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Serge Gainsbourg embraced a variety of styles and moods during his eccentric recording career, which spanned over three decades. This latest compilation, entitled Poet and Provocatuer, explores the earliest part of his career, when he was primarily known as a jazz/cabaret singer. The album is strangely compiled, with nine Gainsbourg studio recordings, followed by four live songs, followed by eleven Gainsbourg songs recorded by other contemporary French artists, which is then followed by eight tracks taken from the soundtrack to two French films: L'eau A La Bouche and Voulez-Vous Danser Avec Moi? If you're thinking that the liner notes will explain this hodge-podge of source material, think again. The notes are extensive, but they're strictly biographical and reveal nothing about these specific recordings.
As for the music, to many listeners it may sound pleasantly quaint when juxtaposed with the shock and outrage of his soft-core porn ballads, the sinister proto-trip-hop vibe of The Ballad Of Melody Nelson or the cultural mashup of his reggae phase, but it's a surprisingly listenable collection, given the vintage. The versions of Serge songs sung by other French singers, both male and female, is interesting, but ultimately none of them have a voice that can exude character the same inimitable way that Gainsbourg's did. There's a fun oh-so Frenchness and kitsch factor, combined with a smokey jazz cafe cool which keeps this from sounding dated or stiff. If you're new to the world of Serge Gainsbourg, I'd recommend starting with a Best Of compilation (there are many available) or The Ballad of Melody Nelson, but if you're already a rabid fan, then you'll find a lot to enjoy here.
DAVID MANSDORF
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