School me on JACQUES DUTRONC

Mr_Lee_PHD

I first heard JD on Andy Votel's Music To Watch Girls Cry.Today I downloaded two more tracks to see if he was consistently as good and sheeeit, I think so !!!So Strutters, clue me up on some of this dude's best cuts if you plaese.Paece!!Lee.

hcrink

he posts here.

The_Hook_Up

the tune votel used comes from his "les Playboys" EP.(can be found on ebay, most of the time a "buy it now" for around 12 bucks) 3 out of the 4 tracks on it are killer. prolly the best place to start. His LPs are kinda hard to come by and can be pricy, but all of the songs on the LPs can be found on the 4 song EPs. All of his 7" EPs (after 68-69 the 7" releases turned to the more standard 2 songs) have at least one great track.

Also check out his proto hip hop track(from '67!) "jai tu, lai tu..."(cant remember the rest of the title)

Mr_Lee_PHD

Thanks man.

Yea, J'ai Tout Lu, Tout Vu, Tout Bu was one of the two that I heard. Blew my mind!!

DrWu

When I went to high school in France (lycee Sophie Germain represent) circa 87-88, I was constantly trying to pick up good french music. Dutronc was really the only artist I truly came to love (though I remember liking a funky ass live at Bercy(?) by Gainsbourg). I picked up a copy of greatest hits at FNAC. Ten tunes or so. All killer, no filler. Personal faves are L'idole and Le Cactus. Dutronc also had a great stage persona, Sinatra meets Ray Davies.

luck

Steer clear of the moustache.

The_Hook_Up

Steer clear of the moustache.

pretty much true of all french artists(esp. Antoine), once they grow a 'stache, the music sucks...unless it is accompanied by a beard. Nino made some top shelf psych rockin' the Seger beard.

Mongo_Slade

he did a ton of great songs. my favorite is probably "hippie hippie hourrah," which has got a whacked-out "pictures of matchstick men" vibe to it.

Blastkid

'Responsable' is a great uptempo track with hard electric guitars. I got the 7" from my parents' collection.

SLurg

Le Responsable

bennyboy

Many great Dutronc eps out there, it might be best to have a look for one of the compilations (on Vogue) from the late 60s / early 70s as a starting point. "J'ai Tout Lu, Tout Vu, Tout Bu", "Le Cactus", "Le Responsable", "Et moi, et moi et moi" all great tunes, & theres more where they came from.

For someone from the UK who had never heard of him until a few years ago, its funny how much he is ingrained into the french psyche, yet his music never really travelled abroad. I played Le Cactus at a friends party a while ago & every French person there knew the words. He's a sharp cat, check out films on youtube, AND he was married to Francoise Hardy. The French Ray Davies? YOU DECIDE. (Its a nice analogy, but he didnt write the lyrics, so nah.)

izm707

French ray davies, naw...

Dood is one of a kind. He was always compared to Gainsbourg, mostly because of his "i-always-smoke" attitude. He was always smoking or drinking, but was less fucked up when doing TV performance or stage appearance. he was more reserved, very shy when it came to his personnal life, eve, tho' he was married to Fran??oise Hardy, another famous french singer, ?? la France Gall.
The analogy with Gainsbourg can go far since his couple looked like the ol' infamous Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg couple that we all know about. The music was also very similar at some point, specially in the late 60's, beginning of the 70's. Two reasons to that : Dutronc was using the same people as studio help. Same partitionist, same melodist, same engineer, etc...There was a moment in France where people used to go London using people like Alan Parker or Nick Ingman to direct an english symphonic orchestra. They sometimes went to Abbey Road but also to some smaller studios. Thats why violins in Gainsbourg and Dutronc's music are often alike.

But Gainsbourg is still the King. Jacques just have a nice period (10 years) where Gainsbourg reinvented himself constantly.