Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg – Rock Around The Bunker (1975/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 28:59 minutes | 560 MB | Genre: French Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mercury Records

The sequence of brilliant, if somewhat unconventional, concept albums which occupied Serge Gainsbourg through the early to mid-’70s continues with an album which can be (and indeed has been) described as either a European reclamation of the pop potential of the Third Reich, following the success of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, or an acerbic reclamation of a Jew’s own humanity 30 years after the Nazis forced him to walk the streets in a bright yellow star. Or, and seen within the context of its maker’s entire oeuvre, it might just be the slaughter of another of the sacred cows which Gainsbourg found so irresistible. His previous album, Vu de Exterieur, was dedicated to merde and pets; his next, L’Homme a Tete de Chou, tells the tale of an especially sadistic murderer. What more fitting, then, that in between times he should seize upon Adolf Hitler as a suitable theme. Recorded in England with a crack session band – who themselves were probably cracking up as the vision unfolded before them – Rock Around the Bunker is breezy, pop-inflected rock delivered, naturally, in precisely the same tones of honeyed lasciviousness and conspiratorial glee that Gainsbourg always employed for solo performances. Spy themes, pop hooks, rolling rhythms, and killer choruses – all the tricks of Gainsbourg’s trade are here, and if you don’t speak French, it could be about anything. Right?

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Serge Gainsbourg – Premiers Tubes (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 26:19 minutes | 203 MB | Genre: Chanson, French Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Diggers Factory

Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer, songwriter, pianist, film composer, poet, painter, screenwriter, writer, actor, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French popular music, he was renowned for his often provocative and scandalous releases, as well as his diverse artistic output, which embodied genres ranging from jazz, mambo, world, chanson, pop and yé-yé, to rock and roll, progressive rock, reggae, electronic, disco, new wave, and funk. Gainsbourg’s varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world’s most influential popular musicians.

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Serge Gainsbourg – Love On The Beat (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:09 minutes | 801 MB | Genre: Chanson, French Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mercury Records

Serge Gainsbourg recorded his first album in 1958. But it was at the end of the 1960s that his short affair with Brigitte Bardot changed his jazzy style towards this suggestive music with sumptuous arrangements. He then met Jane Birkin with whom he recorded the 1969 duet “Je t’aime … Moi Non Plus”, a song with scorching lyrics punctuated by gasps and explicit moans. Although it was banned in many countries, this song reached the top of the charts all over Europe. In 1971, he released The Story of Melody Nelson, a cycle of dark songs that mark his growing detachment from modern culture. Drugs, disease, suicide and misanthropy become recurring themes in his work.

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Serge Gainsbourg – Gainsbourg percussions (1964/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 28:08 minutes | 592 MB | Genre: French Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mercury Records

The late French pop legend created one of the first ethno pop albums with this 1964 record, which employed heavy North African and Caribbean rhythms in the pop and jazz structures of his songs. Extraordinarily inventive in the canon of ’60s Europop, Serge Gainsbourg remains the godfather of exotica and French pop decadence. Among his mid-’60s recordings, Gainsbourg Percussions is essential Gainsbourg, enhanced by Alain Goraguer’s arrangements. The album contains the hit song “New York-USA” and nine of the tracks from this album appear on the compilation Couleur Café, which is a blessing considering the original version of this fantastic LP could be a little hard to track down.

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Serge Gainsbourg – Casino de Paris 1985 (Live) (Super Deluxe Edition) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:07:36 minutes | 2,66 GB | Genre: French Pop, Chanson, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music Division Mercury Records

“Casino de Paris” was the second live album released by French chanson singer Serge Gainsbourg.

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