Just a brief post to share some mixed versions of a pair of older playlists I made for Halloween in 2012, 'The Midnight Hour' and 'Strange Shadows'.

The first of the two was an attempt to evoke a kind of eerie, middle-of-the-night, alone-in-a-dark-house, semi-dreamlike feeling. The second one is more ominous, yet more punchy – a shorter, more fun companion to the former's journey of haunting beauty.

This is part of an effort I've been slowly making to give my old playlists a new home. I put a lot of effort and love into creating my playlists on there, but for years 8tracks has been stuck in a limbo of geo-restriction and royalties nightmares. Although the site recently returned after seemingly shuttering for good, it is still only accessible in limited countries and even then, many songs are not playable. Re-listening to some of my efforts there, I think they are worth preserving, so I'll continue to add mixed versions to Mixcloud.

Fun fact: both mix images are screenshots taken from the 1970s Rod Serling television series Night Gallery. 'The Midnight Hour' image is from the intro to 'The House', and 'Strange Shadows' is from a scene in 'Certain Shadows on the Wall'. You can watch this wonderful series for free here (I found that a VPN set to the USA works if you get the 'not available in your location' message).

For more of my earlier Halloween playlists and mixes, visit my playlists page.

The Midnight Hour

Mixcloud | View image | Duration: 1 hour 39 minutes

Tracklist:

Hello all! Been absent from the blog for much longer than intended, I'm sorry to say. But I hate to miss another Halloween, especially since my blog is named for a Halloween urban legend. So I've managed to squeak in a mix just in time!

'A Curse On You' is in a similar vein to my last couple of mixes: more of a haunting atmosphere than strictly horror-themed selections, though there are a few of those as well. I like to make my mixes a bit of an emotional journey through different moods and sonic textures, especially when fairly long like this one, which comes in at two hours and eight minutes.

This mix is packed with vintage European soundtracks, moody experimental pop, electronic forays, an abundance of 60s psych rock, and more. There's some of the sensual, affecting vibe of my previous mixes, but with more of a gritty, dirty punch - at least that was the aim!

Please enjoy this trippy spookfest! Here are the artists and songs featured in this mix (click 'Hide details' to see a simplified tracklist):

Mixcloud | Alternate link | View image

Here's an all-France Gall mix, featuring some of my favourite songs of hers from 1963 to 1972. I say some of because, well, I love pretty much all her stuff from that era - it took some restraint to only choose 38 songs! You'll find some of her absolute classics here, as well as some lesser-known songs that are equally wonderful. After making the mix, I realised I drew a lot from my favourite album of hers, the 1967 psych-pop classic, 1968. I also seem to have included every song where she does her adorable version of scatting, which is really just the best thing ever. As well as her French songs, I've included a few of her German tracks, the Japanese version of 'Un prince charmant' and the Italian version of 'La Quatrième Chose'.

I've already gone into what I love about France Gall's music, so I'm not going to get descriptive here, but just let the music speak for itself. My hope is these selections would make someone new to her music fall in love with it as much as I did. And perhaps there are a few things here that are not so readily familiar to established French pop fans. 

Photo: Mademoiselle Age Tendre, November 1969.

Johnny Hallyday
15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017

French pop has lost its long-reigning king. It feels inconceivable – both because the young, beautiful Johnny of fifty years ago lives perpetually in iconic images and sounds, seeming forever 'L'idole des jeunes', and because today's Johnny seemed indefatiguable, still full of a zest for music and life. I really have no words for now that would do an even adequate job of capturing who Johnny was or the immensity of this loss. So I thought I'd just share a collection of few favourite things: photos from those gorgeous, seemingly endless pictorials in the pages of Salut les copains and Mademoiselle Age Tendre (I sometimes wonder how much of their lives the idoles spent in front of the camera!), some of his best songs, and a few videos that showcase what a charismatic performer he was.

Click on any of the photos for a larger version.

Salut les copains, December 1963.

