French — In Stock — All Formats  

One of the greatest Brigitte Bardot albums you could ever buy – some of the grooviest, sexiest work the famous French actress ever cut! The album's overflowing with excellent original material written by Bardot by Serge Gainsbourg and Francis Lai – two of our favorite French composers... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Beautiful work from Benjamin Biolay – easily one of our favorite French artists of the 21st Century – even though we've been following his work since the previous one! Benjamin's got a sound that's just perfect if you, like us, dig an older generation of French work by artists like... read more

Beautiful work from Benjamin Biolay – easily one of our favorite French artists of the 21st Century – even though we've been following his work since the previous one! Benjamin's got a sound that's just perfect if you, like us, dig an older generation of French work by artists like... read more

Excellent work from this fab French vocal group – their second LP, and infinitely harder to find than the first! The group was led by Blossom Dearie – the American singer, living in Paris at the time, and in the vein of groups they inspired (Les Double Six, The Swingle Singers) The... read more

Some of the earliest work of Jacques Brel – and some of the best as well! The collection is a massive overview of Brel's first recordings in the mid 50s – all original compositions that marked not only a new generation for songwriting in France, but a revision of the role of the male... read more

... read more

Groovy girl pop from late 60s France – a treasure trove of under-discovered numbers from the lovely Clothilde! Clothilde's from the same vintage as France Gall and Francoise Hardy – but she's got a style that's a bit sweeter vocally, yet still set to the mod-styled backings that really... read more

... read more

Beautiful – and some of the best soundtrack work ever recorded by this mad French genius! Francois De Roubaix is one of our favorite soundtrack composers ever – and if you've never heard his work, this is a great place to start. The 3 films included in the package all feature amazing... read more

One of the greatest soundtracks ever written by one of the maddest composers we've ever heard! Although Francois DeRoubaix never gets as much fame as some of the other big French composers, his work from the late 60s and early 70s is completely insane – as you'll hear on this groovy gem from... read more

Another incredible set of mad, moody film music from Francois de Roubaix – some featuring vocals by Serge Reggiani. Roubaix is a pretty obscure name when you consider the hallowed halls of worshipped composers – but trust us, it's as likely due to his unique vision and lack of a huge... read more

... read more

The soundtracks to 2 of Jean Luc-Godard's greatest films – back to back on one CD! The score to Pierrot Le Feu features 9 tracks in all – 3 of which are vocal numbers by Anna Karina, who starred in the film, and who delivers the vocals with a decadently deadpan style that fits... read more

Music for the last feature film of Jacques Tati – the mad mad Trafic, matched here by a wonderful soundtrack by Charles Dumont! After the dark modernism of Playtime, Tati let loose a bit more for Trafic – and the score matches the film's sometimes silly approach with some very groovy... read more

... read more

Very groovy stuff from Nino Ferrer – France's answer to the 60s beat group scene that was shaking big in Britain and Germany! Ferrer has a style that's greatly influenced by American R&B singers, and he's backed by a tight little combo that has a hard Hammond and guitar sound that works... read more

Great work by the team of Brigitte Fontaine and Areski Belcam – two of the most enigmatic talents you'll ever hear on record! The album's the only one they ever recorded that wasn't issued by the Saravah label – and it's a fantastic blend of otherworldly vocals with spare... read more

A really joyous groove from Michel Fugain and his Big Bazar group – a sound that's a bit hard to describe, but which really grabs us right away! There's definitely some groovy rhythms going on in the set – and the style is kind of an updated French pop mode from the late 60s –... read more

... read more

Fantastic stuff – and a record that may well be the greatest ever from the mighty Serge Gainsbourg – high praise indeed, considering the greatness of Gainsbourg's other music! The album is one long suite built around a spare, electric bass-driven theme – a slow funk riff that's... read more

Fantastic stuff – and a record that may well be the greatest ever from the mighty Serge Gainsbourg – high praise indeed, considering the greatness of Gainsbourg's other music! The album is one long suite built around a spare, electric bass-driven theme – a slow funk riff that's... read more

A great Serge Gainsbourg album from 1973 – one that we'd rank right up there with his best work! The record's got a slinky funky groove that's right in a perfect post-Melody Nelson mode – music written by Serge, and played by a hip small combo that includes lots of great guitar from... read more

