New York USA

So my trusty Google calendar reminds me that today I should be returning to work following a two week stay in the Big Apple. The original arrangements were that I would fly into the UK overnight on Sunday, landing in the early hours of Monday morning, spending the rest of the day and Tuesday snoozing and generally catching up with stuff, before heading back into the store this afternoon. The trip would've marked my first visit to New York in exactly ten years, but of course it was not to be. Here are a few snapshots that survive from previous visits in 2008/9/10 to keep me going until next time.

After my initial visits to the city in the early 1990s, I was never too bothered about hitting the tourist traps of Times Square, Fifth Avenue again, instead I'd usually head for lesser visited neighbourhoods, walking for hours fuelled only by endless coffee and bagels. On the rare occasions that my travels did take me to the mid-town area, I'd invariably strut along the sidewalk with Serge Gainsbourg's superb 'New York USA' as my internal soundtrack. The song comes from the 1964 LP 'Gainsbourg Percussions', his last full length outing for 4 years.

Serge Gainsbourg - New York USA

Monday Long Song

Jean-Claude Vannier

Despite a running time that makes it feel more like a generous EP, 'Histoire de Melody Nelson' remains one of the most important and influential albums of Serge Gainsbourg's career - indeed of the 1970s as a whole. If you're at all familiar with the music of David Holmes, Broadcast, Mick Harvey, Massive Attack, Portishead, Stereolab or any number of other Gainsbourg disciples, you will have heard echoes of this record in their work. The basic tracks for the LP were recorded in London with the aid of largely uncredited British session musicians, before co-composer/arranger Jean-Claude Vannier added strings back in France. The 2011 Deluxe Edition of 'Histoire de Melody Nelson' adds a disc of out-takes and a DVD documentary to the story. From the former, here's a chance to fully appreciate the genius of Jean-Claude Vannier via an instrumental version of the album's closing track 'Cargo Culte'.

Serge Gainsbourg - Cargo Culte (Instrumental)

Joyeux Anniversaire Brigitte

I dug out a few of Brigitte Bardot's Serge Gainsbourg collaborations yesterday, by way of marking BB's 83rd birthday. Then I headed over to YouTube to check out some footage from the period, kicking off with familiar clips for 'Comic Strip', 'Harley Davidson' and the fantastic 'Bonnie and Clyde', all from 1968, before heading back to 1963 for a groovy 'L'appareil à Sous' - at face value an innocent enough little ditty, although it's worth remembering that things are rarely the way they seem when it comes to Gainbourg's lyrics. My big discovery was a video for 1968's 'Contact', possibly my favourite of the Gainsbourg penned Bardot songs, which for some reason I'd never bumped into before. Far out!