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Rating: ***
(3 stars)
Title: Francoise
Hardy
Company: Vogue
Catalog: CFH
2
Year: 1964
Grade
(cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: French
import; gatefold sleeve
Available: 1
Price: $60.00
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Superficially, you couldn't blame anyone stumbling across this album for comparing Francois Hardy to England's Marianne Faithful. Both are stunning blondes, promoted by their respective record labels to take full advantage of their looks ... Luckily that's pretty much where the comparison ends. Whereas Faithful never had much of a voice and was little more than a pretty face at the mercy of her producers, Hardy was very much her own boss (check out the inner sleeve photos of her in the studio). Produced by Charles Blackwell and released by the French Vogue label,
1964's cleverly titled
"Francoise Hardy" serves to spotlight her multiple talents. In addition to owning a gorgeous voice, she was an accomplished songwriter - 11 of the 12 songs were written or co-written Hardy. Like most of her Vogue catalog, the collection's a little to heavy on touching ballads ("Tu Ne Dis Rien", "Pars" and "La Nuit Est Sur La Ville"), but Hardy gets a couple of opportunities to strut her stuff in a more rock oriented fashion. "Pourtant Tu M'aimes" comes off as a neat Gallic version of '60s Brill Building girl group, the snearing "Je N'attends Plus Personne" sports a couple of great guitar solos and the Marty Wilde col-written "Pas Gentille" offers up a weird countrish sound. Curiously, while all 12 songs are performed in French, the track listing includes a couple of English translations. (Never released in the States, the album was originally issued with a gatefold sleeve.)
"Francoise Hardy" track listing:
1.) Je Veux Qu'Il Revienne (Only You Can Do It) (B. Well - Francoise Hardy)-
2.) Tu N'as Qu'un Mot a Dire (Francoise Hardy) -
3.) Tu Ne Dis Rien (Francoise Hardy) -
4.) Et Meme (Francoise Hardy) -
5.) Pourtant Tu M'aimes (I Still Love Him) (J. Cole - J. Cross - Francoise Hardy) -
6.) Pars (Francoise Hardy) -
7.) Je N'attends Plus Personne (Meccia - Ciacci - Francoise Hardy) -
8.) La Nuit Est Sur La Ville (Francoise Hardy) -
9.) Pas Gentille (Bad Boy) (Marty Wilde - Francoise Hardy) -
10.) Dans Le Monde Entier (Francoise Hardy) -
11.) Nous Etions Amies (Rossi - C. Combo - Francoise Hardy) -
12.) Mon Amie Le Rose (C. Coulier - J. Lacome) -
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