Serge Gainsbourg

Vu De L’Extérieur

MERCURY. LP Remastered and expanded with outtakes and alternative versions – Gainsbourg’s finest 30 minutes? WITH THE failure of Histoire De Melody Nelson and a heart attack behind him, and having split with arranger Jean-Claude Vannier, in 1973 Gainsbourg launched a new phase of his career with an easy sell – an album of songs that suggest obsessions with gas, coprophilia and anal sex. Your exterior is attractive, he appears to say, but I’ve been on the inside. Recorded in London with many of the British musicians who had worked on his previous long-player, but now marshalled by Alan Hawkshaw on keyboards, it opens brilliantly with Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M’En Vais (I Came To Tell You I’m Leaving), one of his very best songs, then settles into a loose European funk – Gainsbourg had no idea what he wanted, Hawkshaw spoke no English, but contemporary Elton John was clearly a touchstone. It’s a masterpiece. It sold squat.