The Galaxy Electric are an avant-pop duo from Washington, DC, whose striking debut was one of my absolute favourites of last year. Creating cosmic pop songs using such an interesting palette of sounds, I knew their influences and tastes would be worth mining. So I asked the band members, Jacqueline and Augustus, if they'd make a playlist for me and they kindly agreed. Listen below to their selections, a superb mix of early electronics, way-out pop and other sound adventures. I love how the first track, Ken Nordine's captivating spoken word tour through an imagined 'Sound Museum', sets up the melange of weird and wonderful sounds to come.

Tracklist

1. Ken Nordine featuring The Fred Katz Group – The Sound Museum (1957)
2. Daphne Oram – Wool (1967)
3. Peter Reno – Secrets of the Deep (1969)
4. Joe Meek & The Blue Men – I Hear A New World (1960)
5. Delia Derbyshire – Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO (1968)
6. Jean-Jacques Perrey – E.V.A. (1970)
7. Silver Apples – Walkin' (1998; recorded 1969)
8. The Soundcarriers – Step Outside (2010)
9. Broadcast – Microtronics 14 (2005)
10. Amphitryon 38 - Daphne Oram Single (1957)
11. Stereolab – Italian Shoes Continuum (1999)
12. Francis Bebey – Tumu pakara (1984)
13. Roj Stevens – Bongo Workout (2009)
14. Os Mutantes – Bat Macumba (1968)

Playlist curated by The Galaxy Electric. Mixed by me.

If you haven't yet heard their fantastic album Everything is Light and Sound, you can stream and buy it from their Bandcamp page.

Links: NewsWhistle – Interview with The Galaxy Electric
The Galaxy Electric on: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

I was hoping to do a Christmas mix this year but haven't had a chance, so I thought I'd share one I made very last minute last year. It features Christmas-themed and seasonal yé-yé and rock songs from 1960s France and Québec.

Tracklist

1. Alice Dona - Le Noël des copains (France, 1964)
2. Jacques Dutronc - La Fille du Père Noël (France, 1966)
3. Les Frères Flamingo - C'est Noël dans notre village (Québec)
4. Les Milady's - Les Anges dans nos campagnes (Québec, 1967)
5. Les Bel Canto - Le Père Noël a pris un coup (Québec, 1967)
6. Les Loups - Cette étoile (Québec, 1965)
7. Cathie Arel - En rêvant à Noël (France, 1962)
8. Richard Anthony - Dis moi pourquoi Noël (France, 1961)
9. Guy Boucher - Neige à gogo (Québec, 1965)
10. Christie Laume - L'Adorable Femmes des neiges (France, 1967)
11. Michèle Richard - Cloches d'argent (Québec, 1965)
12. Les Intimes - Nous allons nous amuser (Québec, 1965)
13. Les Baronets - Cet hiver je n'aurai plus froid (Québec, 1965)
14. Les Roche Martin - Il est temps de penser à la neige (France, 1967)
15. Christophe - Noël (France, 1965)
16. Delphine Desyeux - L'hiver (France, 1967)
17. France Gall - Chasse-neige (France, 1971)
18. Les Chantels - La Fée des étoiles (Québec, 1966)

In case you were wondering, "dans le vent" (literally, "in the wind") is a term that was used in France at the time to denote something was hip, trendy, in fashion. A source I have from 1967 says the term came about as an equivalent to the English "up to date", which other terms like "avant-garde" and "à la page" didn't quite convey. If you've seen any sixties French youth magazines from the time like Salut les copains or Mademoiselle age tendre, you'll see the phrase plastered all over its pages, in article headings and advertisements. I'm not sure exactly when it started but it was around by 1963 and had really taken off by 1964. The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night was released as 4 garçons dans le vent in France and Quatre gars dans le vent in Québec – essentially, "Four hip guys".

Fans of the peculiar charms of French-born songstress and actress Claudine Longet may know the beguiling 'Electric Moon' from her 1971 album, We've Only Just Begun. The song was written by Donovan – whose brilliance and versatility as a songwriter tends to be seriously underrated, in my opinion – and produced and arranged by Nick DeCaro. Assigned by A&M Records to work on Longet's music in 1966, DeCaro was the chief architect behind her brand of lush easy-listening, arranging and/or producing seven of her eight albums (including 1974's Sugar Me, which remained unissued until 1993). Andy Williams, Longet's then-husband, liked DeCaro's work so much, he hired him to work on his own records.

