France Gall

This lengthy compilation is one of the best possible starting places for anyone who wants to explore the French ye-ye scene of the 60s in any depth. Although Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg are better known to non-Francophone audiences, both are simply too idiosyncratic to really give any sense of the style by themselves. Pretty, pert, and spunky, the teenage France Gall is the definitive ye-ye singer, and this 18-track collection of her best 1963-1969 hits is the perfect encapsulation of her charms. Like many pop singers of her era, no matter what their nationality, Gall does not have a particularly great voice in a technical sense; its high, a little breathy, and a little weedy. But she maximized her strengths (a cheerful exuberance, and a most effective poutily flirty lower register heard to best effect on jazz-tinged numbers like "Pense a Moi" and "Bebe Requin") and hid her weaknesses enough that even when she was slightly out of her depth, she got by on sheer attitude. The songs are primarily a strong lot, unsurprising considering that Galls father, Roger Gall (a talented performer/producer who had previously worked with Charles Aznavour), and family friend Gainsbourg wrote most of her hits, including the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest winner "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son," "Ne Sois pas Si Bete," the brassy "Baby Pop," the "Peter Gunn"-inspired "Laisse Tomber des Filles" (which April March re-recorded with new English lyrics as "Chick Habit" in the mid-90s), and the controversial hits "Les Sucettes" and "Teenie Weenie Boppie." Those last two Gainsbourg-penned songs, a thinly disguised ode to the joys of oral sex and a bizarre story about a deadly LSD trip, are proof that theres more going on here than bubblegum. Not that theres not bubblegum here too, especially on the cheesy "LAmerique" and the kiddie tune "Sacre Charlemagne," a duet between a then 16-year-old Gall and a pair of puppets from a French childrens TV show. However, France Galls music is far better than her reputation in some circles might suggest, and France Gall is the perfect introduction. ~ Stewart Mason