Halloween treat #1: Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe

In an effort to be original, I decided to offer a few Halloween treats to the world, every day until this Saturday! Cue applause!

I love every freak singer that Halloween has ever produced! From John Zacherley to everyone’s hero Screaming Lord Sutch, it seems that putting on a cape and causing hilarious mayhem has become a lost art.

Our first weirdo du jour hails from France. I bet you didn’t know France had it’s very own caped freak, huh? Fear not, neither did anyone else!

My many efforts to find out who this Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe is have been fruitless. The only hint the record gives us is that both songs have been written and adapted by Frank Gérald, who famously wrote songs with Pierre Delanoë, including a lot of stuff from Les Parisiennes, Françoise Hardy (Le premier bonheur du jour) and countless French classics. Could it be that Wilfrid is Frank, and vice-versa? Is life really that simple?

Another enigma that I hope someone will be able to help with concerns the song I am featuring today: “L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein” (Frankenstein’s great grandson). The record suggests that this is a French adaptation. Does anyone know what the original is and who sang it? The single is from 1975.

As someone who grew up watching French TV and cartoons, Wilfrid’s voice sounds very familiar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was a voice actor, like Monique Thubert.

Wilfrid’s ultimate tactics to scare the beejeezus out of you, besides the fact that he’s Frankenstein’s great grandson, are exagerated, outlandish uses of “Moooaaa-aaa-aaa-aaa” and “Eee-eee-haaa-aaaaaa”.

Sleep tight!

Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe – L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein

C’est le Go-Go!

Here’s “The In-Crowd” in French (“C’est le Go-Go”), sung by Québécoise Nicole Lord.
I’ve had this 45 for years, and still know nothing about her. No photos, nothing. A little hard on the ears at times when Nicole tries to sustain a note (ouch!), but still a very cool record.

Or maybe I’m always too harsh on these matters?

Bonne année!

Nicole Lord – C’est le Go-Go (“The In-Crowd”)

Renée Martel sings The Beatles

Here’s someone I love dearly: Renée Martel. Daughter of Québec country star Marcel Martel, she has enjoyed a very respectable career in the 60s as a pop singer, doing quality covers in French of British or American hits, one of my faves being her beautiful cover of “Liverpool” (which was a hit for her in her home province.)

Unlike many other 60s singers trying to keep up with the times, she didn’t fall into the disco craze in the 70s, but rather followed in her father’s footsteps and her first love, country music.

This next track is quite possibly my favorite one. You will recognize the familiar Beatles melody, of course, but as much as I love it, my heart always sinks when I hear it, because the quality of the mix is just so bad, not to mention the pressing makes the whole record sound like a whisper. What should have been a grandiose sounding album was ruined, and whoever is responsible for this will die in “bad music engineer” hell!

Phew! Ok. And now, thanks to digital technology, I managed to crank it up a notch (just a little) so we can at least hear that Wurlitzer Electric Piano (same type used by Barry & The Remains.). Good Lord at least I think that’s what it’s called.

In any case, that’s the best I could do.

French lyrics are by Karo! –>

Renée Martel has suffered two car accidents in the last decade and has rarely appeared publicly since her father’s death in 1999. I hope she’ll come out to play more often.

Renée Martel – Un certain soira>

Gainsbourg covers, part deux

Let’s take a swingin’ breather, shall we? Here are two great Gainsbourg songs by Nana and Pierre, for you to listen to on a rainy Sunday evening. Or whenever.

Alright so Nana Mouskouri and Pierre Lalonde are probably the last names you’d expect to hear when talking about Gainsbourg, but there you go.

I have to say, I’ve only recently discovered Nana Mouskouri’s early Jazz répertoire…what an amazing artist. On this album, she sings Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud and Eddie Marnay under the direction of Jacques Denjean and it’s divine. Gainsbourg wrote the song “Les yeux pour pleurer” for her. I have no idea how available this is or if it’s been reissued, I just thought I’d share it regardless.

And finally, Pierre Lalonde, a popular crooner type singer who started his career in the late 50’s as a radio announcer in Montreal. He recorded popular French and English hits for the Québec market and even tried his hand at a career in da States by recording an album in English, under the more American name “Peter Martin” (sheesh.)

The album “Jet…Première classe” was an attempt to be taken a bit more seriously (I’m not making this up, it is blatantly written as such in the back cover’s liner notes.). On this album Peter Mar…Pierre Lalonde sings Bécaud, Charles Trenet all under the fine direction of the legendary Georges Tremblayand his orchestra. How the hell a Gainsbourg song (“Quand le soleil est au soleil”) found its way in there is BEYOND me, but it is a nice one!

Pierre Lalonde later established himself as the québécois “Dick Clark” and hosted popular tv music shows for teens in the 60’s like “Jeunesse Oblige”on Radio-Canada.

And I never thought I would say this about a Pierre Lalonde album, but it’s friggin’ good!

Nana Mouskouri – Les yeux pour pleurer
Pierre Lalonde – Le soleil est au soleil