Vendredi Sur Mer - Metamorphose. Her first album was warm and synthy, but this is a lot of cold piano and is not as good.
Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte Fontaine est... Folle. Some interesting arrangements, but one thing that annoys me about a lot of the French music I've heard coming out of the chanson tradition is that it's just the same verse repeated - no chorus, no bridge, no instrumental sections - and that gets tiring here.
Etienne Daho - Pop Satori - Makes me want to hang out on a yacht off the French coast in the '80s.
Marie Laforêt - 1961-1964. Pretty folky stuff, hit-and-miss.
Françoise Hardy - Françoise Hardy. Pretty and pleasant, with just a bit of melancholy.
Jacques Brel - Olympia 1961. Scott Walker fans know his songwriting abilities, but he's also got great live presence, and the arrangements are good. I'll look for more of his live discs.
Malicorne - Le Mariage Anglais. Good rec Pugeye. Reminds me a lot of Steeleye Span, and like them, a little ponderous for my liking, but not a bad listen.
Not French:
Madonna - Bedtime Stories. I love that this ends with a song written by Bjork followed by one written by Babyface, even if they don't sound good next to each other. I like this overall okay even if it doesn't bridge those two sonic worlds as well as I'd like.
Roxy Music - most of their albums. They're all very good, give or take the odd clunker of a song.
Constantines - Shine a Light. Some indie rock thing that I enjoyed more than I expected.
The Books - The Lemon of Pink. Their shtick gets old, but I like the first track on this a lot.
The Kinks - Soap Opera. Good.
HAIM - Days Are Gone. I liked this when it came out but never revisited it. It's good!
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects. New album, like it a lot on one listen.
Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill With Strings. Mellow jazz, effective.
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