Anthony Richard "La Terre Promesse" (Magic, 1999)
'Sixties sunshine pop... Gallic style! This disc drifts between soft orchestral pop (some of it unbearably cheesy) to some credible covers of several Rolling Stones songs (including "Ruby Tuesday" sung not only in French... but in Italian as well...! ) There are also a couple of Paul Simon songs ("Sounds Of Silence" and "Homeward Bound"), Bobby Hebb's "Sunny," a cover of "Monday, Monday" and a lone Beatles cover, as well as some homegrown French pop, which is mostly pretty lame and unbearable... The first pass I took at this disc, I didn't think much of it, but then it kind of grew on me. Richard seemed very sincere and into what he was doing; this is probably too wimpy for most listeners, but as goofy French-covers-of-American-pop albums go, this ain't bad. Worth a spin.

Rick Rivers "L'Essentiel" (EMI-France, 2002)
Singer Dick Rivers originally hailed from the rock'n'rollin' combo, Les Chats Sauvages, who brought the gospel of Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and Chubby Checker to eager French fans at the dawn of the 'Sixties... Rivers split the band and went solo in '62, pursuing a more "serious" interest in soul and, later, more introspective pop-rock. This collection is mostly pretty lively and includes fun covers of stuff like Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance," Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" and "Tobacco Road," dutifully (and loosely) translated into French... The presence of two early Beatles tunes sugegsts that Rivers, like Los Shakers in Uruguay, was given first crack at Lennon/McCartney material, for hometown consumption, before other artists who weren't on EMI had a chance to cover them... There's one terrible song on this disc, but it's a lamentably incongrous later song, an awful track from the 1980s that sounds like a reject from an Olivia Newton-John session... Other than that, though, this is an enjoyable record. Fans of Nino Ferrer's soul discs might want to check Rivers out as well... There's also another L'Essential disc featuring Les Chats that's pretty fun.

Les Rosemary's Babies "Lutte De Classe" (Island/Boucherie, 1991)
French-language '77-style punk and some softer, pub-rockish stuff as well... Not bad!

Les Rythmos "De Frisette A Candy" (Self-released)
Delightfully cute, early '60s Quebequois rock'n'roll, with a distinctive '50s sound that moves from Everlys-ish ballads to catchy upbeat Eddie Cochran-style numbers and back again with equal ease. These 1959-1967 recordings apparently originally came out on the Canadian wing of the Cadence label, but sadly seem to be out of print. Pity, since in many ways this duo puts the great Johnny Hallyday to shame. Many thanks to Mssr. Guy Lapointe, one of the original members of the band, for making this CD-R available for review... Anyone who likes this kinda stuff will be pretty happy getting in touch with him through their website, and picking up a copy for themselves.

Les Sans Culottes "The Ennui And Ecstasy" (2001)
Les Sans Culottes take the American hipster fascination with/adoration of French ye-ye and stand it on its head, giving Gallic rock a giddy, garage-y, kitschy, 'Sixtiesed-out shot in the arm, infusing the style with the energy and abandon that the French themselves seldom seem able to muster. This early album is more of a straight garage-pop album, and more "French" than their later albums, which are more of a linguistic mix'n'match. I dunno, but I thought this album was a lot of fun. Very perky and very toungue-in-cheek, and very enjoyable (although a few tracks drag on a bit....the middle section has a few duds, but the album picks up in the end...) Recommended (though, sadly, it's apparently out of print as well... Zut allors!)

Les Sans Culottes "Faux Realism" (Aeronaut, 2002)

Les Sans Culottes "Live In Paris" (DCN, 2003)

Les Sans Culottes "Fixation Orale" (Aeronaut, 2004)
If the Bay City Rollers had been French instead of Scottish, and fell into the thrall of some dadaist garage rock scene run by Esperanto cultists... Well, they might have sounded a bit like this gleefully tounge-in-cheek "French" rock band from Los Angeles (by way of New York), who giddily skip from rock genre to rock genre as easily and breezily as they slide between languages. Cracking jokes in pidgin French, broken English, and whatever random syllables seem to be laying around at hand, these folks make no sense, but they sure have fun. The crunchier guitar riffs may be a little hard-rocking for your average frog-pop fans, but folks who liked April March's collaborations with The Makers may find kindred spirits here. I haven't seen them live, but I imagine they are a lot of fun.

Les Sequelles "En Tant Pis Si Cela Vous Deplait" (Grenadine, 2000)
Decent -- if unsurprising -- 'Sixtiesed-out garage rock from Montreal, with male and female vocals, lots of reverby guitars and dips into 'billy this and 'billy that. They sing in English on a couple of tunes, but mostly it's all glorious Quebecois French. Definitely worth a spin!

