| While the french pop scene at the time consisted mostly of 'light' music (Adamo, Charles Aznavour, Herve Vilard etc), there was something about Christophe's music that made it stand out. To me, at least, it's all down to the production and lyrical content. A lot of his songs seemed to somehow belong to a theatrical play, as if they were just a part of a great story that was never revealed.Take 'Je ne t' aime plus', for example, the story of a man who realizes he?s not in love with his wife anymore. It hurts him deeply but he has come to terms with it- and it shows! The way he half sings-half screams the last lines is unbelievable or, perhaps, quite believable; the tone in Christophe's voice reveals the actor in him. Then again there's 'Les marionettes', a bitter narrative by a guy who builds marionettes out of paper and thinks they're his friends. All these are highly original subjects similar to which it's really rare to find in modern pop history. Moreover, the way the songs were made (produced and recorded) shows just how much effort was put in them. All sorts of instruments were used, as a result of which, similarities between the tracks (as far as the sound is concerned) are almost non-existent. Christophe was never credited as a producer on his albums as far as I know, yet I cannot believe that he wasn?t the one to have the final say about what the songs would finally sound like. Subsequent recordings show just how much ambitious a musician he is, even though the sound equipment he used was sometimes too 'little' to carry out his ideas properly. |
