. Of course not all of the women are just one name and in fact many of them made their names as actresses as well as singers with the most well-known on here being Brigitte Bardot, who most would probably know from either Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman or Jean-Luc Godard's seminal Contempt. This compilation not only provides fantastic songs but also serves as somewhat of a reference towards popular culture in France during this time period, giving it historical context and significance.
A lot of these songs also just have amazing bands backing them and you get great horns like the trumpet on Tiny Yong's "Tu es le roi des menteurs", amazing percussion, and clearly the Bob Dylan love is shown with the harmonica on Violaine's "J'ai des Problèmes Décidement". One of the greatest songs purely for the instrumental elements is probably Liz Brady's anthematic "Partie de Dames".
However, at the end of the day this grouping of songs is really just a fantastic compilation of music that has pop-appeal, rock-appeal, and of course appeal to my nerdier history-loving side (and I love The French even if others wanna be haters). I highly recommend checking out either this compilation or a similar one for any of the above reasons but most of all because these songs are fun and as the beautiful digipak packaging tells us, its also in "Super Stereo".
Favorite Tracks: Marie Laforêt - Marie douceur, Marie colère (Paint It Black), Eileen - Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher (These Boots Are Made For Walkin'), Violaine - J'ai des Problèmes Décidement, Liz Brady - Partie de Dames, Stone - Fille ou Garçon (Sloop John B), Christine Pilzer - Dracula, Adele - J'ai Peur Parfois, Patricia - Mes Rêves de Satin, and Brigitte Bardot - La Fille de Paille
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