Baby Pop

Possibly France Galls best album (though Les Sucettes, from earlier in 1966, gives it a run for its money), Baby Pop is also a key album of the entire French ye-ye scene. In much the same way that Revolver or Pet Sounds brought new musical and lyrical opportunities to British and American pop music the same year, the richly varied Baby Pop is a more mature and wide-ranging album than the bubblegummy singles that had made Galls name. Producer Alain Goraguers orchestra is less pronounced than usual, and his arrangements have a lightness of touch akin to Tony Hatchs very similar recordings with Petula Clark or even Burt Bacharachs work with Dionne Warwick. As always, there are a couple of eye-rollers on this album, with the so-cheesy-its-oddly-fascinating LAmerique being the most egregious. But the rest of the album -- from hit singles like the brassy title track (one of Galls very best) and the sublime Nous ne Sommes pas des Anges to lesser-known album cuts like the Farfisa-driven Faut-Il que Je TAime -- is excellent, some of the finest female pop of the era, no matter what the language. ~ Stewart Mason