{"id":8713,"date":"2015-10-29T05:30:09","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8713"},"modified":"2015-10-30T12:28:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T12:28:20","slug":"album-review-francoise-hardy-reissue-series-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/29\/album-review-francoise-hardy-reissue-series-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Fran\u00e7oise Hardy Reissue Series (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Le Premier Bonheur du Jour <\/em>(aka Fran\u00e7oise Hardy<\/em>)<\/strong>
\nA critical and commercial success at home (and modestly so beyond France’s borders), Fran\u00e7oise Hardy<\/strong>‘s debut led quickly to a follow-up album. Released in October 1963 and again featuring only the artist’s face and name on the cover, not unlike a fashion magazine (so that’s<\/em> where Peter Gabriel<\/strong> got the idea!), the album is now known (and titled on the new Light in the Attic reissues) as Le Premier Bonheur du Jour<\/em> (“The First Day Happiness”) after its single. (In the UK the record was released 1964 as In Vogue<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Nearly half of the record’s twelve tunes are solo Hardy compositions (both music and lyrics). The arrangement approach expands in many directions from the relatively monochromatic character of the debut. More ambitious and prominent orchestration are hallmarks of the single and \u201cVa pas prendre un tambour,\u201d another Jacques Dutronc<\/strong> number.<\/p>\n

Hardy and producer Jacques Wolfsohn<\/strong> seem to have absorbed some influences from outside France for both their musical approach (\u201cVa pas\u201d sounds a bit like a Ricky Nelson<\/strong> track) and the songs themselves. Both Paul Anka<\/strong> (his \u201cThink About It\u201d rewritten here as \u201cAvant de t’en aller\u201d [\u201cBefore You Go Away\u201d]) and Burt Bacharach<\/strong>\/Hal David<\/strong> (Timi Yuro<\/strong>‘s 1962 hit \u201cThe Love of a Boy\u201d translated to \u201cL’Amour d’un gar\u00e7on\u201d) are drawn upon for material. Anka’s tune features prominent backing vocals (likely overdubbed by Hardy), something rarely found on previous Hardy tracks.<\/p>\n