Various Artists Swinging Mademoiselles: Groovy French Sounds Genres:Pop, Rock, Broadway & Vocalists In 1960s France, the bastion of the burgeoning youth culture in Europe, teenagers were becoming totally absorbed in American culture, though films, music and clothes. Long before the sixties began to swing in London town, ... more »France was enjoying what was to become known as "les annees ye-ye." A truly golden period of uniquely Gallic takes on American and British pop. Out of this music explosion came the "ye-ye girls," sultry, young French maidens, heavy on mascara and a languid innocence. Inspired by the chanteuse tradition, these sexy girls added their own sparky twist to create a much loved chapter in the history of pop. This compilation bring together a groovy collection of sounds that capture the pure essence of ye-ye from straight down the line pop to the influences of psychedelia. This release is the perfect starting point to the swinging world of ye-ye. If it were any cooler it would be frozen.« less
In 1960s France, the bastion of the burgeoning youth culture in Europe, teenagers were becoming totally absorbed in American culture, though films, music and clothes. Long before the sixties began to swing in London town, France was enjoying what was to become known as "les annees ye-ye." A truly golden period of uniquely Gallic takes on American and British pop. Out of this music explosion came the "ye-ye girls," sultry, young French maidens, heavy on mascara and a languid innocence. Inspired by the chanteuse tradition, these sexy girls added their own sparky twist to create a much loved chapter in the history of pop. This compilation bring together a groovy collection of sounds that capture the pure essence of ye-ye from straight down the line pop to the influences of psychedelia. This release is the perfect starting point to the swinging world of ye-ye. If it were any cooler it would be frozen.
CD Reviews
French Bubblegum Pop Rock - Sound Quality Iffy
KC | Northern CA | 03/23/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"While the Amazon reviewer called them yeh-yeh girls - which I think of as more folk-pop, the tracks on here are mostly all of the bubblegum pop rock variety - nothing wrong with that if that's what you want but if you're looking for yeh-yeh songs, you'll be disappointed.
The sound quality also leaves a lot to be desired but since there's not a lot of these songs in print avaialble in the US, these will do for now.
If you prefer your French pop more of the Power Pop/Rock variety, you'll be very happy with "Femmes De Paris V.1" The two collections share 3 tracks and the sound quality is WAY WAY better on the Femmes De Paris V.1 CD.
It's still fun and as promised, it is "groovy.' Sound quality could be better."
Another side of the 60s
Christian Byzewski | 11/16/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For those of you who grew up thinking that the 1960s were nothing but protest and pschedelia take a listen to Swinging Mademmiselles: Groovy French Sounds from the 60s. This great little cd shows us that pop was definitely king at least in France. All the tracks are sung by different French chanteuses with a certain girly but knowing sound to their voices. The most bizarre track on the cd is one singer's take on The Who's mid sixties anthem, "Talkin' bout my Generation. The only recognizable thing in this version of the song is the ever catchy refrain, "Talkin' bout my g-g-g-generation." Have fun listening to this very European time capsule of this generation."
Great music, lame compilation
Bébé Requin | 07/04/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Annoyingly, this brazenly rips off the title of the well-known - and much more lovingly compiled - Swinging Mademoiselle compilations. Everything about it is as unoriginal and careless as the borrowed title, from the songs attributed to the wrong artists to the generic, uninformative liner notes. Not to mention that every track is available on other compilations. A listless attempt to cash in on a trend and others' good taste and hard work.
Yes, the music itself is wonderful, but instead go for the superior Femmes De Paris and Pop A Paris compilations, or try to track down the original Swinging Mademoiselle or Ultra Chicks comps, as a previous reviewer suggested."
A Nice Surprise!
Frida Admirer | Earth, USA | 12/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When I first found this CD in the French music section I thought this would be a cheesy, cheap, and bad compilation with a poor quality of music. But to my surprise, I found it to be one of the most catchy and melodic French albums I've ever heard. And to think that this is from the 60's! Of course, this album makes me think of the glory days of pop when the Beatles took over the music world, but at the same time it opened me up to a more fresh side to France and French music that I never thought of before. Every song is as catchy, playful, innocent, and sexy as the next. Even though there seems to be very little information about these "ye-ye girls" (the most popular was Brigette Bardot), listening to these songs makes me want to know more about them---and if I can't, simply treasure the gems they've made during the glory days of 60's pop. I can't wait to show this to my French teacher and see what she thinks about it, I bet she will even be surprised at this wonderful treat! If you are into 60's pop music, then surely you will like this album even if you may not be a fan of the French language or can't understand French in general."
