let's swing again

This decade has seen lashings of CD releases for fans of 1960s French pop, like Femmes and Gentlemen De Paris, Sunnyside Café's Pop A Paris series, Girls In The Garage Vol. 10 ('Groovy Gallic Girls'), Atomic Café's French Cuts, Wizzz!, Magic Records' Sixties Girls series and recently, La Belle Epoque. But prior to any of these, there were some exciting 90s comps that launched this stuff from obscurity to a worldwide audience. Il Sont Fous ces Gaulois! was one of the first, introducing listeners to sensational French freakbeat and garage sounds. Following it a little later, two of the most well-known comps, Ultra Chicks (Vol. 1, 1996) and Swinging Mademoiselle (Vol. 1, 1999) were the first to compile songs only from French 60s girls (along with a lesser known one, 1997's Belles! Belles! Belles!).

These collections are largely responsible for making many music lovers weak-kneed fans of female French 60s pop - as well as making the original cuts highly collectable. What is that makes this music so addictive? Discovering the French scene is like suddenly doubling the possibilities of what there is to discover musically from the 60s. It's like uncovering an entire secret world of quality music that is both familiar and exotic. Some only hear something silly and disposably cute in this material, and claim that at best these are exactly like Anglophonic tunes but with French vocals, therefore not worthy of special devotion. To the cynical, we devotees are only fetishists who like this music for its novelty factor and/or think something is automatically cool because it's French. To them I'd say - listen closer and perhaps you'll hear the unique appeal that makes the rest of us feel like we've discovered hidden treasure.

Plenty of incredible French pop and rock music was performed by both male and female vocalists of the era, but there's something about the female contributions that is especially intriguing. There's a unique expression of femininity that strikes the listener, something quite different to what we're used to hearing in 60s pop. Though distinctly French, it defies the stereotypically Gallic images we have of the dramatic, lovelorn women of chanson, or overtly sexual types like Brigitte Bardot. There is something naturally girlish and subtly sensual at play here. There's also a tomboyish rock 'n' roll spirit and overall sense of fun free-spiritedness present. The singing style is simultaneously coy, sexy, excitable, coquettish, fun, bold, confident, witty and smart. Many qualities were celebrated in the female voice on French recordings that are less typically present in other 60s girl pop, allowing roles other than the cheerful nice girl or the soulful diva. Fragility, cheekiness and detachment are less familiar elements to our ears that are often quite noticeable in these songs, and clearly considered desirable qualities for a female singer to express. There's also something a bit punk about how the vocals are often not perfectly in tune, and how there seems to be more emphasis on self-expression than technical proficiency. And aesthetically alone, there's an enormous appeal to hearing the French language sung over a rock arrangement in either a high, sweet-toned voice, a lower, sultrier voice, or a combination of both.

Though it would be foolish to deny the lusty undercurrent beneath much of the music sung by the perfectly-coiffed, matching-outfitted American girl groups, English-language female pop was still dominated by the ideal of the good-natured, well-behaved, pretty, pert and somewhat asexual girl. Even those that hinted at something more sensual had to present it convincingly wrapped up in this image. One of the most fascinating insights that French female 60s pop holds for me is that French girls - at least those performing pop music - seem to have had more free reign both to possess a sexual identity, and to express it. Sure, much of the compiled music is more from the fringes, but girls like Dani, Elsa Leroy and Zouzou were bonafide pop stars. Even the most popular girl of the era, the relatively straight-laced Sylvie Vartan, was distinctly sultry and pouty, and never smiley and wholesome. Sheila, up there in the popularity stakes alongside Sylvie, seems to be the only singing star created in the image of Anglo-American starched, good-girl appeal, but with her insanely overdone hair and manic perkiness, she is almost a Frankenstein-like concoction of all that is meant to be acceptable in a female pop star.

The two Swinging Mademoiselle volumes brought us a concentrated dose of all that made French 60s female pop great. Each disc benefits from a certain cohesiveness of sound and attitude, each full of girls who bring a purring, sweet, rockin', delicate sensuality to these perfectly catchy pop ditties. That's not to say there's not variety: every singer brings her own unique personality and delivery.

The songs have little flourishes that make them a cut above typical pop. The touches of psychedelia here and there, the unusual arrangements, the amusing themes and the afore-mentioned spirited vocal stylings mean there's never a dull moment here.

Below is my interview with Thierry, tastemaker behind the Swinging Mademoiselle comps, transcribed from our email exchange, followed by the tunes from Swinging Mademoiselle Volume 2. 

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Spiked Candy: How did you first get interested in the pop/rock songs performed by French girls in the 60s?

Thierry: Actually, I was not too much in French 60s at the beginning. When I was 15/16 years old in 1979 I came to music listening to punk- rock basically (Ramones, Clash, Buzzcocks, etc...) and by this time I had no interest in 60s music what so ever. 

