La Première Vague: France’s Golden Years rediscovered
Sweeping generalisations about French charm, sophistication and sex appeal aside, there’s no doubt that the country’s pop culture in the late 1960s was on a roll. Figurehead Serge Gainsbourg plays puppetmaster on actress Michel Arnaud’s ‘Les Papillons Noirs’ and though the names here will be otherwise unfamiliar – apart from a self conscious turn by Britain’s Sandie Shaw – the style is unmistakably La Rue Carnaby, playful, seductive and groovy. Yeh Yeh Girl Françoise Hardy is inexplicably missing from this exuberant summary, but Christine Laume and Les Roche Martin – featuring Stephen Stills’ squeeze Veronique Sanson – more than compensate.
