Volume 4 Of Serge Gainsbourg Translations
CD & Vinyl, Mute Records, January 2017
Delve into the vibrant world of Serge Gainsbourg’s 60s music with “Intoxicated Women”. Masterfully crafted by Mick Harvey and featuring a cast of extraordinary guest singers, this album revives Gainsbourg’s classics with a unique twist. Experience this musical journey that spanned continents, from Melbourne to Berlin, resulting in a two-volume masterpiece that celebrates Gainsbourg’s legacy.
1. Ich Liebe Dich … Ich Dich Auch Nicht (Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus)
– featuring Andrea Schroeder & Mick Harvey on vocals
2. All Day Suckers (Les Sucettes) – with Mick Harvey on vocals
3. Contact – featuring Channthy Kak & Xanthe Waite on vocals
4. Prévert’s Song (Chanson de Prévert)
– featuring Jess Ribeiro & Mick Harvey on vocals
5. The Eyes To Cry (Les Yeux Pour Pleurer)
– featuring Sophia Brous on vocals
6. Puppet Of Wax, Puppet Of Song (Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son)
– feat Xanthe Waite on vocals
7. Baby Teeth, Wolfy Teeth (Dents de Lait, Dents de Loup)
– featuring Solomon Harvey & Mick Harvey on vocals
8. God Smokes Havanas (Dieu est un Fumeur des Havanes)
– featuring Andrea Schroeder & Mick Harvey on vocals
9. While Rereading Your Letter (En Relisant Ta Lettre)
– featuring Sophia Brous & Mick Harvey on vocals
10. Sensuelle et Sans Suite – featuring Lyndelle-Jayne Spruyt on vocals
11. The Homely Ones (Les Petits Boudins)
– featuring Xanthe Waite on vocals
12. Lost Loves (Les Amours Perdues) – with Mick Harvey on vocals
13. Striptease – featuring Andrea Schroeder on vocals
14. The Drowned One (La Noyée)
– featuring Jess Ribeiro & Mick Harvey on vocals
15. Cargo Cult (Cargo Culte) – with Mick Harvey on vocals
Mick Harvey ‘Intoxicated Women’
‘Intoxicated Women’ mainly concentrates on the duets and songs written by Gainsbourg, mostly during the 60s, in a period where he was focusing his songwriting on singers such as France Gall, Juliette Greco and most famously, Brigitte Bardot.
Here Harvey has enlisted the talents of guest singers Channthy Kak (Cambodian Space Project), Australian singers Xanthe Waite (Terry, Primo), Sophia Brous, Lyndelle-Jayne Spruyt and Jess Ribeiro and the German chanteuse Andrea Schroeder plus the special appearance on ‘Wolfy Teeth’ by Harvey’s son, Solomon.
‘Intoxicated Women’ opens with a stunning version of ‘Je T’aime… (Moi non plus)’ – here titled ‘Ich Liebe Dich… (Ich Dich Auch Nicht)’ – rendered in the sexiest imaginable German by the divine Ms. Schroeder and culminates with ‘Cargo Cult’, the closing track from the classic ‘Melody Nelson’ album. In between we are treated to a smorgasbord of Gainsbourg gems in English (with a bit of Khmer thrown in).
“After the initial recordings for ‘Delirium Tremens’ JP Shilo and I continued investigating the duets and female songs, many of which were unknown to me. So it became a voyage of discovery into quite a lot of material I hadn’t heard before. There are even a couple of songs for which the only versions existing from the 60s are from TV performances Serge gave.” [‘The Drowned One’ (La Noyée) and ‘Wolfy Teeth’ (Dents de Lait, Dents de Loup)]
A recent reissue of Vol. 1 and 2 rekindled Harvey’s interested in the Gainsbourg translations and 20 years after the release of Vol. 1 – ‘Intoxicated Man’, work began on what would become Volumes 3 and 4. Recording in late 2015 in Melbourne with J.P. Shilo and the rest of his Antipodean-based live band, 10 songs were tracked at Birdland Studios. The project then relocated to Berlin where a further 9 songs were recorded with Toby Dammit (The Stooges, Residents) and Bertrand Burgalat (of French label Tricatel) who was the string arranger on the first 2 volumes.
The resultant recordings served to whet Harvey’s appetite for more and almost immediately work continued back in Melbourne in order to have enough material to fill 2 new volumes. Along with principle musical collaborator, Shilo (with whom Harvey also worked on Rowland S. Howard’s ‘Pop Crimes’) and Melbourne based musicians Glenn Lewis and Hugo Cran, Harvey enlisted the aforementioned female singers to help complete this final volume in the series.
Mute Records
