Belinda

February next year, Voilà will be released, the new album by former Go-Go's-singer Belinda Carlisle. In the eighties, she had massive solo-hits with Heaven is a Place on Earth (sampled by Orbital as well) and Leave a Light On. The redhead, who posed for Playboy in 2001, has had a knack for France and French music for a long time. Voilà therefore is a collection of covers, ranging from Serge & Brigitte's Bonnie & Clyde (that was featured here before) to Piaf's Sous le Ciel de Paris. Voilà was produced by John Reynolds (who worked with Indigo Girls and U2), Brian Eno was on keyboards and Natacha Atlas on backing vocals. Belinda's vocals are (and were) a bit of an acquired taste, and so is her accent. Still, her dedication and love for Gallic musique should be applauded, even if her semi-erotic version of Contact (no one can top Brigitte, so why try harder?), or the dance-version of La Vie en Rose are ill-advised.
But Hardy's Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp, with those say-goodbye-to-my-youth-lyrics, is a very wise choice. It also gives me the chance to (re-)post the original, Entrée d'Artistes. If anyone recognises her, please let me know. We've identified her, she's called Marie Louva.

Belinda Carlisle - Ma Jeunesse Fout le Camp
Françoise Hardy -Ma jeunesse Fout le Camp (Hardy on YouTube)
Lola Dutronic - Ma Jeunesse Fout le camp
Marie Louva - Ma Jeunesse Fout le Camp

Ouragan

Princess Stephanie of Monaco was the Paris Hilton of her time (the eighties) - a beautiful heir who witnessed the death of her mother (actress Grace Kelly), partied like there was no tomorrow, had lots and lots of well-publicized and very short-lived relations (ranging from actor Rob Lowe to an elephant trainer) and had an equally short-lived pop career. Her biggest hit was Ouragan - Irresistible in the English translation, probably because the literal translation 'tropical storm' didn't have enough appeal. She dabbled in fashion design, modelling and ofcourse had a perfume named after her. After Ouragan, Stephanie duetted with Michael Jackson - rock royalty meets the King of Pop. After that, the princess refrained from making music. Her mark was made. Ouragan, not a good song but certainly a defining eighties-track, has been covered a few times. Never better than the original (au contraire), but it keeps popping up. French popsuperstar Leslie and German indie-queen Elke Brauweiler are the most recent additions.

Stephanie - Ouragan
Stephanie - Irresistible
Dejaé - Ouragan
Kelly G - Ouragan
Leslie - Ouragan
Elke Brauweiler - Ouragan

Soldat Rose

Remember Le Soldat Rose? The musical, based on the children's book by Louis Chedid and Pierre-Dominique about a very lively toy store, has been performed in Paris last week. YouTube has a short feature. An illustrated album was released too, featuring songs by Vanessa Paradis (I already posted that one), Jeanne Cherhal, Albin de la Simone and M(athieu Chedid). I'm not a big fan of adult artists making music aimed at children (K3 springs to mind), and I think that most songs on the album make more sense on stage than at home on the couch. But with Cherhal, Paradis and the hugely talented M (see him and Vanessa perform a great song here, he produces her new album which will be released in 2007) you really can't go wrong.

Jeanne Cherhal - La Valse Des Etiquettes
Jeanne Cherhal, Vanessa Paradis, Sanseverino, Benabar, Louis Chedid - Un Papa, Une Maman

Daya

So take a good look at my face, you see my smile looks out of place. As you get closer it's easy to trace, the tracks of my tears. Smokey Robinson sang it waaaay back in the sixties, lovely chanteuse Belge Daya has her own take on this theme with Mes Yeux Rouges. She writes: "It is a song I wrote about 2 years ago. It's about a girl. She meets her ex-boyfriend and it is quite painful. There is still pain in her heart. But she's also very proud and makes all sorts of excuses for her red eyes: it's an allergy, it's her contact lenses, it's the rain etcetera. She wouldn't admit it's because she still loves him. No way!
I had just split up when I wrote the song. Although I was lucky not to meet him for a while...I imagined what it would be like to meet him and the excuses I would need to make for my red eyes! No way I'd admit I was suffering ;-) That guy was such a ladykiller! Somehow, it was a relief to write this song. It was the first step to my recovery." Have that box of Kleenex ready when you listen.

Daya - Mes Yeux Rouges

Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher

Public service announcement: More than 25 versions of Nancy Sinatra's classic These Boots are made for Walking, including a few French covers, can be downloaded @ Dans Mon Café.

Adrienne

About time I posted some songs by 26-year old actress/singer Adrienne Pauly - her first album was released a month ago and it's one of the best cd's I've heard this year. Her style has been compared to Guesch Patti (should post a song by her too) and rightly so. Adrienne, who worked as an actress with bigshots like Claude Chabrol, rocks with plenty of attitude. Listen to Méchant Cafard. But Pauly can be tender too - when she takes you in her arms. Look at this video, doesn't she look like a younger, sexier version of Patti Smith?

Adrienne Pauly - Méchant Cafard
Adrienne Pauly - Dans mes bras

Françoise

One of Françoise Hardy's biggest fantasies was to sing with...Julio Iglesias. She says so in the liner notes to Parentheses, her new album on which this fantasy comes true. In fact: more fantasies become reality, like duetting with Alain Delon (who, by the way, has his own brand of cigarettes in Cambodia) and pianiste Helene Grimaud. Parentheses is, you guessed it, a duet-album. Proposed by her record company, it features a few usual suspects (Jacques Dutronc, Benjamin Biolay, Alain Bashung, Arthur H) and some odd ones out, like Iglesias and Grimaud. There's one English duet, with singer-songwriter Ben Christophers. Not every combination works, and certainly not every male partner lives up to his reputation. But Françoise does, bless her. [Merci á Frans]

Françoise Hardy & Julio Iglesias - Partir Quand Même
Françoise Hardy & Benjamin Biolay - Des Lendemains Qui Chantent
Françoise Hardy & Rodolphe Burger - Cet Enfant Que Je T'avais Fait (best song on the album, methinks)