1. Claudine Longet - Electric Moon (1971)
   
2. Claudine Longet - Como la luna (1971)

Longet also released a Spanish language cover of 'Electric Moon' as 'Como la luna'. She appeared on a show called Estudio Abertio on Spain's TVE around early October 1971, performing this and the B-side 'Mucho tiempo mas', a cover of Linda Ronstadt's 'Long, Long Time'.

Donovan never released a version himself but, according to this EIL listing, did record a demo acetate for Longet. The only recording of Donovan performing the song to have surfaced is in a 1970 film called There Is An Ocean, which was unreleased until its inclusion in the 2005 box set, To Try For The Sun.

A mix for Halloween featuring music from 70s European horror soundtracks, eerie vintage folk-pop, contemporary pop noir and more. Last year, I made a devil-themed mix drawing from a similar range of artists, but where that one was skin-crawlingly creepy, this is more softly unnerving, with undercurrents of romance and sensuality. It makes me vaguely picture an imaginary classic horror film where a beautiful heroine is lured into a haunted forest by an irresistible but diabolical lover. Amid the prettily haunting sounds, there are still some genuinely terrifying moments – Goblin's bloodcurdling 'Sighs', from Suspiria, for example – should this ominous realm start to feel too cosy. 

The mix image is Elsa Martinelli in Roger Vadim's 1960 vampire flick, Et mourir de plaisir (aka Blood and Roses).

Tracklist (Hide details)

1. François De Roubaix - Les Lèvres Rouges (1971)
   From the Les Lèvres Rouges (Daughters of Darkness) soundtrack.
2. Beautify Junkyards - Longo Amanhã (2015)
   From The Beast Shouted Love.
3. Ennio Morricone - Astratto IV (1971)
   From the Veruschka - poesia di una donna soundtrack.
4. Marianne Faithfull - Oh Look Around You (1965)
   From her self-titled debut album.
5. Daniela Casa - Ignoto (1975)
   From Società Malata, reissued on Penny Records in 2013, and again on Dagored this year.
6. Death and Vanilla - Shadow and Shape (2015)
   From To Where The Wild Things Are.
7. Comus - Bitten (1971)
   From First Utterance.
8. The Paradise Motel - Bad Light (1996)
   From Still Life.
9. Broadcast - The Sacred Marriage (2013)
   From the soundtrack to Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio.
10. Jenny Hval - In the Red (2016)
    From Blood Bitch.
11. Cat's Eyes - Pavane (2015)
    From the soundtrack to another Strickland film, The Duke of Burgundy.
12. Françoise Hardy - The Rose (1966)
    From Hardy's first English language album, In English.
13. Piero Umiliani - Nocturne (1973)
    From To-Day's Sound, reissued on Easy Tempo in 1997.
14. Ennio Morricone - Metamorfosi (1971)
    From the La classe operaia va in paradiso.
15. Laurence Vanay - Soleil Rouge (1974)
    From Galaxies, reissued on Lion Productions in 2013, and as a double LP this year.
16. Espers - Flowery Noontide (2005)
    From Espers.
17. Cat's Eyes - Black Madonna (2015)
    From The Duke of Burgundy.
18. Les Maledictus Sound - Heathcliff Y Cry Your Name (1968)
    From Attention (or arguably Les Maledictus Sound - I'm uncertain of the correct title), the only release by this band helmed by Jean-Pierre Massiera.
19. Keith Seatman - A Slight of Hand (2013)
    From Boxes Windows & Secret Hidey-Holes.
20. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - The False Husband (2006)
    From Ballad Of The Broken Seas.
21. Jane Weaver - Parade of Blood Red Sorrows (2013)
    From the 2015 compilation The Amber Light. Originally released on the Initiaani Kesä soundtrack. 
22. Belbury Poly - Pan's Garden (2006)
    From The Owl's Map.
23. Spirogyra - Old Boot Wine (1973)
    From the 2004 compilation Gather In The Mushrooms – The British Acid Folk Underground 1968-1974. Originally from the album Bells, Boots and Shambles.
24. Phillip Lambro / Orriel Smith - Hannah Emerges In the Night (1973)
    Originally from the Crypt of the Living Dead soundtrack, this was included as a bonus track on the 2011 digital issue of Smith's 1968 single, 'Tiffany Glass' (which was also written by Lambro).
25. Still Corners - Demons (2011)
    From Creatures of an Hour.
26. Acanthus - Sleeping Beauty (Samba Des Vampires) (1971)
    From the soundtrack to Jean Rollin's Le Frisson des vampires, released by Finders Keepers Records in 2010.
27. Emil Richards - Opal (October) (1966)
    From New Sound Element "Stones", reissued by The Omni Recording Corporation in 2012.
28. Lake Ruth - One Night As I Lay On My Bed (2016)
    From Actual Entity.
29. Colleen - Le Labyrinthe (2007)
    From Les Ondes Silencieuses.
30. Angelo Badalamenti - Laura's Dark Boogie (1990)
    From Twin Peaks: Season Two Music and More (2007).
31. Maxine Sullivan - Dark Eyes (1938)
    From the 1997 compilation The Chronological Classics: Maxine Sullivan 1937-1938.
32. Jean Prodromidès - Carmilla et Léopoldo (1960)
    From the Et mourir de plaisir (Blood and Roses) soundtrack.
33. Harmonic 33 - Long Shadow (2005)
    From Music For Film, Television & Radio, Volume 1.
34. Goblin - Sighs (1977)
    From the soundtrack to Dario Argento's Suspiria, reissued on Bella Casa's The Awakening box set in 2012.
35. Harper / Russe / St. George  - Nightwalker (1972)
    From Electrosonic, a library music record Don Harper, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson (the latter two under pseudonyms) made for KPM, reissued by Glo-Spot in 2006.
36. Clara Rockmore - Rachmaninoff: Vocalise (1977)
    From The Art of the Theremin.
37. Ela Orleans - Nocturne (2012)
    From Tumult In Clouds.
38. Elysian Fields - Black Acres (2000) – Free download available from Epitonic.
    From Queen Of The Meadow.
39. Luboš Fišer - Blood Red Rose (1972)
    From the Morgiana soundtrack, released by Finders Keepers Records in 2013.
40. Mono In VCF - We Could've Owned The World (2008)
    From Mono In VCF.

