Jean-Michel Jarre - Les Granges Brûlées (Dreyfus - 1973)

Les Granges Brûlées is a 1973 movie by Jean Chapot with some of the best French actors of the era, Alain Delon and Simone Signoret. It is the story of a judge (Alain Delon) who is investigating the murder of a young girl in the French country. Her body is discovered near a farm run by a strong woman, Simone Signoret and quickly the judge suspects a member of the family being the murderer.  Jean Chapot and Alain Delon didn't get well together and quickly the movie was finished by the star himself without Jean Chapot who had left the set. The music is the first record released by French king of keyboards, Jean-Michel Jarre. Jean-Michel Jarre is the son of French soundtrack composer Maurice Jarre so it must have been a real challenge for him to dare releasing a soundtrack. Jean-Michel Jarre only used keyboards for the soundtrack, making proto electronica. Jean-Michel Jarre then mixed his electronic song with pop FM and became a billionaire. But this another story and Les Granges Brûlées is still a landmark in electronic music history.

 Download => Jean-Michel Jarre - Les Granges Brûlées

Keith Hudson - Rasta Communication (Deluxe Edition) (Joint International/Greensleeves - 1978/2012)

VP Records just had the excellent idea of reissuing Keith Hudson masterpiece, Rasta Communication, in a deluxe edition full of excellent bonuses: you can find the original album , 12" mixes of Nah Skin Up, Felt We Felt The Strain, Bloody Eyes, the 7" version of Rasta Country and an extra CD with a dub version of the album. Rasta Communication was mixed by King Tubby so there are pretty good chances that the dub master himself was invested in the dub version of the album. With Rasta Communication, Keith Hudson was targeting Bob Marley's sales figures. He never achieved them but at least realized a perfect roots joint and and a true reggae heads favorite.

Allen Toussaint - The Lost Sessions (Fuel Records - 2011)

Forget Memphis, Muscle Shoals or Detroit: some of the best soul music recorded in the 60's was coming from New Orleans and was essentially due to the genius of one man: Allen Toussaint. When he went out of the military in 1965, he launched several record labels with the help of Marshall Sehorn, Sansu, Dessu and Tou-Sea while still recording for other labels like New York Amy Records. Then at the peak of his inspiration, he penned scorchers and hits for the likes of Aaron Neville (Hercules and its massive bassline), Lee Dorsey (Get Out Of My Life, Woman and its break sampled a thousand times) and less well known acts like Benny Spellman, The Rubaiyats (a band composed of himself and Willie Harper) or Willie West. Allen Toussaint is featured 3 times as well on this compilation with two excellent instrumentals, the Burt Bacarach sound alike Hands Christianderson and Gotta Travel On and with his own a rendition of the biggest hits he made for Lee Dorsey, Working In The Coal Mine. The trouble with The Lost Sessions is that any other music will sound lame once you listened to it. It's probably an after effect effect of the voodoo they put in their music.

 Download => Allen Toussaint - The Lost Sessions