Fulgence Bienvenüe

Service Public

2000: Socadisc 871006

1. Fulgence Bienvenüe (créateur du métro parisien 1852–1936)
2. Météor
3. Dans le métro
4. Le Poinçonneur des Lilas
5. Douce-amère des années 20
6. Mai 1936
7. Août 1945 (Clin d’œil musical au Boogie-Woogie)
8. Le blues du view chnoque (Naissance du rock dans les années 50)
9. Mai 68
10. Aujourd’hui, l’inventaire
11. Siècle XXI
12. Vivre avec toi
13. Egales Egaux

This is kind of an oddity in my collection, and I only hang onto it because I’m not sure how I feel about it. As far as I can tell it’s a studio recording by a fairly polished busker band that plays around Paris’s underground stations; the music ranges from bland to corny with a few better bits here and there, but maybe it’s just the excessively clean and synthesized-instrumentation production, robbing it of any feeling of depth, that keeps me from enjoying it at all.

That’s the kind of dilemma I have about it. I believe I originally got it thinking that it was Métro-related music from throughout the 100 years of the underground’s existence, but actually it’s all original tunes by this group except for one Serge Gainsbourg song (“Le Poinçonneur des Lilas”) Can anyone tell me more about this CD or this group?

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Comments © 2005 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.