France Gall

She was the shooting star of French pop in the 60s with tunes like the very famous ?Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son? and could score a comeback hit in the late 80s with ?Ella elle l'a?. She was one helluva beautiful girl with brown eyes and blonde hair when she hit the scene aged 17 in 1964 and her rise to fame and stardom happened in an amazing pace. This is France Gall's debut album, released in '64 along with a couple of ROLLING STONES, HOLLIES and BEATLES albums and it could compete with all these heavy weights of their time. ?France Gall?contains a nifty mix of songs that present elements of chanson, soul and heartache ballad, vocal jazz and contemporary pop. ?Jazz á go-go? for example is such a rather haunting vocal jazz track with a wicked saxophone solo and on the other hand ?Les rubans et la fleur? comes as a beautiful pop / beat song with melodies ranging between happy and thoughtfully folky, as if some chanson and classic English folksong have been mixed up with a playful beat background. ?Pense à moi?owes much to cool jazz hero Dave Brubeck and his 5 / 4 rhythms and piano block chords of the ?Take five? anthem, one of the most popular jazz songs ever. Well, we are here to get a feeling for this beautiful French pop album and nothing more . All I can say is that even this song which has so obviously been inspired by another tune works well and lives from her oh so innocent vocal performance. She was 17 back then and you can hear it. The whole album emanates an angelic innocence that pop music had actually lost by that time. Still there is plenty of emotional depth to be found here. Her innocence just keeps it all together. Happy songs, dark songs, dramatic melodies, it is all here. On her early works her music was a bit more serious and cool than later in the 60s when she adopted a full but tame chanson pop sound. I have not heard many more melancholic songs than ?J'entends cette musique? from the early 60s. I do not understand what she sings about in this ballad but the melody is utterly sad but still hopeful. A masterpiece of French pop all in all. If you are into 60s female fronted pop music stuck in between the more adventurous mid 60s style and 1950s heartbreak songs you will love this new reissue of France Gall's debut. Listen and spend a joyful time.