A beautiful love letter from Dee Dee Bridgewater to her adopted home of Paris – sung in French, and with a feel that's quite different than much of her recent work! The style here wonderfully mixes together bits of jazz and more traditional chanson – in a style that recalls some of the recent work by Claude Nougaro, but which also has traces of some of Dee Dee's more intimate work as well. Marc Berthoumieux plays accordion on a number of tunes on the set, and Ira Coleman contributes some warmly soulful basslines that give the session a nice bottom grounding – especially on the mellower tunes. Titles include "Mon Homme", "Et Maintenant", "La Belle Vie", "Dansez Sur Moi", "Avec Le Temps", "Les Feuilles Mortes", and "Ne Me Quitte Pas" – plus the Japanese exclusive bonus track "L'Hymne A L'Amour". (Vocalists, French) CD

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 Nico at points, given the accent – set to backings that balance this darkness with a bit more light, but never in ways that are overly poppy – and which definitely continue that more sophisticated style that Hardy always brought to her music! There's less "yeh yeh" to the tracks than a few years before – and Francoise is definitely digging deeper music at this point in her career – sometimes with a breathy brilliance that's a bit like Jane Birkin too. Titles include "Bown Bown Bown", "Till The Morning Comes", "Loving You", "In The Sky", "Midnight Blues", "Magic Horse", "Song Of Winter", "Strange Shadows", "Ocean", "The Garden Of Jane Delawney", "Sometimes", "Let My Name Be Sorrow", "Times Passing By", "I Just Want To Be Alone", and "Suzanne". CD

One of the greatest soundtracks ever – an archetypal album from French composer Francis Lai, and a record that set the tone for countless other imitations to come – yet which is still the best! The groove here is really unique – a spare blend of bossa influences, jazzy organ lines, and wordless vocals that are sung beautifully by French singers Nicole Croisille and Pierre Barouh – and although a mainstream success, the record was the initial force behind the legendary Saravah imprint that Barouh would form later, to record a wide range of groundbreaking work in a variety of genres. But history aside, the music here is plenty – and from the very first note the whole soundtrack grabs you with a sense of warmth and sentiment that defy description – modes never heard before in the soundtrack world, and which really broke the mold from Hollywood conventions! Titles include the seminal bossa number "Samba Saravah", plus "A Man & A Woman", "Today It's You", "In Our Shadow", "At 200 MPH", and "Stronger Than Us". (Soundtracks, French) LP, Vinyl record album

Genius work from French composer Francis Lai – one of his greatest soundtracks ever, and done during the same period as Live For Life and A Man & A Woman! The feel here is very similar to the work of those films – and was also done for a project directed by Claude Lelouch – and as on A Man & A Woman, both Pierre Barouh and Nicole Croisille sing vocals on the session, bringing a really groovy vocal touch to the set! The tunes range from broadly sweeping and soaring numbers, to others that have a bouncy French pop feel – and Lai really comes through with some beautiful instrumentation for the set, especially on a few of the tracks that feature organ! There's three versions of the great track "Killy", an anthemic ditty that's sung by Nicole Croisille, and played again on solo organ – and other tracks include "Descente", "Peggy", and "13 Jours En France". (Soundtracks, French) LP, Vinyl record album

Brigitte Bardot's best known on these shores as an actress, but during the 60s she cut some really fantastic work on the scene in Paris – including a fair bit of groovers that were done with help from the legendary Serge Gainsbourg! Bardot provided a fantastic new voice in the world of pop music – a singer who was unabashedly open about her desires, and very different than the more melancholy stars of a few years before – a quality that's further emphasized by the wonderfully groovy instrumentation used on most of these tracks! Production and arrangements are superb – and put this music in the best territory of the grooviest 60s French pop by artists like Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall, Jacques Dutronc, and a rare few others. This is the first-ever English-annotated collection of work from the period – and features a whopping 25 tracks from her recordings for Philips and Disc AZ – titles that include "Harley Davidson", "Contact", "Neu Au Soleil", "Je Danse Donc Je Suis", "La Madrague", "Les Hommes Endormis", "Je Voudrais Perdre La Memoire", "Mr Sun", "Le Diable Est Anglais", "Tu Es Venu Mon Amour", "John Et Michel", "Gang Gang", and duets with Serge Gainsbourg on "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus". CD

Fantastic fuzz from a French Canadian combo of the 60s – one of the coolest garage bands we've ever heard from up north at the time, romping here with a style that's equal parts Sunset Strip and some of the hipper Parisian groups of the time! Lyrics are all in French, and the production has this nice sense of darkness that makes echo out of the organ lines, jangly guitar, and nice touches of fuzz – all flowing together with a style that sounds plenty magic all the way through, even if you can't always understand the lyrics. Some of the guys in the group were still teens at the time of recording, which you can hear in the youthful energy of the songs – and titles include "Je T'Aime", "Abandonne", "La Solitude", "Seul Sur Terre", "Je Ne Veux Plus", "Aimes Proudemment", and "Soyons Differents". (Rock, French) LP, Vinyl record album