Yves Simon "28 Grands Succes" (BMG-France, 1994)
A fine 2-CD set that collects the best of French avant-folkie Yves Simon's work on the RCA label, from 1973-77. Presented in chronological order, this kicks off with "Les Bateaux Du Metro," a moody, elegant piece with an arresting, innovative mix of acoustic melody and dynamic rhythm. The earlier tracks, taken from his 1973 album, Au Payes Des Merveilles De Juliette, have an immediacy and hunger to them, as well as a fascinating stylistic range and depth... I suppose he could be compared to Britain's John Martyn, an erstwhile acoustic folkie who was unafraid to admit commercial ambitions, and who paid dearly in aesthetic terms for his explorations into harder-edged pop-folk fusions. By mid-decade, thudding, jazz-tinged rock arrangements started to drown out Simon's softer tendencies, although he still exuded passion and a singular artistic presence... He's still certainly worth looking into, though, and this is a fine introduction to his work.

Yves Simon "The Best Of: 1973-77" (BMG-France, 1998)
This single-disc best-of covers the same period as the 28 Grands Succes collection (above), but with half as many tunes. This might be all you need, but the other set gives more bang for your buck.

Sophie "L'Integrale" (Magic, 1999)
This disc gathers together four EPs recorded between 1963-65 by a ye-ye second-stringer known as Sophie. She must have been outside the cool kids loop, cause her arrangements were pretty square compared to the like of Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday... I mean, it's okay, but it's not really the rockin'... It has the palpable feel of old-fashioned French orchestral bands trying to approximate rock'n'roll by pumping away as fast and crudely and propulsively as possible, figuring anyone dumb enough to like this greasy kid's stuff isn't going to know the difference anyway. The fuzzed-out acid-rock guitars that France Gall would later pick up weren't around yet; and apparently nobody gave Sophie's bandleaders the memos about surf music or the Beatles. There's a few Goffin-King/Phil Spector girl-group covers in the mix, but after a few tunes, most of these tracks melt together and start to sound the same. Also, she didn't have the world's greatest voice... On the slower songs, when she let her husky tones draw out a bit, she got a bit of a Francoise Hardy thing going on, but on the faster, more manic numbers (most of the disc), she starts to sound like she's braying tunelessly. As far as French rock kitsch goes, this is okay, but I wasn't too wowed by it. Almost, but not quite.

Stella "Les EPs Des Sixties..." (Magic, 1997)
A fab two-disc set of this ye-ye Mod cutie. Her earliest stuff, on Disc One, is not so distinctive; fairly plain, fairly cute, standard-issue ye-ye from the early and mid-'60s. What makes this collection special, though, are the rock and roll tracks on Disc Two, many of which feature cool session work by future Led Zepper, Jimmy Page. His fuzzed-out guitar and bass figure prominently on many of these tracks, which also have an innately playful exuberance. In short, the girl rocked. (PS -- Later on, Stella would marry the drummer of France's most famous prog rock band, Magma, further cementing herself into the French pop firmament.)

Stella "L'Integrale Sixties" (Magic, 2005)
I think this disc has a pretty hefty overlap with the EPs Des Sixties collection listed above...

Telephone "Anna" (EMI-France, 1977)
One of France's first punkish hard-rock bands of note, Telephone were fun, but a bit limited. On this album, particularly, the crunchy AC-DC/Golden Earring-derived lead guitar work seems pretty static, although is does have real headbanger potential. Good-natured and appealling, this is certainly worth checking out, though perhaps best taken in small doses.

Telephone "Le Live" (EMI-France)

Telephone "Crache Ton Venin" (EMI-France, 1979)

Telephone "Au Coeur De La Nuit" (EMI-France, 1980)

Telephone "Dure Limite" (EMI-France, 1982)

Telephone "Un Autre Monde" (EMI-France, 1984)

Telephone "En Concert: Paris 1981" (EMI-France, 2000)
Live and in their prime...

Telephone "The Best Of Telephone" (EMI-France, 1997)
Although this is a best-of set, some of the versions it includes are from their live album, and not the original studio takes... So, be aware of that when you're considering this disc... Still plenty of cool tunes on here, but in a few cases, maybe not best rendititions.

Telephone "Le Meillheur De Telephone" (EMI-France, 1997)

Telephone "20th Anniversary: 1976-1996" (EMI-France, 2004)
A 6-CD box set covering their career from inception to reunion

Natacha Tertone "Le Grand Deballage" (PourquoiB?, 2000)
Fans of indiepop chantuese Francoiz Breut may also enjoy this album... Although it doesn't achieve the full, brooding grace of Breut's debut album, this is kind of in the same arena -- arty guitars, disjointed melodies, airy vocals, postmod sensibilities. As France's subterranean indie scene continues to boom, I'm sure we'll find more and more records such as this hitting out shores.

