This mammoth five-disc set is a wide-ranging overview of Serge Gainsbourg's career as a songwriter, composer, and arranger. It also showcases his ability to make actual singers out of actresses and models – there are a few duets here with Brigitte Bardot, and others. Those who are encountering Gainsbourg for the first time will no doubt be intimidated by this set, it is a lovely package that moves basically in chronological order; but the three-disc De Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre set is more focused and a lot more affordable.

L'événement de la rentrée. En effet, c'est le premier album solo de Jean-Jacques Goldman depuis dix ans, depuis Entre gris clair et gris foncé. Après avoir mis entre parenthèses le trio Fredericks-Goldman-Jones, Carole Fredericks a sorti un album de gospel et Michael Jones un album de blues. C'est au tour de Goldman de sortir le sien.

"Sugar Me" sounds surprisingly like a cohesive studio album. The title track(also, curiously, recorded by Nancy Sinatra around this time)is kind of a lame tune, but "Who Broke Your Heart"(credited to 'unknown')and "You Set My Dreams To Music" are blissful. "You Don't Have To Be A Baby" shows Claudine's playful side, as does the nearly-nude photo on the back cover! Claudine's singing career hit the wall soon after these sessions were completed, so it is her farewell performance. As such, it must be included in any fan's collection.

Claudine Longet's long suit was really her album's covers, which made their purchase almost irresistable (at least, to men) once they were displayed in record stores. That said, this collection of her combined output for Barnaby Records (the label founded and owned by her then husband, Andy Williams) isn't bad the two albums We've Only Just Begun and Let's Spend the Night Together have been combined in these 24 tracks, all remastered in state of the art sound…

Originally a punk rock act influenced by the Clash and more traditional rock elements such as the Stones and Chuck Berry (under its original moniker, Tet Red, the group was known for live covers of the aforementioned artists), Têtes Raides eventually moved into more acoustic and traditional French territory (taking in more domestic influences, such as Jacques Brel and Les Négresses Verts), mixing straight-ahead rock with French music stylings from the midpoint of the 20th century.

The music of French folk troubadour Hugues Aufray existed in stark opposition to the prevailing yé-yé sound that dominated pop charts in the mid-'60s. A disciple of Bob Dylan who regularly adapted his hero's songs into French, Aufray nevertheless proved a popular favorite whose own compositions, most notably "Santiano" and "Celine," quickly entered the mainstream vernacular.

« Il existe un endroit où les hommes parlent comme des oiseaux »… Cet endroit situé sur l'archipel des Canaries est l'île de La Gomera sur laquelle Féloche a posé ses valises, à la recherche des derniers pratiquants du silbo, l'une des rares langues sifflées de l'univers donnant son titre au deuxième album du bourlingueur légèrement fêlé.

Er gilt als eines der hoffnungsvollsten Talente der französischen Popmusik: Féloche. Auf seinem Debütalbum bietet der Mandolinenvirtuose und Sänger eine einzigartige Mischung aus Electro-Cajun, Pop und wildem Rocksteady, aus der uns die dunstige Hitze des Bayous im Süden der USA entgegenschlägt. Auf "La Vie Cajun" kreiert der Pariser Musiker eine urbane Interpretation des Cajun, jener frankophonen Kultur, die im 18.Jahrhundert ihren Weg nach Louisiana fand, und dort heute noch gepflegt wird. Dabei ist Féloche kein Traditionalist.

The most exotic actress of the 1930s and '40s, Marlene Dietrich performed her cabaret act around the world and recorded for Decca, Columbia and Capitol in the post-war period, after her film career had slowed. A thick German accent and her odd sung-spoken vocal style proved no barrier to international popular success and adoration.

L'heure est (déjà) au sixième album pour Debout Sur Le Zinc. Baptisé La Fuite en Avant et produit par Jean-Louis Piérot, celui-ci se démarque du rock alternatif francophone comme de la variété et de la chanson hexagonale. La Fuite en Avant, ce sont douze airs où les femmes sont omniprésentes, soit à travers le chant, dans lequel perce une fragilité, et une mélancolie récurrentes qui font considérer cela, ou plus assurément dans les histoires du quotidien qui tue à petit feu l'homme qui se demande qui il est et comment il en est arrivé là.

Depuis Des Singes et des Moutons, Debout Sur Le Zinc avait clairement notifié une volonté de revenir aux sources d’un rock, certes mâtiné de folk et d’influences rétro, mais plus pur qu’à leurs débuts, lorsque leurs prestations ressemblaient un peu trop à une sympathique, mais pas très originale, imitation des Têtes Raides.

Les Retrouvailles is the fifth studio album by French musician Yann Tiersen. Released in 2005 through Ici, d'ailleurs… record label, it features a number of high-profile guest vocalists, both French and Anglophone alike: Christophe Miossec, Dominique A, Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins), Jane Birkin, and Stuart Staples (of the Tindersticks). As is customary with his albums, Tiersen showcases his multi-instrumental skills, which on the album encompasses the accordion, piano, mandolin, and harpsichord, among others.

As an artist, French singer-songwriter Yves Simon (born in Choiseul, France, 1944) lived two lives. On one hand, he was a writer, publishing almost one book a year since 1971 and eventually being rewarded (in 1988 and 1991). On the other hand, he was an almost as prolific recording artist, having released around twenty LPs since 1967, though his two first outings remained under the radar.

At a time when Barry Manilow can top the charts singing pop songs of the 1950s and Rod Stewart can sell millions by massacring the Great American Songbook, it's no wonder that others would try their hand. French film and TV actress Arielle Dombasle, who was actually raised in Mexico, went after South of the Border pre-rock pop standards on her 2004 set Amor Amor (released in the U.S. earlier in 2006); here, she takes on quasi-French material of the 1930s-1950s like Cole Porter's "C'Est Magnifique" and the Doris Day hit "Que Sera Sera."