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blowupdoll

Monday, January 31, 2011

re-post request

CHANTAL GOYA - TU M'AS TROP MENTI
a fantastic request by chris taylor - the second the drums kick in my body just spazzes out and forces me to dance!

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Saturday, January 29, 2011

picture post - saturday

FRANCOISE HARDY - NOUS ETIONS AMIES
pictured here with the electrifying (ahem) claude francoise. this song appears on her 1964 album - more unusually, she didn't write this song.
hope you've enjoyed all these new pics - when i buy old french mags and look in them, i'm sure you can hear me for miles screaming every time i turn a page and discover a new picture!

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Friday, January 28, 2011

picture post - friday

FRANCE GALL - BLOODY JACK
pictured here with jacques dutronc (don't worry, francoise gets' 'married' to someone else tomorrow!). an alternative version to teenie weenie boppie, infact it's an early example of a mash up! lyrically it's the same as serge gainsbourgs bloody jack. it remained unreleased until 2003.

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

picture post - thursday

SYLVIE VARTAN - BALLADE POUR UN SOURIRE
this sweet song is co-written by j.m. riviere which is a name that seems to pop up many times on the credits on the back of records. he's also written for brigitte bardot, francosie hardy, france gall and dalida.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

picture post - wednesday

FRANCOISE HARDY - AU FIL DES NUITS ET DES JOURNEES
taken from the near flawless 1967 album 'francoise'. what is so amazing about her is how she writes the majority of all her songs - the woman is a genius.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

picture post - tuesday

CHRISTINE DELAROCHE - LES PRINCES D'AUJOURD'HUI
if you are wondering why this song is just so amazing - it's probably something to do with the fact that songwriter/producer germinal tenas being involved - he who also gave his magic touch to clothilde and chorus reverendus. he was a master at creating iconic baroque pop and this is a fine example.

loving the knee high socks christine!

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Monday, January 24, 2011

picture post - monday

ANNIE PHILIPPE - QUARANTE MARINGOUINS
pictured here with singer herbert leonard in the style of a 1900 wedding, listen to this brilliant slice of psychedelic pop.

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Sunday, January 23, 2011

picture post - sunday

FRANCE GALL - CHI RIDE DI PIU
this week i will be posting some ace rare pictures sourced from a 1968 copy of mademoiselle age tendre for you to enjoy (just click the pic to enlarge).
this song is from 1969 and is the italian version of 'les gens bien elévés' from the 'homme tout petit' e.p.

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Saturday, January 22, 2011

how to stop traffic


it's moments like these which make sylvie vartan go from just being a well dressed singer of ballads and cover versions to doll icon. not only is this song amazing with its lush orchestration courtesy of j.c. vannier (again!), she looks amazing; simple yet striking in black. and then there's the gapped teeth! the hair! on top of all that- her performance here is mesmerizing: the drama! the emotion! the head shaking!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

v.p. 80s - thursday

VANESSA PARADIS - MANOLO MANOLETE
this was released in 87 as a follow up to joe le taxi but it didn't sell very well so was ultimately left off the first album. i bought a signed copy of this from a record shop for a very good friend of mine at the time. i later borrowed it....and to this day i still have it! so bunny- if you are reading this- it is still in very good condition and you can have it back if you want!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

v.p. 80s - wednesday

VANESSA PARADIS -MARILYN AND JOHN
this english version doesn't really make much sense. in french it's about marilyn monroe and jfk but it english, the story doesn't seem to make sense. "marilyn was russian?!" "just a phone call coin away from the sun?!" - enjoyable none the less i think!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

v.p. 80s - tuesday

VANESSA PARADIS - JOE LE TAXI (spanish version)
yes! the obscure but very sought after spanish language version, it's still just as good.