A landmark collaboration between Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin – his paramour at the time, and a much younger woman! The pair come together beautifully here in a set of sensuous duets – tunes that have an open, honest approach to the relations between the sexes – yet... read more

2 incredible soundtracks from Serge Gainsbourg – both of them from his best period of work! Cannabis is a tremendously funky set of tunes – and some real standout soundtrack material from the legendary Serge Gainsbourg! Serge is working here with some great help from Jean-Claude... read more

2 incredible soundtracks from Serge Gainsbourg – both of them from his best period of work! Cannabis is a tremendously funky set of tunes – and some real standout soundtrack material from the legendary Serge Gainsbourg! Serge is working here with some great help from Jean-Claude... read more

A record as revolutionary as the French year in which it was recorded – an amazing batch of late 60s grooves from Parisian pop madame France Gall! The set's upbeat and jaunty, with plenty of fuzz – almost a psyche pop sound, with lots of groovy guitars that make the album sparkle with... read more

No baby pop here, as France Gall is all-woman throughout – one of the best of the French female pop singers of the mid 60s, working here with an upbeat, groovy sound throughout! Backings are by the great Alain Gouraguer, who gives the record a tightly jerking kind of feel – a sound... read more

Incredibly groovy work from France Gall – easily one of our favorite French singers of the 60s! France has a sound that's really unique – one that comes from the Frenchified pop of the "yeh yeh" generation, but which really packs a lot more punch than her contemporaries... read more

Two early gems from this fab French singer! First up is the self-titled Francoise Hardy album from 1962 – a seminal debut from the young Hardy, and a record that set the tone for a whole generation of French music to come! The album's a remarkable achievement – especially considering... read more

Rare English language recordings from the sublime Francoise Hardy – music that's every bit as wonderful as her famous French recordings – and even more compelling to our Anglo-styled ears! The vocals are wonderful – sung with this sense of darkness that's almost got an echo of... read more

Psychedelic, folksy, and a tremendous lost set from the French scene of the early 70s – the standout full length set from the duo of Bernard Ilous and Patrice Decuyper, two very hip cats who really blow our minds with this set! There's some folksy elements here – so we might be a bit... read more

Really dark work from composer Pierre Jansen – a CD that collects tracks written for the films of Claude Chabrol, a range of 60s and early 70s French thrillers with a moody, pessimistic feel. Most tracks have off-kilter orchestrations with occasional evocative solo instrument passages –... read more

Fantastic French funk – a record that's unlike any other deep funk combo we can think of – because Caroline Lacaze sings in her native language instead of English! The grooves are stepped in the best funky 45 styles of the late 60s, but the vocals also echo the more soulful sound of... read more

Fantastic French funk – a record that's unlike any other deep funk combo we can think of – because Caroline Lacaze sings in her native language instead of English! The grooves are stepped in the best funky 45 styles of the late 60s, but the vocals also echo the more soulful sound of... read more

... read more

... read more

A pretty wonderful album by Michel Legrand – way better than you'd guess from the title! Sure, the tunes are mostly numbers by Richard Rodgers, but Legrand handles them here with the best of his soundtrack skills – really opening them up with some amazingly deft arrangements, and... read more

String-heavy early genius from a young Michel Legrand – tracks from some of his best travelogue albums for Columbia from the 50s! The first half of the set is Legrand's original I Love Paris album – a sparkling postwar musical fantasy of Paris, made up of a host of famous themes from... read more

Great stuff! This is the "alternate" version of Michel Legrand's great score to Les Demoiselles De Rochefort – and it's totally great all the way through! The whole thing's nice and jazzy, totally swinging, and has a groove that you don't get in some of Legrand's other work. We've... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Of all the MCs to emerge from the extremely rich French hip hop scene of the 90s, MC Solaar has certainly been the biggest – and this is the album that broke him out of the box worldwide. Titles include "Nouveau Western", "Prose Combat", "Relations Humains",... read more

... read more

A second return to the American studios – with arrangements by Al Capps – and titles that include "The Singer", "The Loving Song", "Dandelion", "Like A Main Theme", "Just Another Face", and "Dance Over The Water".... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Mindblowing work from a young Michel Polnareff – spacey pop from late 60s France, with a sound that's completely sublime! Polnareff's never been taken up as strongly as Serge Gainsbourg or Jane Birkin by English-speaking audiences, but we think his music is equally great – a baroquely... read more

