One of Serge Gainsbourg's best albums ever – a set that we love every bit as much as his Melody Nelson classic, or his killer records with Jane Birkin! The set was recorded in the mid 70s, and it features amazing orchestrations from Alan Hawkshaw – backings that are even better than Hawk's previous sound library work, and which are filled with loads of cool spare moogy and electronic bits filtering in and out of the mix! Some tracks bubble with the same brooding brilliance and funky touches that you'd find on the Melody Nelson album – and others have a uniquely spacey quality that's unlike any of his other work! Tracks include "Transit A Marilou", "Aeroplanes", "Variations Sur Marilou", "Premiers Symptomes", and "Lunatic Asylum". A great record – and one of the first of Serge's that we'd recommend! CD

One of Serge Gainsbourg's best albums ever – a set that we love every bit as much as his Melody Nelson classic, or his killer records with Jane Birkin! The set was recorded in the mid 70s, and it features amazing orchestrations from Alan Hawkshaw – backings that are even better than Hawk's previous sound library work, and which are filled with loads of cool spare moogy and electronic bits filtering in and out of the mix! Some tracks bubble with the same brooding brilliance and funky touches that you'd find on the Melody Nelson album – and others have a uniquely spacey quality that's unlike any of his other work! Tracks include "Transit A Marilou", "Aeroplanes", "Variations Sur Marilou", "Premiers Symptomes", and "Lunatic Asylum". A great record – and one of the first of Serge's that we'd recommend! 2CD version features a whole bonus set of instrumental tracks from the album sessions – and alternate versions of "Transit A Marilou", "Lunatic Asylum", "Meurtre A L'Extincteur", and "Ma Lou Marilou". CD

The group name's got "opera" in the middle, but the set is way more than that – and way more than the usual "rock opera" modes in which the rare album is frequently cited! Instead, the whole thing's a freewheeling bit of French psych – very much tied to the trippier corners of the world that included music of Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Paul Vannier, but with some freakier elements around the edges! The arrangements and production are wonderful – very different than some of the looser hippie modes that would come on the French scene in the early 70s – with sonic energy that keeps things nicely intense throughout, even when things are going wild! The project is the brainchild of mad rockers Francois Wertheimer, Guy Skornik, William Sheller, and Dominic Perrier – and also features sitar from Serge Franklin, orchestrations from sound library maestro Paul Piot, and jams from the group Alice. The whole thing is fantastic – and the reissue features a great booklet of notes and information on this very unique record! (Rock, French) LP, Vinyl record album

A weird and wonderful little record, as you might guess from the image on the cover – part sound library electronics, part narrative progressive rock – but with a sound that's also very much its own, and very different than those references might make you expect! If you know the voice of Dick Annegarn from some of his cool French recordings of the 70s, you'll know you're in for a treat – and COS member Daniel Schell provides all these cool keyboards and guitar parts in the instrumentation – jazzy sometimes, slightly rockish, and with global elements at others – including a nod to the oud! The sounds and styles criss cross wonderfully – almost like some Saravah Records attempt at more progressive material – and titles include "The FF Boom", "Un Instant", "Sabina & First Variation", "Granvelle", "La Ballde Du Zwin", and "Ud". (Rock, French) LP, Vinyl record album

Rare and unreleased instrumentals from the great French orchestral pop composer Jean Claude Vannier – amazing stuff from his personal archive that ranges from loosely haunting passes to more grandly orchestrated bits – funky psych rock backdrops to heavy, tribal percussion numbers! Vannier is as much of a master of setting a mood as he as an expert composer-arranger, and this great set is brilliant showcase of his talent and we'd even say a fine entry point if you're just now being introduced. He's greatly reknowned for the incredible work he did with Serge Gainbourg, as well he should be – but a standout artist on his own, as you're hear here! It's got previously unreleased numbers from his Vannier's own vaults, many from a fertile period in the early 70s, plus rare sound library recordings and more! Includes "Bombard Lamentation" (centered around the reed instrument used most often in Breton music), "L'Ours Peresseux – 1969", "La Girafe Au Ballon", "Claquez Klaxons", "Theme 504", "Road To Cuba", "La Douleur De L'Orchestre", "L'Elephant Equilbriste", "Je M'Appelle Geraldine", "Saturnin Vaca Vaca" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of Serge Gainsbourg's best albums ever – a set that we love every bit as much as his Melody Nelson classic, or his killer records with Jane Birkin! The set was recorded in the mid 70s, and it features amazing orchestrations from Alan Hawkshaw – backings that are even better than Hawk's previous sound library work, and which are filled with loads of cool spare moogy and electronic bits filtering in and out of the mix! Some tracks bubble with the same brooding brilliance and funky touches that you'd find on the Melody Nelson album – and others have a uniquely spacey quality that's unlike any of his other work! Tracks include "Transit A Marilou", "Aeroplanes", "Variations Sur Marilou", "Premiers Symptomes", and "Lunatic Asylum". A great record – and one of the first of Serge's that we'd recommend! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Serge Gainsbourg's best albums ever – a set that we love every bit as much as his Melody Nelson classic, or his killer records with Jane Birkin! The set was recorded in the mid 70s, and it features amazing orchestrations from Alan Hawkshaw – backings that are even better than Hawk's previous sound library work, and which are filled with loads of cool spare moogy and electronic bits filtering in and out of the mix! Some tracks bubble with the same brooding brilliance and funky touches that you'd find on the Melody Nelson album – and others have a uniquely spacey quality that's unlike any of his other work! Tracks include "Transit A Marilou", "Aeroplanes", "Variations Sur Marilou", "Premiers Symptomes", and "Lunatic Asylum". A great record – and one of the first of Serge's that we'd recommend! 2LP version features a whole bonus set of instrumental tracks from the album sessions – and alternate versions of "Transit A Marilou", "Lunatic Asylum", "Meurtre A L'Extincteur", and "Ma Lou Marilou". LP, Vinyl record album