The Albums That I Listened to in 2006

 

2006 brought me two icon music artists and a re-introduction to someone I didn't expect to hear from. Scott Walker's "The Drift" is one of the great aural masterpieces of this century. Its intensity and insane humor are so jarring yet focused. I think of this album as songs, but they are also sound pieces with words. More like a mixture of sound poetry and reads like a great poem. What he did was so remarkable and original. I still get goosebumps listening to this album.

Sparks's "Hello Young Lovers" is just another example of perfection, as Ron and Russell Mael practiced. Songs like "Perfume" and "Metaphor" make me think that even as a writer, how do they come up with such incredible lyrics? Or the beauty of "As I Sit To Play The Organ At The Notre Dame Cathedral." Their mixture of humor and pathos is an amazing tightrope in a song or in art. Yet, Sparks does this.

Being a mega-Serge Gainsbourg fan, it's heartening to find both Jane Birkin and daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg make superb music. With the assistance of the band Air and Jarvis Cocker, she came up with something magical, "5.55." These three albums alone made 2006 OK.

Serge Gainsbourg's "Mister Melody: Les Interprètes de Serge Gainsbourg" CD Box Set Compilation, 2006

 

Where does one start with Serge Gainsbourg? I can see a listener being overwhelmed in choosing the album that introduces this brilliant figure's entire aesthetic in French 20th-century music. I decided on three pretty great compilations that go into his pop, Latin, and Jazz period in a previous post. I would also purchase "Mister Melody" CD Box Set, because its 4 CDs covers a lot of ground in the Gainsbourg world, and it's an excellent compilation. 

What makes this compilation so special is that it focuses on the recordings that Gainsbourg produced, wrote for other artists. He was an excellent collaborator or general in the recording booth. Here we have a very early (and before Velvet Underground) Nico, which I believe was her first recording, "Strip-Tease," As well as a young Marianne Faithfull. Also a series of recordings with Juliette Gréco, Philippe Clay, Catherine Sauvage, Petula Clark, and of course, the infamous records he made with Brigitte Bardot, France Gall, and Jane Birkin. Who are not the only actresses he worked with? Isabelle Aubret, Anna Karina, Catherine Deneuve, and actors' Serge Reggiani (who is fantastic)? Jean-Claude Brialy. The fact is, Gainsbourg, worked with every prominent music figure in France, and it's mind-boggling how many of these artists are on this set. 

The music quality is high. It comes with a 44-page book with interview excerpts and original art-work for all releases those tracks are taken from. I highly recommend the package.