France's first rock'n'roll star, Johnny Hallyday was an unabashed imitator of American pop, rockabilly and R&B. Hallyday specialized in French-language cover versions of hits by artists such as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and Sam Cooke, etc. While (as a French singer) his performances could never hope to match the sizzle of the original artists, his commercial success in the late 1950s and early '60s opened the door which made rock music acceptable to French ears. Hallyday set the tone which other artists would follow-- some singers, like Claude Francois and Hallyday's then-wife, Sylvie Vartan, also stuck closely to cover versions, while others such as Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainbourg began to push the boundaries and made rock-pop music with a distinctly French character. In a later incarnation, Hallyday went on to make several Ricky Nelson-ish roots pop albums, though for the most part his post-'60s work is drekky, negligible Euro-pop.
Regarding this discography: I don't necessarily stand by any of the records listed here, especially the later ones. I just stumbled across a bunch of the titles and am listing them for the sake of passing the info on. I'm sure most of them suck, though, so keep that in mind. Also, if anyone has more information they'd like to add, please feel free to contact me and let me know...
Johnny Hallyday "Johnny A Nashville -- La Fantastique Epopee Du Rock" (Philips, 1962)
Includes cover versions of "Be Bop A Lula", "Hello Mary Lou", "Maybelline", etc...
Johnny Hallyday "Salut Les Copains" (Philips)
Johnny Hallyday "Johnny A L'Olympia" (Philips) ('60s)
Johnny Hallyday "Jeune Homme" (Philips) ('60s)
Johnny Hallyday "Olympia: 1967" (Philips, 1967)
Johnny Hallyday "Johnny Hallyday" (Philips)
Johnny Hallyday "Palais Des Sports Paris: 1967" (Philips, 1967)
Johnny Hallyday "Que Je T'Aime" (Philips, 1969)
Johnny gets heavy on this Cream-influenced hard rock album, recorded live (?), or at least with crowd noise throughout. To tell the truth, Hallyday is pretty much just bellowing his way through the songs... But it's still amusing and should be of interest to students of le swinging Sixties... Includes covers of "Hush" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" -- most of the rest of the tracks are Micky Jones/Tommy Brown creations. Ludicrous, but effective.
Johnny Hallyday "L'Idole" (Mode Records)
Johnny Hallyday "Twistin' The Rock" (Mode Records)
Johnny Hallyday "Reve Et Amour" (Phillips, 1969)
Johnny Hallyday "Nashville" (Phillips, 1969)
Johnny Hallyday "Retiens La Nuit" (Fontana Records, 1970)
Johnny Hallyday "Country-Folk-Rock" (Philips, 1972)
Although the album title promises a Ricky Nelson-ish soft-pop twangfest, really only the first song on here, "Ma Main Au Feu," is a for-real country-rock song. The rest of the album tilts towards a robust Muscle Shoals-style soul-funk sound, with Carol Kaye and a few members of the much revered Los Angeles "Wrecking Crew" adding their patented brand of hot licks. Sort of like like Moustaki meets Nino Ferrer and the Isley Brothers. All in all, this is one of Johnny's stronger albums; goofy, but kinda groovy -- at least it sounds like he was enjoying himself!
Johnny Hallyday "Insolitude" (Philips, 1973)
Johnny Hallyday "La Terre Promise" (Philips, 1975)
With a version of Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee." Whoo-hoo.
Johnny Hallyday "Rock a Memphis" (Philips, 1975)
Johnny Hallyday "Derriere L'Amour" (Philips, 1976)
Johnny Hallyday "C'est La Vie" (Philips, 1977)
Johnny Hallyday "Solitudes A Deux" (Philips, 1978)
Cute picture of Hallyday and a little fluffy dog, uh, I mean chien, on the cover... That's about the best thing about the record, though... On Side One, there are intriguing tints of country-rock and '70s-style soft-pop, this is mostly a pretty florid, overblown, schmaltzy pop vocals set, with a production style that's a bit too heavy on the string arrangements. Hallyday is such a ham, too! Side Two of the album has a harder feel to it, as Hallyday digs into a jaunty set of soul-tinged rock, material that I suppose makes up for the leaden feel of the other tracks.
Johnny Hallyday "Hollywood" (Philips, 1979)
Johnny Hallyday "Live At The Palais" (Philips, 1979)
Johnny Hallyday "Je T'aime, Je T'aime, Je T'aime" (Philips)
Johnny Hallyday "Live -- La Pantin: 1981" (PolyGram, 1981)
Johnny Hallyday "La Peur" (Philips, 1982)
Johnny Hallyday "Lorada" (PolyGram, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Entre Violence Et Violon" (1983)
Johnny Hallyday "Ce Ne Change Pas Un Homme" (PolyGram)
Johnny Hallyday "Bercy 92" (Philips, 1992)
2-CD set.
Johnny Hallyday "Au Parc Des Princes: 1993" (PolyGram, 1993)
Johnny Hallyday "Rough Town" (PolyGram, 1994)
Johnny Hallyday "Paroles D'Hommes" (PolyGram, 1994)
Johnny Hallyday "Sang Pour Sang" (PolyGram, 1999)
Johnny Hallyday "A La Vie, A La Mort" (Mercury-Universal, 2002)
Johnny Hallyday "Serie Master, v. 1" (1991)
Johnny Hallyday "Serie Master, v. 2" (1991)
A curious 2-CD best of... Volume One is mostly horrid later Euro-pop, and the good(ish) stuff -- his old rock cover tunes -- are all on Volume Two. This is probably the best Halladay CD retrospective available in the States, though it should be stressed just how much the first disc is really terrible...
Johnny Hallyday "Ses Premieres Succes" (Vogue, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Johnny Hallyday" (BMG, 1998)
A 2-CD set drawing on his early years... Two discs, but only 25 songs, so maybe not the first collection I'd go looking for if you wanted to check out Hallyday's rocker years.
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie" (Mercury-France, 1997)
A multi-disc retrospective.
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1960-1963" (Philips, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1964-1966" (Philips, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1966-1969" (Philips, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1970-1975" (Philips, 1998)
A fine overview of his work in the early 'Seventies, most of which is pretty hard to handle... Hallyday had, of course, flirted with psychedelia and moddishness in the late '60s, and he was still dabbling in trippy production at the start of the next decade, as evidenced by the kaleidoscopic arrangements by the likes of frogpop pro Eddie Vartan and the much-vaunted avantnik Jean-Claude Vannier. He quickly settled into a more pedestrian pop-vocals approach, and the primary defining characteristic is Hallyday's tendency to bellow forcefully in order to project emotion... His very flatness gives clever producers a readymade palette to work around, but even with the curlicues and musical textures, you still have to come back to the fact that the guy is yelling in your ear. A couple of tunes stand out, such as his gutteral cover of John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son" and a couple of acoustic-based country-tinged songs, which provide a welcome respite from the bombastic orchestrations of other tracks. I didn't hang onto this one for long.
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1975-1984" (Philips, 1998)
Johnny Hallyday "Anthologie: 1975-1997" (Philips, 1998)
A 2-CD set covering a wide swath of his later material...
French Music Index
French Rock Albums
