Johnny Hallyday's 'new' releases

A new postumous collection from Johnny Hallyday is in the pipeline, featuring acoustic and symphonic renditions of some of his best known work. Given the success of his Mon pays c'est l'amour album last year - a genuine record-breaking album in terms of sales and one of the biggest selling albums in the world in 2018 - the release of more material seemed inevitable.

While Mon pays c'est l'amour was more an unfinished album that he was working on when he died, the new album Johnny features 12 tracks with re-recorded musical backing, either symphnic or acoustic, using the original vocal track.

Songs on the album include Vivre pour le meilleur, Non rien de rien, Quelque chose de Tennessee, Diego libre dans sa tête, Marie, Que je t'aime, Sang pour sang and L'Envie.

No great surprises perhaps in the choice of tracks, and there are of course pretty sound questions about the artistic integrity of a project like this, but there's no question of there being a genuine demand for 'new' material by Johnny and it will be interesting to see how the songs are refreshed by new settings.

The project has been overseen by Yvan Cassar, who worked with Johnny for 15 years. He originally turned down the project, but on reflection considered it an opportunity to conclude work and ideas that he and Johnny had previously discussed.

Details of the 'new' album emerged shortly after the confirmation of a live album by Les Vieilles Canailles, the touring supergroup featuring Johnny and fellow veterans Eddy Mitchell and Jacques Dutronc. Some successful dates in Paris led to a tour across France in 2017, Johnny, then gravely ill with lung cancer, made his final appearance on stage in Carcassonne that July with Mitchell and Dutronc.  La tournée des Vieilles Canailles will be released as a CD and a DVD.

Elsewhere in Johnnyland, his widow Laeticia Hallyday has confirmed plans for a tribute night for the Rockeur National at the Olympia in Paris in December, featuring images of his performances at the legendary venue during his career. He played the hall over 200 times between 1961 and 2000. More details about the show will be released in due course.

Johnny is released on October 25, two weeks ahead of the release of the Les Vieilles Canailles live material.

Mylène Farmer: Live 2019

Like autumn follows summer, so a live album follows the latest concert appearances by Mylène Farmer.

Next month Live 2019 will fill the shelves of your local FNAC, documenting her series of shows at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre in June, in double CD, triple vinyl and double CD and large book deluxe edition formats.

Between June 7 and June 22, she filled nine shows in front of a total of 40,000 people. The gigs followed the release of her Désobéissance in 2018, playing a residency rather than a tour allowing her to stage a more complex production that didn't have the logistical problems of having to make the show easily transportable for a tour,  something Mylène has done before  with her Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy concerts in 2006.

A film of the shows gets a limited release in November.

I've always considered Farmer to be something of a shibboleth in French music. Musical shorthand casts her as 'the French Madonna', in that she's female and had a long music career that began in the 80s, and while words like 'iconic' can be applied to both, Farmer doesn't really fit into that box comfortably at all.

She's always had more high art, poetic and philosophical aspirations, and over the decades has cultivated an image that reflects this. She's gathered a fanatical following, which embraces both mainstream and cult popularity.

But I've always remained puzzled by Mylène's music. Imagine Madonna had continued her career, reaching the same level of international celebrity, but continued to base her music on 80s New York club music.

I know Mylène's music has matured over the decades and she has taken different approaches, and collaborated with some inspirational and contemporary figures, but to these ears there always seems to be something that doesn't sit right. If Kate Bush operated in the medium of 80s Euro Disco or Bjork duetted with Sting I'd probably feel the same level of bewilderment.

But regardless of my opinions, she'll have one of 2019's biggest selling albums and I'll probbaly give it a listen and enjoy it to some extent but still be left wondering what letters the French use to spell 'WTF?'