If ever Rhino considers a foreign language Nuggets compilation, the inclusion of
Jacques Dutronc would be inevitable. Although succeeding albums would see him evolve stylistically into the French counterpart to
Ray Davies at his creative peak,
Dutronc's debut spawns vintage garage rock akin to
the Yardbirds and the
the Troggs. "La Fille du Père Noël" even shares a sped up
Bo Diddley riff with
Diddley's "I'm a Man." Other fine examples include the bluesy "Sur une Nappe De Restaurant"and the irresistibly hip shaking and buzzsaw guitar laden "Les Gens Sont Fous, les Temps Sont Flous." Though some would argue that someone like
Antoine to be a more true heir to the French garage crown,
Dutronc wins out by humorous lyrics (courtesy of Jacques Lanzmann) and his inseparable ironic delivery. One of the debut's signature songs, "Et Moi, et Moi, et Moi," was intended as a stab at
Antoine's "Les Élucubrations d'Antoine." It succeeded in ridiculing his contemporary in two ways. Lyrically, it dissected
Antoine's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" of sorts for all its narcissism. To top things off, some people mistook it for a new
Antoine hit instead of identifying it as
Dutronc's debut single. (Regretfully, during the mid-'70s
Mungo Jerry refashioned it into the far less provocative "Alright Alright Alright.") A few more songs deserve special mention. First off, there's the second single "Les Playboys" where
Dutronc mocks stereotypical womanizers with a swaggering flair, pointing out his own seduction tactics for women in the process. (Upon recognizing the impenetrably thick layers of irony, his belle
Françoise Hardy probably more than agreed to the lyrics.) The African chant of "La Compadade" visits the same territory as Gainsbourg Percussions did two years earlier. Finally, third single "Les Cactus" made its way into the renowned French dictionary Petit Robert as a synonym for people's everyday troubles. [The following is important with regard to detailing
Dutronc's discography. All seven of his albums made between 1966 and 1975 lack a proper title. To keep them apart, the first album is equally referred to by its original year of release (1966), the first song on the album ("Les Playboys") or either one of the title tunes to the preceding EPs ("Les Playboys," "Et Moi, et Moi, et Moi" or "Les Cactus"), the content of which matches exactly with the 12 songs present here.] ~ Quint Kik