Jacques Higelin and BBH75

Love this clip of Jacques Higelin from 1976. Acoustic and up close and personal, with just a touch of

late glam rock and early punk about him. It's so lowkey and natural, and the talent at his fingertips just shines through.

Cigarette as metaphor? Something very French about that for sure, and it's the kind of song that you couldn't get away with these days. At the very least, a government health warning would be required, perhaps it would only be available in plain packaging and pressed in a nauseating green vinyl if a limited Record Store Day release came out.

The original was from his legendary BBH75 album, an astonishing work where Higelin, previously an experimental singer-songwriter, embraced rock music as part of a three-piece band with drummer Charles Bennaroch and Simon Boissezon on bass and guitar. It was a bold move, and one that not only established Higelin's reputation but also went a long way to establish the possibilities of rock music as a viable proposition in the French language. 

BBH75 maintains the experimental edge that Higelin had in his earlier works, but this is hitched to a raw electric sound, one that evolved from the electric blues and heavy rock of the early 1970s, and pre-dated the championing of the rough-edged urban experience championed by acts from later in the decade. BBH75 somehow sounds post-punk despite being released in 1974.

BBH75 sees Higelin in a place somewhere between Lou Reed and Ian Dury, the poetic lyricist drawing his inspiration from his everyday environment, earthy but with class, style and an effortless literacy. An authentic witness to his world, the sharp guy with the knowledge of the local streets and faces, able to articulate and sum up what's really going on internally and externally. There's perhaps a wink that he doesn't take himself too seriously though, as the smoker's coughs in the studio version of Cigarette confirms.

A French-speaking singer didn't have to try to match what was going in in American or British rock music but could create something unique on its own terms. Concepts like genre - rock, chanson, blues, whatever - could be used, incorporated or discarded as appropriate and a French artist could release something solidly groundbreaking. It was always all about authenticity all along.

Did Higelin ever better the BB75 album? I'm not sure, but I'll be spending some time going through his back catalogue and finding out.