| Couleur Cafe | 
 enlarge | List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $10.38
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Buy New/Used from $5.89
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 62199
Category: Music
Artist: Serge Gainsbourg
Publisher: Island / Mercury
Studio: Island / Mercury
Manufacturer: Island / Mercury
Label: Island / Mercury
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 528949
UPC: 731452894922
EAN: 0731452894922
ASIN: B000001EI8
Release Date: February 25, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Cha Cha Cha Du Loup - (TRUE Instrumental) | | • | Mambo Miam Miam | | • | L'anthracite | | • | Laissez Moi Tranquille (Leave Me Alone) | | • | Cha Cha Cha Du Loup | | • | L'eau A La Bouche | | • | Les Amours Perdues | | • | Erotico-tico - (TRUE instrumental) | | • | Ces Petits Riens | | • | Baudelaire | | • | Couleur Cafe | | • | Pauvre Lola | | • | Les Cigarillos | | • | New York USA | | • | Tatoue Jeremie | | • | Ce Grand Mechant Vous | | • | La Bas C'est Naturel | | • | Joanna | | • | Marabout | | • | L'ami Cauette (My Pal Peanut) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Largely unknown in this country, Gainsbourg has become the toast of the rock underground in recent years, with hipsters ranging from Beck to the Bad Seeds readily dropping his name. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Gainsbourg dabbled as a painter and pianist in the mid-'50s while sipping Pernod in the seedy nightclubs and cafes of Pigalle. He finally found his true calling in 1958 at the age of 30 when he launched his recording career by delivering romantic and risque monologues about the Bohemian arts scene with a distinctive voice best described as a mix of Lou Reed and Maurice Chevalier. Mercury Records has compiled two albums from Gainsbourg's early career, each presenting his French-language raps over very different musical backings. Du Jazz dans le Ravin collects jazz tracks released between 1958 and 1964. A fan of Monk, Miles, and Dizzy, Gainsbourg had great taste even if his own playing wasn't extraordinary. Coleur Cafe chronicles the same period, but it focuses on Gainsbourg's attempts to introduce France to various "ethnic musics," including Latin American rhythms and what today would be called Afro-pop. Tunes such as "Erotico Tico" and "New York USA" reek of novelty, but they're still better than most of what fellow world-beaters David Byrne and Paul Simon deliver. Sadly, Gainsbourg isn't around to enjoy his big comeback: He died of a heart attack in 1991. But he was consistent to the end. "For me provocation is oxygen," he said, and he caused an international scandal months before his death by voicing his explicit carnal desire for Whitney Houston on live TV. Let's see if Marilyn Manson can top that one. Jim Derogatis
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 My favorite Serge Gainsbourg compilation album March 4, 2002
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This CD showcases the best of Serge, in my opinion.Somehow I think that Serge loved this period best. I think that this is where his heart was - long before he turned into Gainsbarre and the late 60s - 80s. The song "Couleur Cafe" itself is an enduring classic of French popular music. To this day one can still hear it being played on the radio in France.
Loungey French with African & Latin thrown in February 12, 2002
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Serge Gainsbourg put his extraordinary talent to merging Euro-Pop music with Latin and African rhythms on this album, and comes up with the most hip & happening lounge music you'll find. I gave my Esquivel away because after getting hooked on this, it just fell short. Couleur Cafe never fails to make everyone feel like having a party and transports one to an easy state of mind. At first listen, I smiled and laughed. At the second listen, I was chilling out in my own space and at the third, I realized Serge is an extremely sensitive, deeply philosophical man who can extract the very elements of an eclectic range of styles that, when combined, lightly uplift the soul.
Say this with an accent..."Oh my goodness"!Tres Tres Bon July 3, 2001
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Escargot........Croissant.......Jaques Cousteau. Before I get going I just want to give you all my extensive french knowledge...that's it. Just so you don't think I'm some Sartre Reading Left Banker eating my comfit...this is fabulous without the language thing. I don't know what Serge is saying but this is just the greatest compilation of french beat/ ethnic beat music. You can see the ambiance as you listen to this. Go to Pauvre Lola and give it a listen. The use of girls voices in the pieces is just so sexy and brilliant. Serge himself is a brilliant composer. His melodic lines are always shifting the moment you think you have them. And with all it's frenchness and innovation it is immediately accessible.It is brimming with kitsch. One day I had it in my walkman. I fell asleep and started dreaming of men in berets being followed by models in New York. When I woke up Serge was saying "Rockfeller Center, Empire State Building". It was this song about New York... This is a pretty obscure recommendation but If you want a very european 60's feel, give this a shot You will love it beyond belief.
 EXPERIMENTAL GOODS October 4, 2000
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Gainsbourg here is exploring another musical style, and successfully so. It makes me want to dance, at least. I particularly enjoy "Laissez-moi tranquille", although the entire album works well as one coheisve piece, and is great background music. Also wonderful are the vocal and instrumental versions of "Cha Cha Cha du Loup"... the arrangement of "Les Amours Perdues" is clever, along with "New York USA". Apart from this, while the album is lovely overall, it descends into an odd faux-jungle sound in the background with Gainsbourg singing and seems to be a choir of young people singing(chanting) in the background, and this becomes tiresome.
Stop plucking your nose hairs and buy this CD September 26, 2000
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Gainsbourg was an incomparable French composer of high-quality, sophisticated pop tunes of all kinds. He sounds like a much more upbeat, hipper, peevish version of Leonard Cohen. In fact, if you don't understand two words of French, Serge's music sounds even better, since your imagination is free to roam anywhere it likes.There are 3 major compilations of Serge's '60s output that are on the market, "Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin," "Coleur Cafe," and "Comic Strip." All three are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL music for self-respecting pop conneisseurs. In fact, whip out your credit card right now and buy all 3, because THERE IS NO BETTER POP MUSIC MADE BY ANYONE ANYWHERE. "Coleur Cafe," which is a mostly Mambo, Latin, and African beat influenced collection is the most consistent of the three. "Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin" is a Miles Davis/Dave Brubeck influenced collection of ultra-cool Jazz-pop fusion. "Comic Strip" is a less consistent, late '60s, psychedelic-rock influenced set which features some of Serge's most spectacular songs such as his collaborations with Brigitte Bardot (Bonnie and Clyde) and Jane Birkin (je t'aime...moi non plus).
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