We've been hearing a lot about late-great chanter Serge Gainsbourg lately, with news of reissues, biopics and tribute albums all popping up recently. It's the perfect time, then, for his former musical arranger Jean-Claude Vannier to return with a new album, plus a compilation.
The new LP is called Roses Rouge Sang, which translates as Blood Red Roses, and it's due out Tuesday (October 4) via Finders Keepers Records. It will mark Vannier's first new studio effort since 1990.
According to a press release, the album "returns to the same artistic territory that has since come to represent his most iconic period." This means "brooding orchestral sweeps, pensive drum-drops, loudly plucked bass and biting clarinet."
The album was recorded in Paris and the UK with many of the same session players who appeared on his classic material. Vannier handles vocal duties himself and sings "in his own inimitable gallic style combining the macabre and the optimistic with ingenious world play and expert poetic use of the French language."
He also draws on a wide range of untreated instruments including melodica, dactylocorde, celesta, harmonium, Wurlitzer, accordion, metallophone and piano.
Also on October 4, Finders Keeps will issue Electro Rapide, a collection of rare instrumental material from his studio archives. It's made of material recorded before and during his collaboration with Gainsbourg.
The reissue aims to illuminate the composer's work during his "embryonic stages," and combines "familiar trademark motifs and stylings from his coveted work for idiosyncratic French pop vocalists" with "seldom heard experimental music for ballets, fashion shows as well as his infamous film music."
See the tracklists for both albums below.
Roses Rouge Sang:
1. "Londres-Paris-Sofia"
2. "Les yeux valise"
3. "Au désespoir des singes"
4. "Les coquelicots"
5. "Dans mes rêves"
6. "La vie en live"
7. "Les pépins de la raison"
8. "Roses rouge sang"
9. "Une partie de scrabble"
10. "Un petit quelque chose"
Electro Rapide:
1. "Bombarde Lamentation"
2. "L'ours Paresseux"
3. "La Girafe Au Ballon"
4. "Claquez Klaxons"
5. "Saturnin Vaca Vaca"
6. "L'automne Barb¿s Rochechouart"
7. "Crocodiles"
8. "La Douleur de l'orchestre"
9. "Theme 504"
10. "Le Ballet Des Accoucheuses"
11. "Road To Cuba"
12. "Je M'appelle Geraldine"
13. "L'¿l¿phant ¿quilibriste"
14. "Bombarde Lamentation (Reprise)"
The new LP is called Roses Rouge Sang, which translates as Blood Red Roses, and it's due out Tuesday (October 4) via Finders Keepers Records. It will mark Vannier's first new studio effort since 1990.
According to a press release, the album "returns to the same artistic territory that has since come to represent his most iconic period." This means "brooding orchestral sweeps, pensive drum-drops, loudly plucked bass and biting clarinet."
The album was recorded in Paris and the UK with many of the same session players who appeared on his classic material. Vannier handles vocal duties himself and sings "in his own inimitable gallic style combining the macabre and the optimistic with ingenious world play and expert poetic use of the French language."
He also draws on a wide range of untreated instruments including melodica, dactylocorde, celesta, harmonium, Wurlitzer, accordion, metallophone and piano.
Also on October 4, Finders Keeps will issue Electro Rapide, a collection of rare instrumental material from his studio archives. It's made of material recorded before and during his collaboration with Gainsbourg.
The reissue aims to illuminate the composer's work during his "embryonic stages," and combines "familiar trademark motifs and stylings from his coveted work for idiosyncratic French pop vocalists" with "seldom heard experimental music for ballets, fashion shows as well as his infamous film music."
See the tracklists for both albums below.
Roses Rouge Sang:
1. "Londres-Paris-Sofia"
2. "Les yeux valise"
3. "Au désespoir des singes"
4. "Les coquelicots"
5. "Dans mes rêves"
6. "La vie en live"
7. "Les pépins de la raison"
8. "Roses rouge sang"
9. "Une partie de scrabble"
10. "Un petit quelque chose"
Electro Rapide:
1. "Bombarde Lamentation"
2. "L'ours Paresseux"
3. "La Girafe Au Ballon"
4. "Claquez Klaxons"
5. "Saturnin Vaca Vaca"
6. "L'automne Barb¿s Rochechouart"
7. "Crocodiles"
8. "La Douleur de l'orchestre"
9. "Theme 504"
10. "Le Ballet Des Accoucheuses"
11. "Road To Cuba"
12. "Je M'appelle Geraldine"
13. "L'¿l¿phant ¿quilibriste"
14. "Bombarde Lamentation (Reprise)"
