With a mention of Louis Bertignac earlier this week in light of his winning a Globes de Cristal award for his album Grizzly, I realised that I've never featured the band Téléphone, one of the greatest French bands in recent decades.
They were unquestionably one of France's finest, and although coming from the punk scene they proved both longer lasting and achieved a genuine popularity that eluded most of France's punk bands.
Their commercial success could be compared to acts like Blondie or The Pretenders, but although they did have a female member in bass player and singer Corine Marienneau she was never just a figurehead and Téléphone were always a band rather than a girl with backing musicians that the other acts became.
They released five album from '1977 until their eventual demise.
This track - New York Avec Toi - came from their final album, Un Autre Monde, released in 1984.
Both guitarist Louis Bertignac and Jean-Louis Aubert have had successful solo careers in the years after Téléphone, Corine Marienneau remaining active having released a solo album in 2002 and an acting career. Drummer Richard Kolinka has worked with man of the biggest names in French music in subsequent years - including Aubert again - and appeared with Alice Cooper on his 1983 DaDa album.
While Téléphone had plenty of great songs, many of them big hits, I've always liked this one for its simplicity and for being just a great rock 'n' roll song. Were it not in French you could imagine a band like the Stones - who they supported in Paris and in North America - covering it.
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