Tetes Raides "Not Dead But Bien Raides" (Tot Ou Tard, 1989)
Bal musette/agit-art-rock/ska/punk... from France! Although I'm sure these guys were a gas live, on record it's all a bit arch and theatrical for my tastes... But for folks who dig the Mekons, Chumbawamba, the Willem Breuker Kollektief, or the Dutch band, Ex, these guys may come as a real revelation. Accordion fans will want to check them out as well. And, golly, are there a lot of albums to choose from!

Tetes Raides "Mange Tes Morts" (Tot Ou Tard, 1991)

Tetes Raides "Les Oiseaux" (Tot Ou Tard, 1992)

Tetes Raides "Fleur De Yeux" (Tot Ou Tard, 1993)

Tetes Raides "Le Bout Du Toit" (Tot Ou Tard, 1996)

Tetes Raides "Viens" (Tot Ou Tard, 1997)

Tetes Raides "Chamboultou" (Tot Ou Tard, 1998)

Tetes Raides "Gratte-Poil" (Tot Ou Tard, 2000)

Tetes Raides "10 Ans De Tetes Raides" (Tot Ou Tard, 2000)

Tetes Raides "Tetes Raides Aux Boffes Du Nord" (DVD) (Tot Ou Tard, 2003)

Tetes Raides "Qu'est-ce Qu'on Se Fait Chier!" (Tot Ou Tard, 2003)

Tetes Raides "Live: 28-05-2004" (Tot Ou Tard, 2004)

Tetes Raides "Fragile" (WEA, 2005)

Tetes Raides "Aie" (WEA, 2006)

Ukulele Club Of Paris "Manuia!" (Universal-France, 2002)
Well, okay, this one is actually a few years old, but I just came across it and thought is was cool. The Ukulele Club of Paris is a wonderfully diverse, playful ensemble that commingles odd, cute, ukulele-sized versions of old standards such as Hoagy Carmicheal's "Hong Kong Blues" and the venerable "Teddy Bear's Picnic" with cool originals and perky covers of old Hawaiian standards. The album opens with a delightful cover on Benny Nawahi's "Girl Of The South Sea Isles," complete with the lyrics translated into French; wisps of Latin and Brazilian music come in as well... Admittedly, you have to be into uke music to begin with, and even so this is probably best taken in moderate doses... But these guys are top-flight... If you like listening to artists such as the Cheap Suit Serenaders and Bob Brozman, or the groups they inspired (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Asylum Street Spankers, etc....) and likeminded modern uke groups such as Petty Booka, then this disc might be right up you alley... Worth checking out!

Jean-Claude Vannier "L'Enfant Assasin Des Mouches" (Finder's Keepers, 1972/2005)
A "collector's item classic" from 1972 that is alternately brilliant and completely pretentious and irritating. The lowdown on this one is that after composer Jean-Claude Vannier, a protege of Serge Gainsbourg, knocked this out as a soundtrack disc, it was issued in minute quantities on a microscopic indie label, garnered scant attention in its day (there was a lot of groovy music coming out of France at the time) and inexorably gained Holy Grail status for French-pop crate diggers. Vannier attained notoriety as the arranger for Gainsbourg's lavishly orchestrated "L'Histoire De Melody Nelson," and here he plies himself to an irony-drenched all-instrumental setting that blends searing acid-funk, pop kitsch, French chanson, as well as avant-classical and "concrete music" tricks such as found-sound samples and industrial noises (mainly stuff that sounds like dentist's drills...) along with a flowing, Beatles-y melodicism. Some tracks are just plain annoying, others have a textual depth that is both gorgeous and surprising. Some of the weirder, tight-formation changes in meter mirror the poppier end of American jazz-fusion, as well as the chaotic glory of Arthur Brown's band, Kingdom Come. You can see why hipsters across the world have latched onto it as a sacred icon... Parts of it I like a lot, but in general, this isn't a record I would sit down and listen to recreationally from beginning to end. Here, it is reissued with glorious sound quality, informative liner notes and glowing testimonials from indie luminaries such as Jarvis Cocker, Tim Gane and Jim O'Rourke... Definitely worth checking out!

Sylvie Vartan - see artist profile

Venus "The Red Room" (Tot Ou Tard, 2006) They sing mopey songs in English, which, since they're a French band, isn't as much fun (for me) as if they had sung their mopey songs in French. Still, some gentle arrangements that make for nice listening, particularly on the pastoral "Underwater."

Peter Von Poehl "Going To Where The Tea Trees Are" (Tot Ou Tard, 2006)+

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