At 08:28 AM 7/30/2003 -0500, Durben, Steven wrote:
>One of the things I've fallen in love with per this list is "French Pop" and
>"Soft Pop".  Anyway, can anyone shed some tips on either of these two
>influential artists: Jacques Brel  and/or Serge Gainsbourg?  I'm assuming
>the Gainsbourg place to start is his best of "Comic Strip"...true?

COMIC STRIP is a good starting point, but you might also consider diving in
with both feet and getting his masterpiece, HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON.
Given your fondness for Scott Walker, I'm sure you would love this album,
which has a very similar feel to what Scott was doing around the same time
(1971).

I would also recommend Serge's work with Brigitte Bardot, which includes
many of his best songs.  There's a fairly readily available French CD
called MASTER SERIE VOLUME 2 (note: no terminal S on Serie) that covers the
Bardot/Gainsbourg era in detail and features "Contact," "Bubblegum,"
"Bonnie and Clyde" and the original and even pornier version of "Je
T'Aime...Moi Non Plus."  (VOLUME 1 is Bardot's early '60s pre-Gainsbourg
stuff, which is less interesting but not bad.)

And you know about France Gall already, right?

S