When I hear the opening bars of this song, I can still remember the utter bewilderment I felt as a 16 year old hearing it in 1978 for the first time. It came on a 2 track flexi (the other track being 'Reverberation' by the 13th Foor Elevators) with Zigzag, a UK music magazine. Up to this point I had been listening to mainly melodic pop like Blondie. This completely blew my mind. When Mayo Thompson sang "On the shelf I have six buckets and they are for you. They're full of little things that we can do", I was genuinely scared. This is the song that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that singing in tune is overrated. For me this tops the version on their 1966 'Parable of the Arable Land' version.
Answers the question, "What would happen if Ennio Morricone did a dramatic, Flamenco-style pop song?" Milva gives a lusty, compelling performance. Fantastic arrangement - love those castanets!
available on CD - Canto Morricone, Vol. 1: The '60s (Bear Family)
13 Jul 01 ·delicado: milva also does a compelling 'metti una sera a cena' on volume 3 of the canto morricone series; highly recommended...
A very cool and swinging jazzy pop vocal. Michel's range is quite remarkable, and there are some cool backing vocals too. About halfway through of the song, some completely over the top scat vocals kick in, and two different vocal Michels carry out a nonsensical scat 'conversation' until the end. Definitely an unusual way to complete a song, but it works fantastically.
available on CD - Le Meilleur de Michel Legrand (Philips France)
A super cool french vocal with an excellent organ sound running through it. Serge's jazzier output (showcased on the excellent 'du jazz dans le ravin' CD compilation) really blew me away when I first heard it, and this track is probably my favorite from this period.
from No. 4 available on CD - Du jazz dans le ravin (Philips)
24 Jul 01 ·tinks: i absolutely love this song, especially how serge just sounds so very...FRENCH! the way he draws out the word "twisteur" cracks me up every single time i hear it.