It's New to Me: 1969 by France Gall

Daguerreotype of Alexander Melville Bell and David Charles Bell, c. 1840

A star of France's ye-ye music scene in the '60s, France Gall is best known for winning the Eurovision contest in 1965 with Serge Gainsbourg's "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son" at the age of 18. But some of her most interesting work came in the late '60s, when Gall, like Francoise Hardy and other ye-ye singers, branched out into more mature sounds and other genres, like the various flavors of psychedelia that Gall tries out on her album 1968. The title is apt because, in some ways, the album sounds like a conscious attempt to distill the trends of the time into chanson form, with varying degrees of success.

1968 begins with the lovely "Toi Que Je Veux", an orchestral pop song with a great baroque arrangement. The album has a handful of other baroque-pop songs, including "La Fille d'un Garcon" and "Chanson Pour Que To M'Aimes Un Peu", and they're all pretty good. The album's big, brassy numbers, like "Bebe Requin" and the call-and-response "Made in France", are also winners. There are also a couple Eastern-tinged psych-pop songs, "Chanson Indienne" and "Nefertiti" - these aren't as interesting, but they aren't terrible. And then there are some real oddities, like the Gainsbourg-penned "Teenie Weenie Boppie", and these add a sense of fun and ratchet the album's feel of genre-hopping another notch.

In her youth, Gall was known primarily for her breathy high voice, but by 1968 she was supplementing this with a louder, more direct singing style with a bit of nasality that borders on annoying. Her voice fits the material here well, though, even if she doesn't have an amazing range. 1968 is one of the most interesting and eclectic pop albums I've heard from any '60s French artist, and one listen to "Toi Que Je Veux" will be a good indicator if this is your kind of thing or not.

"Toi Que Je Veux" by France Gall