Thursday 28 April 2011

Rétro: Jacques Dutronc - Les Gens sont Fous


A great piece of vintage garage rock from Jacques Dutronc.

Although he is often more complared to the likes of the Kinks - there's no denying a similar songwriting ability on songs like Il Est Cinq Heures, Paris S'éveille - this song is closer to the kind of proto-punk that appears on various artist compilations of American 60s rock like Nuggets.

Bands like the Standells and the Seeds modelled themselves on the Stones and the Beatles, adapting the blueprint of the British Invasion beat bands of the 60s, and often combining this with he psychedelic elements that were coming in towards the end of the 60s.

Literally hundreds of compilations followed the release of the Nuggets album in 1972, with several volumes of Nuggets, Pebbles, Rubble and such like all mining the rich and obscure seam of psych beat. Many of the acts featured only had success in a small local area, and despite releasing recordings never achieved any widespread notoriety. These were unearthed and finally got the attention they merited from an audience that they failed to attract when their releases first came out.

Dutronc, of course, never had any problem finding an audience, and his career is still going strong. Many years of acting followed his initial musical success, with a César award for is role in Van Gogh, and a return to music with his most recent release, a live document of his 2010 tour featuring guest appearances by Etienne Daho and Vanessa Paradis.

No comments:

Post a Comment