Swinging Mademoiselle Vol. 1 - go here .

*Claire Dixon's song should be tagged 'Je n'ai besoin QUE de tendresse', you may want to rename/retag the file (Last.fm users will understand this need for pedantism!)*

[Update: Thanks to Blossomtoe for pointing out that on the first vol. of Swinging Mademoiselle, the artist and title tags are reversed - again, last.fm users especially will want to correct this]

Sometimes strange, mysterious and vexing things go wrong with the file links, so please tell me if any don't work. 

[Update: Yep, as predicted, I spazzed things up. Thanks, Big Al, for letting me know song 22's link was wrong - that's now fixed] 

Full album [Divshare, left-click]:
Swinging Mademoiselle Vol 2 (.zip, 108MB)

Split into 2 parts [Sharebee, left-click]:
Swinging Mademoiselle Vol 2, part 1 (.rar, 52MB) [Sharebee, left-click]
Swinging Mademoiselle Vol2, part 2 (.rar, 57MB) [Sharebee, left-click]

Individual Songs [MyDatabus, right-click]:
01 Liz Brady - Palladium
02 Elsa Leroy - Quelle Foule Quelle Foule
03 Adèle - Jai Peur Parfois
04 Clothilde - La Ballade Du Bossu
05 Claire Dixon - Je N'ai Besoin Que De Tendresse
06 Zoé - Avant Qu'on Ait 20 ans
07 Violaine - Dam dou ah
08 Zouzou - Tu Fais Partie Du Passé
09 Jocy - Les Dix Premiers
10 Dani - La Fille A La Moto
11 Aline - Censuré
12 Jocelyne - Nitty Gritty
13 Christine Pilzer - Ah-Hem-Ho-Hu-Err
14 Caroline - Bach Ou Jerk
15 Christie Laume - Agathe Ou Christie
[Bonus Tracks]
16 Cettina - Cettina
17 Tienou - Pop Art
18 Tiny Yong - Huit Jours Par Semaine
19 Danielle Denin - Je Lis Dans Des Yeux
20 Madeleine Pascal - Dieu Nest Pas Vieux
21 Eileen - Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher
22 Zouzou - Il Est Parti Comme Il Est Venu
23 Dani - La Machine
24 Caroline - Mister A Gogo
25 Adèle - Et la la la la
26 Elsa - Des Gens Se Retournent
27 Christie Laume - Rouge Rouge
28 Liz Brady - L'Amour Se Voit Sur Ton Visage

Liner notes:

Cover and back	Pages 2 - 3	Pages 4 - 5	Pages 6-7

Buy: Once you are sufficiently addicted, you'll probably want to buy whatever you can get your hands on  by these ladies. Try these releases: 

Femmes De Paris Vols 1, 2 & 3 : CD Universe has the best price I could find on these (Amazon is stupidly high for Vol. 3). Thierry actually put together Volume 3 and says it's what he would have done had he made a Swinging Mademoiselle Vol. 3.

Magic Records' Sixties Girls series: These compile EPs from mostly obscure girls, although Francoise Hardy does show up on Vol. 1. The only source to obtain multiple songs from the more elusive French artists like Clothilde, Cléo, Christie Laume and Liz Brady. Their newest release (Vol. 5) features Elsa, Elsa Leroy and Christine Pilzer.

Magic Records' Artist Comps: Of the artists posted here, Magic Records have released collections of the entire works of Pussy Cat, Stella, and Tiny Yong. 

Tip: Try Aquarius Records for buying Magic Records stuff outside of France. International shipping from Magic is quite high, and probably prohibitive unless you're buying a ton of stuff. If you're out of luck with Aquarius, Amazon France stocks Magic releases and has more affordable shipping. Amazon US and CD Universe have the CDs at higher prices, but depending on where you live and what you buy, it may work out cheaper.

Pop A Paris series: Not too favourably spoken of above! Still, there are some highlights on these comps,  and they're the only in-print sources for some artists.

La Belle Epoque US / UK : A new release, there is a lot of crossover here with other comps. But the sound quality is AMAZING (the best yet for some of these songs - Christie Laume's 'Rouge Rouge' sounds incredible), it's readily available and affordable, and the liner notes are excellent.

Dani - Best Of: Boomerang, L'integrale : L'intégrale is much better than Best Of: Boomerang, but has disappeared from the Magic Records site, and is expensive elsewhere. Not sure where you can still find Boomerang for sale.

Zouzou - L'intégrale : Also now expensive and unfortunately there is a fair bit of filler on here. But there's hope - I got my copy on Ebay for $1! 

Jocelyne - Twistin' The Rock : Sadly, seems not to be available anywhere anymore, but you might be lucky and come across a copy.

Links: Slipcue's Guide to French comps; Bardot-A-Go-Go's comp & album reviews