Gold Music Story: 1968

If u love yeye - the french songs from the early 60s before the Beatles - u will adore France Gall. All of her songs were originals. Never did she sing American or British songs dubbed into french, like other equally famous yeye girls. Her songs are spunky and fun to listen to. Her voice is superb and her articulation educational. There is a lot of humor in her repertoire. Sure, the late great Serge Gainsbourg wrote lots of top tens for her but so also did her dad and her brother. Her repertoire is light and singalongy. This collection is a true jewel.

This is a classic flower-pop album - superior to many far better-known examples of the genre from the U.S and the U.K in the maddening catchiness and infectiousness of the songs. Almost every song has a memorable hook and it never descends into the drippiness that this musical style is prone to. The tone is exuberant, cheeky, mocking, and unwilling to take itself too seriously. Contrary to what some other reviews have suggested, France Gall's singing is exactly right for these songs. If you love 60's pop, I'd strongly recommend it.

This is one of those CD's that is on repeat except the creepy last song.........not sure why they spliced that one on.

Of the French female singers I've listened to, France Gall is among the best. Gall was a pretty, perky, girlish-voiced teenager who sang some very catchy, even addictive pop songs in the mid-to-late 1960s. Gall had a beautiful voice. She was a very talented singer, and she and her band had impeccable timing. Gall made a lot of music videos in the 1960s, and they are viewable online. Of the 32 tracks on this CD there are perhaps four or five "don't miss" gems that justify paying the price for this two-CD set. There are maybe 10 or so additional tracks that are very good. Most of the remaining songs feature some unimaginative music, and are forgettable. Some of the highlights are: Sacré Charlemagne is one of those addictive songs that you won't be able to get out of your head after listening to it a few times. I think this is the best song on the CD. The song has Gall and some girlish-sounding chorus singers asking "Who had this insane idea one day to invent school?" They are referring to King Charlemagne. The song is done in an upbeat, fun tone. Although Gall initially refused to record this song, once she gave in, it became her biggest hit, selling over two million singles. An amazing accomplishment for a French-language song in 1965. Ne sois pas si bête (Don't Be So Stupid) is another very catchy pop song, and my second favorite. The song was first played on the radio on Gall's 16th birthday Néfertiti is a sexy, exotic, Egyptian-sounding tune about the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. My third favorite. Mes premières vraies vacances (My First True Vacation) is another of my favorites. Gall sings about going on her first vacation without her parents. Made in France is a fast paced, upbeat song that is another of my favorites. It features some English verses. I especially like the drums in this one. Les Sucettes (lollipops), on the surface is an innocent children's song about a girl named Annie who likes aniseed-flavored lollipops ("And when the barley sugar, perfumed with aniseed, slides down Annie's throat, She is in paradise"). But the song was written by her song writer with double meanings and strong sexual innuendo. Gall recorded this song when she was 17 years old, and even made two music videos (youtube) of the song in 1966 before she became aware of the double meaning. Laisse Tomber Les Filles (Let Go of the Girls) was another of Gall's top hits, and it has a great beat. Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Doll of wax, doll of sawdust) was one of Gall's biggest hits, but it is overrated in my opinion. The music is unimaginative, repetitive, and boring. The song likely refers to Gall's song writer using her as sort of a puppet through which he expressed his writing. Another highly recommended French singer from a later era is Camille. Her CDs Le Fil and Le Sac des Filles are excellent.

I've already heard a lot of the songs on this album, so I'm just rating it 5 stars now because I'm so excited about getting it in the mail!

I should not give five stars to this record,but FRANCE GALL has enchanted my childhood with her innocent charm.I always feel like a kid when i listen to this her last LP for PHILLIPS.FRANCE at this time of her career is no longer the teenager darling of the famed radio program SALUT LES COPAINS.She is now 20 but can't seem to get rid of the image she helped to create a few years ago.The period that will follow will be the most difficult for her.Then in 1974,FRANCE encounters a certain MICHEL BERGER, not at all interested at first place in working with her.But FRANCE uses her considerable charm to convince him to write her new songs.Love does the rest.As for this lp,you only need to forget about your dream of having FRANCE GALL as your kid sister to enjoy it.This is SERGE GAINSBOURG'S last important collaboration for this girl who has brought him fame by recording his songs:NEFERTITI,TEENIE WEENIE BOPPIE and many others in previous lps.

France Gall, a staple in the French music scene for nearly forty years, has been gaining a reputation recently in America for her early pop Go-Go music (or as the french called it, ye-ye music). Most people wanting to indulge their sweet tooth in such fare would be well suited to buy one of the many collections, most of which go by the name "Poupée de son." I take it if you are looking at this album, you have already sampled her wares and are looking for more. Fear not. You have come to the right place. This album probably seemed like a pitiful attempt to come up with some response to "Sergeant Pepper," an album that upped the ante for every artist and claimed the careers of many. So, at least for a while, with France Gall. After a long streak of successful singles, EPs and LPs, this is the last of the ye-ye albums and France went away for a while to retool with some rather bizarre hits in Germany before coming back with more "serious" work in collaberation with her husband, Michel Berger, in the 70's and 80's. But to all people who love the Summer of Love, the "Nuggets" collections and all things psychedelic, the kitchier, the better, this album is a must. The mixture of France's squeaky freshly pubescent voice over the most lavish over-the-top psychedelic production makes for songs Petula Clark or Nancy Sinatra would beg for. And in French! (I'll admit it. Every time she uses le sujonctif, I get goosepimples.) The songwriting is top-notch if a little, ahem, familiar. "C'est toi que je veux" starts with a nice string quartet kidnapped from "Yesterday" before Dusty Springfield's brass section bowls them over then returns to a plucked bass line plucked from "Good Vibrations." "Chanson indienne" is as over-the-top as "Can You Dig It?" from the Monkees' ill-fated "Head." But the star tunes on this album are the ones found on the collections. "Bébé requin" is seductive. "Teeny Weeny Boppie" chugs into strange lands. "Avant la bagarre" starts with a switch so out of left field, you'll have to reverse and listen to it again a couple times before you can finish the song. "La petite" is the only clunker, a duet with a man who sounds three times her age and harks back to childish songs she put on her early albums because, well, she was only 14 back then. It's the last track. Just skip it. No, it's not the Beatles. Not even the Monkees. If you want a better singer, Françoise Hardy blows her away. But if you want a museum piece of pure 1967 (which is when 1968 was released) this is for you. France Gall is hard to resist. People who I play her to might hate it on the first listen. Then later they all ask if they can borrow it. Then "sans que tu le sache" France Gall will devour your heart.