NOTE : DEAD LINKS We'd like to thank everyone for preventing us of dead links. For the moment, we are note able to re-up them.
Feel free to keep on preventing us of those dead links. We will update them when we (I and Jeb-E-Diah) have more time to (understand : from september). Some of them will be partially or completely repacked considering albums which would have been issued thereafter and surely with new and improved artworks.
I didn't expect making such low success with my Weather Report post so I do what I want and I post something I really wanted to for a long time. Fernandel is one of french most famous actors within France. His filmography is somewhat any actor would have all wanted to have. He was french autor Marcel Pagnol's favourite actor for his films. But Fernandel began his carreer as a cabaret singer like many others in the 30s. His carreer exploded with the film Ignace in which he sings (as most of the films he played). The eponymous song of this film brought him as a star very quickly and he never having success even if some of his post war films are a bit worse. Outside of France, he is mostly known for one of his recurrent character : Don Camillo. But, even if Charles Chaplin, Bob Hope, and Jerry Lewis had become friends of his, he never reached the english or american fame. Beside his actor job, he never really stopped singing even if, after WWII his discography is les dense. Fernandel died in 1971, aged 68 after a 40 year carreer whose best musical trace is a TV show recorded in 1968 called "Le Palmarès de la Chanson" from which 2 extracts were taken to illustrate this Baistophe. As an evidence, non french speaking people will hardly understand the songs especially the humour.
Arno, a Belgian singer/songwriter who sing both in French and English and sometimes in his native Flemish, is one of the most respected figures in his homeland and, with time, became quite big in France too. Originally, this compilation was supposed to be the work of Baistophe's collaborator SFP who left me with a hundred song and an name for his compilation. I gotta say it's been an advantage not to know anything about the artist to make a choice as to what was to end up on this Baistophe. I ended up with 42 songs out of Arno's 12 studio albums which display how he evolved throughout time as well as stylistically starting as a new wave meets blues artist and slowly developing a sound that is his own only. Actually, I could feel a strong Tom Waits influence in the Belgian's style, that doesn't mean he's just a copycat; he's far more than this. About the title, I think it's quite fitting when someone with Arno's voice was likely to fail yet, just like Tom Waits or Shane MacGowan, managed to establish himself as a major artist deserving to be heard by more people. Here's your chance, make sure not to miss it.
RIYL: Stephan Eicher, Alain Bashung, Tom Waits, CharlElie Couture
Surprisingly, Claude Nougaro has always kept a quite background seat in the french chanson history. He is though one of its very best singer and auteur. Popularised for having added words on familiar Jazz classics, he however has always loved the work on the word. Nougaro was THE french poet of chanson. And when I say poet, I shall put it also in big letters. The lyrics are so clever and the work done on the musicality of his centenses are something no one made better before and after. His long carreer deserved (at least) a double set and I'm proud that Claude now belongs to Baistophe's long list. Thanks to DIOD for this great selection of non-hits.
"How the Hell can such a band be so good!" I could have made the same centenses than with Kula Shaker. Those two bands are however completely different, but their very short and intense discography made me begin their two posts by this same centence. Harmonium is a three-piece band of acoustic folk. During their history, the three guys became 5 and then 7 with their great last double LP "L'Heptade". With only three albums from their very first eponymous, very acoustic folk songs, to their third and last, an ambitious folk prog conceptual album, this evomution doesn't disturb much as Serge Fiori's singing is widely recognisable and gives Harmonium's music its own identity. By the end of their Heptade tour, Fiori had become like a hippy guru in his land, Quebec, felt a bit tired and decided to retire. That's how the Harmonium's story ended up.
My HARMONIUM TOP3 : 1- Comme Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison (1975) 2- L'Heptade (1976) 3- Harmonium (1974)
Christophe has hardly won his reputation of "serious singer". Songs like Aline, Les Marionnettes or Succès Fou made him look like he'd always been a variety singer. But it's all false. Christophe is some kind of a tortured singer. Most of his songs are in a typical melancholic spirit. But don't believe he only made sad and slow songs: he's also a great Rock performer and an astonishing great composer. His first top discography lives between 1973 and 1978. On LES PARADIS PERDUS album, lyrics are writen by Jean-Michel Jarre which make me think he should have stayed in the seat of writing lyrics. The music is composed by Christophe, which definitely confirm us that JM Jarre should have stayed on that seat...
After a harde passage in the 80s Christophe was back in the mid-90s with an unwaited technoid album that caught everyone wrongfooted. his following album the 2001 COMM'SI LA TERRE PENCHAIT is an outstanding come back in the classical Christophe melodic songs. This album definitely took him to the highest steps of respctablity. Christophe is now untouchable.
