Jack Arel - Les Jeunes Loups (Riviera - 1968)

Marcel Carné is one of French greatest filmmakers. In 1968, he realised Les Jeunes Loups mixing French classic literature (the characters are inspired by the writings of Balzac) and Nouvelle Cinema with the burgeoning flower power and sexual liberation movement. Released just before the revolution of may 1968, it was announcing the events to come. The shooting is known to have been a nightmare and Marcel Carné rejected his film when it was over, even refusing to assist to the preview. Sacked by critics, Les Jeunes Loups were a flop and were even never released as VHS or DVD. In fact, nobody has seen this movie. The soundtrack is much easier to get. It was signed by French library maestro, Jack Arel. He mixed deep soul and British Invasion influences with a cool French pop vibe full of killing hammond organ licks. The vocals are credited to Tuesday Jackson, aka French MOR singer Nicole Croisille.

 Download => Jack Arel - Les Jeunes Loups

Norman Connors - Take It To The Limit (Arista - 1980)/Norman Connors - Mr. C (Arista - 1981)

I discovered Norman Connors work thanks to an article in Waxpoetics. I bougth on vinyl Romantic Journey, You Are My Starship, This is Your Life and decided to collect his entire discography. I've found Take It To The Limit and Mr. C on this budget two albums on one CD re-issue. In the sleeve notes, Ralph Tee charaterized those two albums as his personnal Norman Connors favourites. I would share that opinion for Take It To The Limit, a wonderful disco soul record with only scorchers and no fillers that matches Salsoul or Roy Ayers best releases of the time. I'll be a bit more reserved about Mr. C, that makes the funk speak and is still a winner but less good than the other albums aforementioned.

 Download => Norman Connors - Take It To The Limit/Mr.C

La Guêpe - Volume 2 (Pulp Flavor Recordings - 1999)

This excellent compilation gathers 17 French library tracks recorded during the 70'sunder the influence of soul, jazz and funk. Breaks heads will consequently find plenty to sample in that groovy banquet. among Roger Roger, Jacky Giordano, Bernard Estardy, Janko Nilovic or even Philippe Sarde works. The tracklisting is a who's who of French library maestro. There are some curiosities as well, like my personnal favorite, Afro-Disiac, an hypnotic afro track made by Uele Kalabubu & Sa Tribu and that can be found on the LP Afroground, a pretty rare but good piece of wax I'll probably post one day. Pulp Flavor Recordings was created by the same guys that were later behind the excellent labels Dare -Dare and Vadim Music that closed last spring. A pretty damn shame if you ask me. So, one of your only last chance to get your dusty hands on their music if you don't want to dig is on this blog.

 Download => La Guêpe - Volume 2