A very groovy little record! Quire is a harmony group led by Christine Legrand – sister of Michel Legrand, and ex-member of similar groups The Swingle Singers and Les Double Six. The music on the set is very much like that of the latter – in that it's harmony vocal versions of famous... read more

... read more

Weird and wild sounds from this early 80s French group – a set of tracks that supposedly each represents a different hallucination by a 6 year old girl! Given the sound of some of these cuts, we'd be more than inclined to agree with that claim – as most of the music is pretty darn... read more

A selection of work from soundtracks that Philippe Sarde wrote for 7 different films directed by Bernard Tavernier – L'Horloger De Saint-Paul, Le Juge Et L'Assassin, Des Enfants Gates, Coup De Torchon, Un Dimanche A La Campagne, L 627, and La File De D'Artagnan. The material was recorded... read more

Unusual stuff – a spoken word document on Haitian culture, presented entirely in French! Maurice Sixtoo has a pretty compelling speaking style – and the album features one long recitation, which takes up both sides of the record!... read more

A groovy groovy treasure! The work of The Swingle Singers is well known to any fan of 60s French tunes – as their groundbreaking approach to vocalese had a huge influence on other pop, easy, and soundtrack work of the time. This nicely-done set features jazz scat versions of tunes by all... read more

One of our favorite albums by the Swingle Singers – a really cool batch of tracks that has them working with compositions by French composers – rococo tunes that have a bit more of a flourish for them to work with their vocal trickery! The sound is great, and tunes are short, very... read more

A great late album from French composer, arranger, lyricist, singer and all around creative musical force Jean Claude Vannier – with Vannier singing moody, vintage orch pop numbers in a mode that does both JCV and his old collaborator Serge Gainsbourg proudly! The set has a very lively feel... read more

... read more

A rare soul single from France – but one that's sung in English! "Her Name Was Sue" is a really weird little number – slow-building soul, with Hammond underneath Cliff Wagner's odd-tuned vocals – all put together in a really blue-tinged sort of way! "Red... read more

Dark 80s electronics from X Ray Pop – a record that has all the freaky, fuzzy touches of some of the best work coming out of the North of England in the late 70s – but was recorded a few years later, and originally only issued as a limited edition cassette tape! That format is the only... read more

Way more than just a beginners guide to French Pop – as the set digs way way deeper than you might expect – thanks to great track selection by Kid Loco! Loco's got a great ear for the kind of older French cuts that are plenty pleasing to modern ears – and as a collector and... read more

Fantastic French femmes from the 60s – and a great illustration of the way that girl power really took over the sound of the Parisian scene at the time! These tunes have a punch that few American or British tracks of the period could ever hope to match – a way of staying sweet, yet... read more

Sort of a "part 2" to the excellent Sexopolis compilation – issued more than a few years ago, and one of the first times anyone ever paid attention to the huge undiscovered legacy of funky French music! The package, like the first, is put together by DJ BNX of Fantomas – and... read more

A groovy collection of French pop from the late 60s and early 70s – with lightly psychedelic nuggets and an all around beautiful snapshot of an inimitable era! The tracklist includes some artists we've obsessed over for years, such as France Gall, Franois D Roubaix and Maledictus Sound... read more

Great French grooves from the 60s – a host of female-led rockers, most of which have a harder edge than you might expect! The mode here is similar to Paris pop that you might know from the "yeh yeh" generation, but the sound's a bit grittier too – proof that the garage... read more

Church rock from 60s Quebec – a surprisingly great set of work that's way better than you might think from the concept! French Canada has always been strongly Catholic place – but it's also one that's pretty creatively inspired, too – so it's no surprise that in the wake of... read more

Church rock from 60s Quebec – a surprisingly great set of work that's way better than you might think from the concept! French Canada has always been strongly Catholic place – but it's also one that's pretty creatively inspired, too – so it's no surprise that in the wake of... read more

Freaky French grooves – a fantastic follow-up to the first Wizzz volume that we loved many years back – and like that great set, a huge batch of rare 60s gems you'll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere! The core rhythms are often rockish, but usually pretty funky too – a freaked-out... read more