NB : Listen to Red Mountain, it's closely the same song as Pink Floyd's Careful With That Axe, Eugene
One of France's best kept secrets, Les Innocents were, above all, a fantastic pop band one could compare with pop era's XTC or New Zeland's Crowded House. Yes, they were that good. Actually, it took quite some time for the band to define its trademark sound. Their first two singles in 1985 and 1987, though they sold quite well in France, were too typically 80s mainstream pop for their own good and even their debut album, though it had good songwriting, suffered from a production that didn't really gave the songs what they needed. It all came into place with their second album, Fous à Lier, where their love for Lennon, McCartney and pop music in general finally showed the way it was supposed to. That doesn't mean Les Innocents were just copycats, something definitely French in their sound set them apart from the multitude of anglo-saxon pop formations earning them an identity unlike any other band. All this leads to this 19 songs compilation displaying the finest of Les Innocents' repertoire. Something that, no doubt about it, will please the pop lovers from all over the world even if they don't understand the French language. Enjoy "De Toutes les Couleurs", I'm sure it'll leave you hungry for more.
My LES INNOCENTS List 1 - Les Innocents (1999) 2 - Fous à Lier (1992) 3 - Post-Partum (1995) 4 - Cent Mètres au Paradis (1989)
To say the news of the death of Mano Solo came as a shock certainly is an overstatement. All those who took interest in the man's music knew from the start about his condition. HIV-positive then ill with AIDS, this has been the life of Mano since the begining of his solo career and probably his founding battle and the basis on which he build his lyrical style. But, to sum Mano to his disease wouldn't be fair, the man had much more to offer than just pain and misery. His passion for life, his sensitivity, his ability to voice out the life of simple people were some of the artist's strong points. His music displayed a clever mix of classic chanson (think Léo Ferré, Jacques Brel, etc.), world music (Tango, Latino, African, Gypsy) and alternative rock (he started his career as part of French alternative rock band The Chihuahuas) merging it all in something quite unique and tasty. Son of left-wing cartoonist Cabu and ecological activist Isabelle Monin, Mano Solo was a free-minded man, a maverick in the French chanson scene who chose in 2006 to stray away from the big business and do his thing on his own thus returning to the values of his alternative rock debut. For all these reasons and more, Mano will be dearly missed and probably never replaced. He died last Sunday, he was 46. R.I.P. NOTE:This compilation is just a short introduction to Mano Solo's art. All his albums, except maybe 2004's Les Animals, are worth checking and can be ordered on Mano'swebsite.
Singer/songwriter Keren Ann Zeidel, who records under the name Keren Ann, was born in Israel in 1974 to a Dutch-Javanese mother and a Russian-Israeli father. She was nine when her parents bought her a guitar, on which she learned to play songs by Joni Mitchell and Serge Gainsbourg. In the years to come, she would also learn to play the harmonica and the clarinet. Zeidel and her family, including a brother and sister, lived in Israel and Holland before settling in Paris, France, when she was 11. In the 1990s Zeidel met musician/arranger Benjamin Biolay, with whom she would form a fruitful partnership. In 1997 she had a small part (as Judith) in Alexandre Arcady's K, and in 1998 she released a couple of singles (including "I+I+I") as a member of Shelby, but they attracted little attention. Zeidel released her full-length debut, La Biographie de Luka Philipsen, in 2000. On it, she combined trip-hop, folk, and French pop to sublime effect. Lyrically and thematically, she was inspired by her family history; the name Philipsen, for example, comes from her maternal grandmother. Biolay assisted with the writing and arranging. As influences on her unique sound, Zeidel has cited Russian literature, Jewish folk music, French poetry, Bob Dylan, and Suzanne Vega, whose "Luka" is also referenced in the title (in 2001, Zeidel would open for Vega in France). La Biographie was enthusiastically received in Europe, garnering favorable comparisons to Françoise Hardy, Portishead, Beth Orton, and Dido. In addition, it earned several nominations for the French equivalent of the Grammy, the Victoires: Best New Discovery (Artist and Album) and Best Song of the Year. The song "Jardin d'Hiver" ("Wintergarden") was co-written by Biolay and became a hit for Henri Salvador. Zeidel and Biolay contributed a total of five songs to his best-selling Chambre Avec Vue. A version of "Jardin d'Hiver" also appears on La Biographie. In 2001 Zeidel assisted with the writing of Biolay's Rose Kennedy. Her follow-up to La Biographie, La Disparition ("The Disappearance"), came out the following year. She recorded a version in English at the same time. While preparing the album, Zeidel listened to a lot of Beatles, Chet Baker, and Tom Waits recordings, resulting in a bluesier, jazzier sound. As with La Biographie, much of the material was written with Biolay, who has also claimed the Beatles as an influence. Late in 2003 the English-language Not Going Anywhere arrived and was distributed by Blue Note in the U.S. the following summer. After relocating to New York, Keren Ann released the half-French, half-English Nolita in 2004, which marked the first time she worked without Biolay, producing and writing most of the tracks on the album herself. In 2007 her self-titled full-length hit shelves. (allmusic)
