Frères Sourires (11); Jean-Claude Vannier

Another guestpost in this Month of Male @ Filles Sourires, is by Jan Hiddink from the notorious Amsterdam Paradiso.

Late at night. We’re watching the tv show of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson in growing disbelief. If there was music made in Paris, more than 35 years ago, that was this dangerous and adventurous –why then bother about psych or krautrock any longer? What if maybe the real thing was not to be found in the USA or in die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, but in sweet Paris, mon cherie? Oui! You put aside Holger Czukay, you can do without The White Noise. You go out to find out about the one and only original.

This turned out to be the mighty Jean-Claude Vannier who arranged and scored the music for the Melody Nelson album at the age of 28 – with Gainsbourg being 42. A year later, Vannier released the fantastic l’Enfant Assasin des Mouches, a concept album around a boy killing flies in a giant lake of molasses. There’s notes of Gainsbourg to be read, but not to be heard on the album. Story has it that originally, this album was to be another collaboration, but apparently, the musical partnership of Vannier and Gainsbourg ended in screaming loud brouille. Nevertheless, it’s an amazing, theatrical and entertaining album. Pyschedelic Rock, musique concrête, Middle East music, carnie folk, slices of funkrock: there’s little that Vannier does not touch and there’s little more to be desired from an instrumental album. Hearing the elegance of this album, a lot of psych and krautrock of that time seems dull at least and ponderous for sure.


After that, Vannier did what seems the usual in the musical culture of France: he arranged, composed, produced and collaborated with about all of the lovely singers, male and female, that this blog informs you about. Yet there is more than just the Assasin-album for which he is to be praised: Jean-Claude Vannier also is a chasonnier in his own right. His own songs lack the danger and darkness that characterises Melody Nelson, but offer an elegance and lightheartedness that garantuee your plaisir d’écouter. In terms of wordplay, he often seems close to Gainsbourg, having titles like Des mots Démodés. This song is to be found on the lovely double album En Public/ Fait Maison that was released a few years ago. The cd En Public is a live recording from the Théâtre Dejazet in 1985. The title, but also the music of Juste une petite fille bring up memories of Melody Nelson. In Papa fait nous un tube , another chanson d’elegance, Vannier sings about the many late night and early morning hours he is spending in the studio – if you look at Vannier in real life, you are sure he’s been lacking a lot of sleep ever since ages. The other cd of this double packaging, Fait Maison, offers nine chansons that Vannier recorded at home in 2005. In one song, Le film du dimanche, Vannier sings bleak poetry of novelist Michel Houellebecq – the lightheartedness of his music is often in contrast with the lyrics, in which life is presented as a doublefaced, doublehearted affair. Vannier illustrates this also with titles like Heureux Malheureux (from En Public). Also be sure to check La chanson de la pluie.

Jean-Claude Vannier - Des mots Démodés
Jean-Claude Vannier - Juste une petite fille
Jean-Claude Vannier - Papa fait nous nu tube
Jean-Claude Vannier - Le film du dimanche
Jean-Claude Vannier - Heureux Malheureux
Jean-Claude Vannier - La chanson de la pluie (all from En Public/Fait Maison)
Jean-Claude Vannier - Danse de l'enfant et du roi des mouches (from L'Enfant assassin des mouches)
Jean-Claude Vannier - Le roi des mouches et la confiture de rose (from L'Enfant assassin des mouches)