Baby Pop

Possibly France Gall's best album (though Les Sucettes, from earlier in 1966, gives it a run for its money), Baby Pop is also a key album of the entire French ye-ye scene. In much the same way that Revolver or Pet Sounds brought new musical and lyrical opportunities to British and American pop music the same year, the richly varied Baby Pop is a more mature and wide-ranging album than the bubblegummy singles that had made Gall's name. Producer Alain Goraguer's orchestra is less pronounced than usual, and his arrangements have a lightness of touch akin to Tony Hatch's very similar recordings with Petula Clark or even Burt Bacharach's work with Dionne Warwick. As always, there are a couple of eye-rollers on this album, with the so-cheesy-it's-oddly-fascinating "L'Amerique" being the most egregious. But the rest of the album -- from hit singles like the brassy title track (one of Gall's very best) and the sublime "Nous ne Sommes pas des Anges" to lesser-known album cuts like the Farfisa-driven "Faut-Il que Je T'Aime" -- is excellent, some of the finest female pop of the era, no matter what the language. ~ Stewart Mason