Love Songs [WEA]

Now here's something useful: French singing and songwriting sensation Francoise Hardy's love songs. Recorded between 1973 and 1974, this compilation includes the Love Songs album and most of Message Personnel. This was a poignant period for the chanteuse; she was married, she had a son, and she was writing songs at a fast pace. She had dropped out of the fashion and pop scenes, and kept after her muse, inspired by the experience of the two major events that had taken place in her life. There are 16 tracks collected here, including the English version of "Message Personnel," "Merveilleux," "On Dirat," "L'Attente," "Je Te Cherche," "Ce Soir," and, of course, "Je Suis Moi" and "Pouce Au Revoir." All but three tracks were either written or co-written by Hardy with her various collaborators, and, of the covers, the most notorious and lovely is Serge Gainsbourg's "La Bataille/L'Amour En Prive." This is a gorgeous collection, even if it only references a very small, yet very creatively rewarding, portion of Hardy's career.