Jean Claude Vannier - Roses Rouge Sang

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Clinton on Fri 14 Oct, 2011.

Jean-Claude Vannier is the celebrated arranger behind Serge Gainsbourg's best efforts. Known also as the French David Axelrod or the French George Martin, he produced a range of orchestral funk and rock in the 70's. Here he returns with the kind of sound you might expect full of Gallic flair. It's odd chamber pop with deep twisting chord changes and mournful orchestral arrangements. Here, he takes care of vocal duties himself and I like the way he has gone about his work. The whispered words (in French) sit uncomfortably on top of the mix creating a mood of everything not being quite as it seems while beneath he uses all manner of plucked, strummed and hit instruments. Disconcerting but interesting.

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

• Precisely four decades since the original release of the 1971 alby]um ‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’, Serge Gainsbourg’s most celebrated composer, arranger and composer Jean-Claude Vannier now returns to the same artistic territory that has since come to represent his most iconic period and continually inspire almost five generations of experimental rock luminaries.

• Respected throughout France as a long running singer-songwriter and experimental composer in his own right it has taken this inclusive forty year period for his music to travel beyond his central European fanbase thanks to a growing community of vinyl archeologists and French pop and conceptual rock enthusiasts who have come to clearly recognise the recurring production credits to JCV as a seal of quality and approval while taking gambles on Parisian picture sleeve pop.

• This all new album comprises a personnel of the legendary European session players that appeared on classic Vannier and Gainsbourg scores such as ‘Cannabis’, ‘La Horse’, ‘Slogan’ and ‘Les Chemins de Katmandou’, as well as ‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’ itself, and his own mythical follow up, the truly bizarre 1973 avant-garde ballet ‘L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches’ (which was finally rescued from obscurity in 2005 by Finders Keepers as the label’s debut release).

• Recorded partly in Paris and partly in the UK (not unlike the classic Gainsbourg LPs) the album ‘Roses Rouge Sang’ (Blood Red Roses) hears JCV taking care of vocal duties in his own unique style combining the macabre and the optimistic with ingenious world play and expert poetic use of the French language.

• Flourishing from initial rehearsal sessions for the first-ever live performance of Histoire De Melody Nelson (which was eventually staged by Finders Keepers at the Barbican Theatre in London in 2006), ‘Roses Rouge Sang’ captures the authentic line-up just weeks after their initial reunion.

• ‘Roses Rouge Sang’ will be released alongside the companion compilation ‘Electro Rapide’ on Finders Keepers Records, the label’s 50th release since setting out their stall in 2005 with ‘L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches’.

• Expect worldwide interest in Jean-Claude Vannier following his repeat of the Barbican concert at the Hollywood Bowl in LA August 2011, featuring Beck and Sean Lennon (amongst others).

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!