RIYL: Coralie Clément, Benjamin Biolay, Françoiz Breut
Let's start with her embarrassing participation to the first edition of Star Academy Edition… Luckily, she didn't win but quickly knew how to convert this experience into success with a record compagny and a first studio album, "J'aime pas l'amour". To do so, she contacts Juliette, Weepers Circus, Chet and others alternative chanson artists to help her write top notch material (J'aime pas l'amour, Le Tango du qui, Petite Fable…). A first appreciated album even if some songs sound like commercial teenage orientated chanson. It's only with the second album, La Femme Chocolat, that we can really define Olivia's music touch: folk, punk, indie, Hispanic Rock and Nouvelle Chanson. With this second disc, Olivia Ruiz is awarded as the Female Artist Of The Year in 2001. The 'Live Chocolat Show' was a fantastic moment of phantasmagoria and extravaganza and she also won a prize for it (Concert of the Year). Two years later, she writes the lyrics for her third studio album called Miss Météores. She co-arranges the music with her life partner, Mathias Malzieu (of French indie rock band Dyonisos) and one more time collaborates with friends and family (The rapper Buck 65, the dark cabaret project Lonely Drifter Karen, the indie band Noisettes, the french indie band Comign Soon, her brother and father, etc…). Just like the Chocolat show, Météores Show offers a spectacular live concert with beautiful scenes in which Olivia sings and dances her little stories, joking with the audience, inviting friends and family too... All you have in 'Vous habitez chez vos parents?' is a 'patchwork': songs from the studio albums, covers and songs with other artists such as Brigitte Fontaine, Christophe, Mathias Malzieu, Weepers Circus,François Hadji Lazaro… Just listen to it with an open-mind and I'm sure you'll discover how attractive and entertaining Olivia's world is! And, as she's only 30 years old, we can assume the best is still to come…
mStanzas OLIVIA RUIZ Top 1 - La Femme Chocolat 2 - Miss Météores 3 - J'aime Pas L'Amour
RIYL: Anaïs, La Grande Sophie, Jeanne Cherhal
(selection, rip and text by mStanzas, artwork by SFP)
Here we go for a complete month of ladies. For sure we rarely post ladies baistophes and that's all our shame. That's why we wanted to prove that we don't forget them at all.
First of that series, France Gall. Become a famous singer in 1966 after she won the Eurovision show with infamous Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son, she then became much more famous with her collaborations with french singer/composer Serge Gainsbourg.
After a calm period between 1969 and 1974 when she only recorded singles, her carreer took another path towards stardom... mostly in France anyway. Meeting Michel Berger who was to become her husband, she found with him a composer able to write exactly songs that fitted her.
If, however, she has always remained a "variety" singer, we felt that, like Daniel Balavoine (with whom she sang in rock opera Starmania), she has all the dignity that no one can contest.
Her songs stills sound good to me and Il Jouait Du Piano Debout (a song about Jerry Lee Lewis), is something like one of those songs I won't forget because what it means to me.
Albert Marcœur is one of the strangest person in french musical history. Known as the 'French Zappa' (maybe for is cynical lyrics) his sounds remind much of a mixture of Robert Wyatt and Henry Cow. His particular voice and singing gives more scale of this strangeness.
I discovered Marcœur's music not long ago and really discovered a new world. A bit like if he sang the world around through the eyes of a child.
ALAIN SOUCHON LUX, CALME ET VOLUPTES (COLLECTION 1974-2008)
Widely considered the godfather of contemporary French pop, singer/songwriter Alain Souchon captured the precarious masculinity of postmodern man with uncommon tenderness and whimsy. Often working in partnership with composer Laurent Voulzy, his music explored themes both personal and political with poetic grace. You won't find all of Souchon's singles in this compilation covering his 12 studio albums. Some of them weren't good enough to be included here. On the other hand, you'll have songs that are not usually featured in the man's official compilations but deserve their place here. Get a taste of one France's most influential and acclaimed artists, one that is still very popular among people of all ages.
My ALAIN SOUCHON Top 3 1 - C'est Déjà Ca (1993) 2 - Jamais Content (1977) 3 - Au Ras des Paquerettes (1999)
My ALAIN SOUCHON Bottom 3 1 - On Avance (1983) 2 - Ecoutez D'Où Ma Peine Vient (2008) 3 - J'ai Dix Ans (1974)
RIYL: Daniel Balavoine, Laurent Voulzy, Louis Chedid
BAISTOPHE is a collection of home-made compilations as those available in store are, most of the times, unsatisfying. We make our own artworks (front & back) so that everything can be burnt, printed and look nice in your CDs collection. Also, we are always looking for new people to help us achieve a quasi-encyclopedic collection. If you think you can help, feel free to contact us. And don't forget to leave a comment, it's always gratifying to see our hard work pleases people!
NB: It goes without saying that these compilations are meant to be introductions to artists we enjoy. If you like what you hear,BUY THE ALBUMS!
NOTE: Artists and labels who do not wish their music to be available on Baistophe can ask us to remove it. Please contact: baistophe{at}gmail{dot}com
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