A guest mix by Jonathyne Briggs, author of a fascinating and highly recommended book on French pop history, Sounds French: Globalization, Cultural Communities, and Pop Music, 1958-1980 (Oxford University Press, 2015):

1971—the transition. The destruction of Les Halles in Paris began in 1971 in order to make way for a more modern marketplace, and this action symbolizes how the French found themselves in a period of transition. Just prior to the economic and social problems that would emerge with the oil shocks of 1973, the French were still very much enjoying the economic boom of the economic miracle and continued to embrace new ideas and technologies, albeit with some hesitation manifest in the protests against expanded military bases at Larzac. The Events of 1968 and the death of Charles de Gaulle were just a few years past and the centenary of the Commune reminded many of the revolutionary hope symbolized by the student protests and strikes. In the realm of popular music, French audiences continued to fragment with more and more stylistic influences emerging in different subgenres with the appearance of new artists. And yet, established artists began to experiment with new styles and ideas. 1971 in many ways is a watershed moment in French pop, in which the adventurousness of the French underground is echoed in the music of more popular acts and there was a moment of brief harmony of leisure and introspection. – Jonathyne Briggs

1. Stone et Charden “L’avventura”
2. Serge Lama “Superman”
3. Jean-Jacques Perrey “Baroque Hoedown” (1971 rerelease)
4. Michel Polnareff “Computer’s Dream”
5. Serge Gainbourg “L’hôtel particulier”
6. Catharsis “Masq”
7. Leo Ferré “La solitude”
8. Françoise Hardy “La question”
9. Johnny Hallyday “Fils de personne”
10. Alan Stivell “Pop Plinn”
11. Dalida “Mamy Blue”
12. Nino Ferrer “La maison près de la fontaine”
13. Claude Nougaro “Un grain de folie”
14. Catherine Ribero + Alpes “Diborowska”
15. Jacques Higelin “Aujourd’hui Blues”
16. Mouloudji “Le Temps des cerises”

Links: The Great Albums: History Of French Pop Music