Reviews
Todd Bishop’s Pop Art Four - 69 Annee Erotique (chicagojazz.com, published July, 2009)
by Paul Abella
Origin Records strikes again with another outstanding disc, this time from drummer Todd Bishop and an outstanding group playing the music of Serge Gainsbourg. I have to admit, I hadn’t a clue who Serge Gainsbourg was, prior to seeing this disc make its way across my desk. Of course, curiosity got the best of me and I had to check out Gainsbourg’s music to hear these songs straight from the source. What I heard was charming and familiar on a number of levels. At once, I heard the jazz meets French folk of Maurice Chevalier (or Edith Piaf), the soundtracks of any number of hip sixties and seventies movies, the nouveau chanson of Pauline Croze and even the music of Beck. What started off as, “These guys are doing a tribute to who?” quickly turned into, “Oh man, this really is hip!” I loved Bishop’s disc from the second I put it in the CD player––I am a sucker for fat bass lines and funky drum grooves, after all. But now, armed with the knowledge of what this stuff sounded like the first time around, I was eager to go back again and check it out anew.
The one downside to this disc is a reasonable quibble, and it might do best to get it out of the way upfront: on far too many of these songs, Bishop and company stay too close to the originals. And while one wants to make sure that the songs are still at least a little recognizable, frankly, for all of Gainsbourg’s qualities as a writer and arranger, he didn’t always focus a lot on melody. Which is fine to an extent, because these songs seem to be just as much about texture as anything. But, in those instances, vocals can forgive a lot…or make a lot of things more forgivable. So, on tracks like “Ballade de Melody Nelson,” where neither vocals nor melody are anywhere to be found, even these great musicians can fall a little flat. But, on “Bonnie and Clyde,” where the melody is equally absent but Bishop’s arranging is a little more aggressive, it works. On “Initials B.B.” Bishop has it both ways, by utilizing a vocalist and keeping the arrangement pretty close to the original, he knocks one out of the park. But if the jazz purists might already be offended by the lack of more conventional jazz material, they’d lose their minds when confronted with a song that has more in common with Sonic Youth’s “Bull In The Heather” than it does with “Autumn Leaves.”
This disc does get your attention right off the bat. An insistent groove, some psychedelic keyboards and strings set up a nice melody on 69 Annee Erotique. The true pleasure to be found on this track, though, is the burning saxophone solo by Richard Cole, which really takes this disc up a notch.
“Cannabis” is aptly named, and moves at a slightly woozy pace. Again, Richard Cole lays down a ripping solo on tenor solo that really elevates the tune. While it has the feel of a song that should have closing credits rolling down a screen while it’s played, it’s a great jam and a nice display not only of Cole’s chops, but also Bishop’s arranging skills.
“New York, U.S.A.” is heads and tails the best thing on this disc. It’s also the song that strays farthest away from Gainsbourg’s original intentions. Given a samba feel that is helped along by Blake Thomas’ cuica, this one just flat out rocks. Much of the saxophone solo is given to the tenor/drums treatment, and without any chords behind him, Cole shows some flashes of early to mid-sixties Sonny Rollins (think “East Broadway Rundown”), and when Steve Moore shows up on the Rhodes to help guide things back home, the results are fantastic.
“Le Poinconneur des Lilas” and “Intoxicated Man” prove that Gainsbourg was capable of writing something somewhat akin to jazz, and Bishop’s arrangement help to showcase that. Bishop rounds out the disc with one of the best pieces of sixties pop cheese that I’ve ever heard, in the form of “Je t’aime…Moi Non Plus.” It’s nice, it’s pleasant and it’s a good way to take this disc home.
69 Annee Erotique is an interesting album if taken on it’s own terms. This disc is as multi-faceted as the artist to whom it is a tribute, and does a great job of covering a lot of those bases. While I think a more interesting album could have been made from the standpoint of seeing how much these songs could have been stretched, tinkered with and reassembled, the final results here are certainly fascinating. An entire album of music as adventurous as what is heard on “New York U.S.A.” would have been more exciting from a jazzer’s standpoint. But after listening to Bishop and crew on this disc a few times, I doubt that’s what they were going for. Instead, we’ve gotten a jazz crew’s take on the music of one of France’s legendary composers and performers. Todd Bishop aimed to stay true to Gainsbourg’s vision instead of creating his own, and in the process made a pretty compelling album. I’m certainly looking forward to more from this group in the future.
69 Annee Erotique (Allaboutjazz.com - published: May 16, 2009)
Todd Bishop's Pop Art 4 | Origin Records (2009)
By C. Michael Bailey
Context can be everything or nothing. Listening to 69 Annee Erotique with no background will spark recognition of well-preserved lounge music of the 1960s/'70s, performed with modern sonics imitating those of the period: A bit of psychedelia wisping into the edges of post-war Western society right before the Summer of Love and the sexual revolution. The music is all well played and entertaining. Portland Oregon drummer Todd Bishop creates a themed recording as well integrated as Bob Sneider's and Joe Locke's Film Noir Project, Nocturne for Ava (2008, Origin), but that theme has no story.