UPDATE - i have now uploaded a better quality version (big thanks to hubert)

Monday, January 17, 2011

v.p. 80s - monday

VANESSA PARADIS - MAXOU
again, this is the english language version- more successful than the other attempts from the m&j period. i like it because it reminds me of being a teenager, sitting on my bed with our family dog called macs. and i used to sing this to him! i know vanessa doesn't perform many songs from this early period in her career, which is understandable when you have been made to sing nonsense such as 'chat ananas' but i would still love her to sing maxou again one day.

p.s. this is is a pic of vp and a dog, not me and macs!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

v.p. 80s - sunday

VANESSA PARADIS - CUT CUT BROTHER
this is the english language version of 'coupe coupe'. i am not sure where this comes from. i had a copy on cassette (!) so perhaps it was only available on that format. not the best song (either in french or english) but a cute addition to your paradis collection.

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

who will buy?

VICTOIRE SCOTT - there are a few victoire songs i have never heard - but here are 2 long clips that are new to me: hey mamma and brille, comme elle brille.

if you want to hear the full songs- you'd better get bidding on ebay right now- good luck- i think you'll need it!

star 80 - saturday

FRANCOISE HARDY - GIN TONIC
this is the only song that she had a hand in writing on the gin tonic album - and it stands out as one of the best songs too. maybe if she spent less time sitting inside a refrigerator, she'd have more time to write songs.

Friday, January 14, 2011

star 80 - friday

FRANCOISE HARDY -BRANCHE CASSEE
the album 'gin tonic' from 1980 is not one of her finest albums - you only have to check out the first track: 'jazzy retro satanas' to realise that - it sounds like barry manilow does jazz-disco. but there are moments to savour too. like this track, written by j.c. vannier. composer and arranger vannier has worked with serge gainsbourg on 'histoire de melody nelson' as well as other top dolls like jane birkin and leonie.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

little star - wednesday

TWINKLE - GOLDEN LIGHTS
this was the follow up song to 'terry'- again she wrote it herself inspired by a personal experience. at the time her boyfriend was in the bachelors and sitting alone in her hotel room looking across to the theatre were they were performing that night - their name up in lights, she created this song about a girlfriend who didn't become a groupie to her pop star boyfriend. a minor hit, it made the top 20 in 65.
this song was passed along to chantal goya who recorded her own wonderful version entitled 'dans la nuit'.

if you've enjoyed the past few posts- i'd highly recommend the 'golden lights' cd- containing all twinkles recordings including her later 70's work which are equally as good (but with a glam edge).

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

little star - tuesday

TWINKLE - UNHAPPY BOY
she wasn't a fan of gigging around the country and after seeing an 'unhappy boy' at the back of one of her gigs- she related to his unhappiness and wrote this song. the song only appeared on a rare e.p. of lonely singing doll (her english version of france galls 'poupee de cire, poupee de son).

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Monday, January 10, 2011

little star - monday

TWINKLE - I NEED YOUR HAND IN MINE
some of you may recognise th
is song as twiggy also recorded it (twinkle recorded it a year or so earlier) - both versions are great.
twinkle lived among the pop world before she was a pop star herself; she started singing at 14 and writing her own music and this alongside her sisters job as journalist for a pop magazine gave her the opportunities to hang out with the in crowd of the early 60's. Talent, chance and meeting the right people resulted in landing a recording contract by the age of 16!

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Sunday, January 09, 2011

v.p. - help?

when vanessa paradis first album 'm&j' came out, i'm sure i had a copy that had maxou and coupe coupe in english on - i can no longer find this copy - but my memory isn't playing tricks on me- she really did record them in english (as well as the easily sourced marilyn and john in english.) does anyone have copies of maxou and cut cut brother to share with me?

UPDATE thanks to everyone who sent me copies (mylene, anonymous, patrick and pickeugo). i will post them on here next week!

little star - sunday

TWINKLE - SOLDIER'S DREAM
born lynn ripley, but better known as twinkle, for a brief period in the 60's she was a pop sensation. her 'death disc' 'terry' was a huge hit in 64. After that, she struggled to find the same success which is a shame. so for the next few days, i am going to share with you why twinkle should have been a bigger star. this song (from 69)was unreleased, infact twinkle doesn't even remember it getting past the demo stage.