Gainsbourg Serge

Numerical revival

Paris 

02/03/2001 - 

New softback biography, new complete collection of 18 remastered audio CDs, 24 bytes with a panoply of unedited tracks or rare versions, a double audio CD compilation Gainsbourg Forever (43 remastered tracks), a re-released DVD remix of two live videos Gainsbourg at the Casino and Gainsbourg at the Zenith (after the complete version of the DVD of the TV shows already released last autumn with an exclusive interview, I love Serge , a compilation by French and English DJs almost goes as far as to rehash the more symbolic of Gainsbarre compositions for the dance floor, whereas the number one of contemporary song offers his own collection of Serge remakes called Pop sessions for Gainsbourg , certainly, ten years after having gone for good, never has Gainsbourg Serge been so virtually present for our eyes and ears !

Published when he was alive in 1989, De Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre the previous boxed collection ( 9 CD + space saved for the last two albums Love On The Beat (84) and You're Under Arrest (87)) already embraced the complete works of Serge - except for the live trilogy Palace/Casino/Zenith- including his numerous and often exotic cinema compositions such as Manon to Dieu fumeur de Havanes not forgetting Anna , Je t'aime. or a few fleeting obscure numbers such as "Sex Shop or even Goodbye Emmanuelle ! As regards unedited versions, we can discover English versions of the duets with Bardot and those of Sea, Sex and Sun or even Mr Iceberg . So, if this cube Gitane-blue coloured guy is already the crowning glory of your record collection, you have three options left : (delete if not appliccable !)
1) Do absolutely nothing!
2) Buy the new complete collected works and give away the old !
3) Buy the new complete collected works and keep the old one TOO!

And in order to decide, dear Gainsbourg-lover, well, only you can make up your mind ! As this new complete collection has of course many many classic gems.and different ones from the first collection !
First essential listening - the two mini-albums, the emotional charge of which is directly linked to their unedited state (and alas only available in this luxury boxed edition) : Essais pour signature which consists of 5 tracks performed solo on the piano by Serge the day of his audition for Philips in 1958 and this unbelievably good CD called Inédits 1958-1981 which contains 23 tracks recorded forTV shows or for longwave radio adverts dug out of the INA (National Audiovisuel Institution)archives . There is also an abundance of gems such as the charming Mes petites odalisques the delectable ironic thrillerMr William (period Initials B.B. ) or the mega-cynical Les petits pavés. We also discover a surprising remix of Ah si vous connaissiez ma poule formerly peformed by Maurice Chevalier and also the strange La noyée in the style of Brel.

But, raciest of them all are the 12 totally unedited publicity tracks, with the sexy credits, amazing for the late artistPop Club by José Arthur on France Inter,with these sensual duets with Jane for Caron perfumes or Martini on the rocks which reemerge to tickle our senses.
The cheeky Les petits lolos de Lola or the sensual On the sea this cunning son-of-an advert goes as far as re-appropriating Valse de Melody or Sous le soleil exactement in order to sing the praises of an alcoholic drink.

The 16 other CDs of Gainsbourg Forever are copies of all the original 25 cm and 33 rpm records. If some of them have been enriched by live or unedited versions, the good news is that for once they can be bought individually.
One of these Du chant à la une from 58 is supplemented with 5 live recordings at the Trois Baudets, like its successor of 59 N°2 which gains 5 tracks taken from the original sound track of L'eau à la bouche .
Also the album Confidentiel from 63 is perhaps the most valuable of the whole collection as, to the 13 original hits recorded in a trio with the jazzmen Elek Backsik (guitar) and Michel Gaudry (bass), have been added 10 tracks caught live at the théâtre des Capucines with the same trio. Discover this version of La recette de l'amour fou where Serge deliberately goes to vocal extremes, delighting in a cheeky humour to captivate us. Like Ce mortel ennui an ode to love's heartache with the atmosphere of a somber film. Between a Javanaise so completely detached, whist remaining incredibly romantic, and a delicious Negative Blues haunted by the bitterness of break-up, Serge cultivates in front of an audience this image of a nonchalant seducer whom all the women fall for.

The fact a Gainsbourg boxed collection is apperaring again should not surprise anyone, but in relistening to all his albums, in being immersed in the tumultous outpouring of his songs, it hits you, smack in the face, what a compelling a character he was and above all how much his compositions are tragically lacking in our current musical landscape!
In this IT obssessed millenium, there is a stong temptation to create virtual Gainsbourg, it has even become a subject to make bets on for a fair number of DJs . The British Howie B or the Orb like the French Bob Sinclair, Dax Riders, Château Flight or Snooze (Dominique Dalcan) remake syncopated and often iconoclastic versions of Serge's symbolic compositions for the project I love Serge . Here we also discover the funky La bas c'est naturel ( " percussions " period 64) remixed as house by Faze Action. Cut up, re-worked and augmented with electronic sequences, there are good points and bad in the sometimes drastically radical way these songs have been handled. Like the disconcerting Bonnie & Clyde with DJ Herbert's disclocated groove or OGM' split beat Five Easy Pisseuses .Thankfully some versions are completely magical like Snooze's cosmopolitan harmonic, melancholicly breathtaking "NY USA or even unanswerable like the frenetic version of Marabout concocted by Bob Sinclair. The positive side to this electric shock treatment is that it propells Gainsbarre on to the dance floor once more, among these kids that he had such a fondness for because he was so like them.

Like Dorian Gray, the talented host of 16 de la rue de Verneuil will undoubtedly never age. And, on browsing through his works again, it's the memory of his laughter which I miss the most. His witty comments and provocative stories, his mad side and his jokes, his Gitanes and his pastis, his profile forever immortalised in indigo blue and his boundless affection, his moodiness, his lyrics which have been frequently imitated and remain unequalled, his brilliance at arrangements and orchestration, his creative instinct, always ahead of his time, but above all his capacity for friendship, his generous nature and indescribable human warmth, will forever remain complete and alive in my living memory.

Gérard BAR-DAVID

Gainsbourg re-issues

Gainsbourg Forever (integral) coffret 18 CD Mercury (Universal)
Gainsbourg Forever (compilation) double CD Mercury (Universal)
I Love Serge (electronic compilation) CD Mercury (Universal)
Pop sessions pour Gainsbourg ( multi performers) CD Mercury (Universal)