Given the context of who Serge Gainsbourg was, both artistically and culturally, and particularly after having listened to some of Gainsbourg's music in situ, 69 Annee Erotique takes on a greater artistic gravity. Todd Bishop has done something special here, respectfully presenting Gainsbourg's music with his own (Bishop's) American flair. Bishop readily captures the international sexiness of Gainsbourg's tunes while buffing them to a 21st Century shine.
Combine Tom Jones, Phil Spector, and Prince and that talent assembly might begin to approach Serge Gainsbourg in popularity and cultural impact in France. A comparison with Frank Sinatra would be in order had Sinatra not been rendered quaintly provincial by America's anemic puritanism. Gainsbourg had no such cultural governor on his behavior, living la belle vie celebrated in his songs. Watching the many online video's of Gainsbourg reveals an artist both way ahead of this time musically, but confined by the technology of his time. Gainsbourg's spoken delivery in many of his songs anticipates Barry White's a decade later with infinitely greater class and authenticity.
Bishop opens the disc with the title piece, "69 Annee Erotique" ("69 Erotic Year") over the undulating electric bass line of Geoff Harper, faithful to the original but digitally crisp. A swirl of synthesized strings mix with electric piano and Richard Cole's tenor sings Gainsbourg's low notes before ascending to lover Jane Birken's sensuous response. That is only the beginning. Gainsbourg's homage to lover Bridgette Bardot, "The Initials BB" contains Dan Duval's guitar doubling the chorus, channeling Steve Cropper playing "Hang 'Em High." The pop sexiness of "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus," sung by Casey Scott, preserves much of the controversial character introduced by Gainsbourg, beautiful decadence, brilliant and bright.
69 Année Érotique: Music of Serge Gainsbourg (Allmusic.com - published May, 2009)
by Adam Greenberg
Todd Bishop has taken groups Lower Monumental and Flatland through somewhat revolutionary jazz territory before, exploring what modern free jazz could sound like while still putting together entirely listenable albums. On 69 Annee Erotique, Bishop takes his Pop Art 4 through some surprising new arrangements of old Serge Gainsbourg songs.
The songs vary from dark to light, slow to jumpy, but they're all given a strong touch of the new in Bishop's arrangements. There's some extra electrofunk quietly placed into the opening title track, and some extended low-end soloing on the sax from Richard Cole in the Ballade de Melody Nelson. A stronger European flavor makes its way in with Initials B.B., a bit of Albert Ayler-style funkiness in Cannabis, and an incredible mix of Brazilian friction drums, saxophones, and Olatunji's Akiwowo in New York, USA. The pace slows down considerably for a more sultry waltz then immediately jumps back up for Le Poinconneur des Lilas. The keyboards, courtesy of Steve Moore, get a chance to shine in Intoxicated Man, and the album finishes off with more of a period piece in Je T'aime…Moi Non Plus, complete with a few sultry vocals thrown in.
The album slinks and squirms all the way, keeping a sultry vibe to the proceedings, but at the same time never leaving a vibe to fend for itself. The arrangements and the band hold up each sound with care, giving it just the right bit of timbre to carry it through the piece in an almost destined manner. An excellent bit of reworking from a group that sounds like it has more to offer yet.
69 Annee Erotique (Allaboutjazz.com - published: April 20, 2009)
Todd Bishop's Pop Art 4 | Origin Records (2009)
By Dan McClenaghan
69 Annee Erotique gets extra credit for off-the-beaten-path-ness. It is a work celebrating the music of the late French pop songster Serge Gainsbourg (1928- 1991), by Portland Oregon-based Todd Bishop's Pop Art 4. Gainsbourg, whose name may not be person-on-the-street familiar in the United States, was a pop icon in France from the late-1950s to the 1980s, a musical renaissance man of sorts who delved into jazz, pop, reggae, soundtracks, psychedelia and electronica, all while nurturing a reputation for unseemliness and personal excess in the mode of California poet/writer Charles Bukowski, to whom he has been compared.
The sound that drummer/band leader Bishop has crafted is a curious mix of garage/surf rock and Phil Spector-like wall of sound production, with some gritty saxophone, a dash of Neil Young and Crazy Horse grunge, going with gusto after Gainsbourg's simple and engaging yet ofttimes Brian Wilson (of The Beach Boys) type of pop song melodies.
The title tune opens the set with a memorable saxophone-blown melody wrapped in some psychedelic keyboard swirls and echoing, and recorded-in-the-basement string washes. "Bonnie and Clyde" features the disc's woodwind master, Richard Cole, on bass clarinet and soprano sax—weaving low and high around each instrument's lines, in front of a trudging drum beat and sparkling keyboard rhythm. "Cannabis" has a light and loopy marching band feeling, with Cole out front blowing with straightforward muscularity, while "New York, U.S.A" is full of fast, forward bustle, underlain by a squeaky rhythmic squall that sounds like a nest of rutting rats.
"Valse de Melody" injects a spooky atmosphere into the set, like part of a soundtrack to a noir movie, followed by "Le Poinconneur des Lilas," with its saucy, jazzy and stripped-down sax-and-rhythm section approach.
The disc's closer, "Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus," in its original version, was once declared offensive by the Vatican. It features guitarist Dab Duval's metallic chords and Casey Scott's breathy, ardently sensual vocals: post-listening cold shower required.
Todd Bishop and his Pop Art 4 have come up with a peculiar yet distinctively compelling sound with 69 Annee Erotique, a strange and excellent musical experience.