Various Artists - ‘Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited’ (Universal) Released 01/05/06

Serge Gainsbourg - the man, the myth, the ego has always held a very special place in the hearts of the French. In his homeland he is seen as the ultimate artisan of the pop genre, an avant garde genius who raised it to a true art form. However this image hasn’t always translated similarly to the rest of the world where he has been seen in equal measure as one part novelty act and another part dirty old man. With the help of this album though maybe soon he will be held with the regard his fans home and abroad have always hoped he would be.

Now many a tribute album can feel disjointed - some songs working, others not - because they are put together quickly through the never ending greed of the record industry. Not so here thank god. All fourteen songs have been lovingly translated from French to English and the artists chosen to reinterpret Gainsbourg’s visions do so with a sensual aplomb the man himself would have been proud of. That’s not to say everything works completely. The coarseness of the English language compared to the sensuous nature of it’s French cousin does grate on occasion.

With a blueprint of such quality to work with it’s difficult to pick out a standout track but several do push there heads above the pulpit. Franz Ferdinand surprisingly raucous link up with Jane Birkin on ‘A Song For Sorry Angel’ (Sorry Angel) gets the album off to great start and from there highlights include ‘I Just Came To Tell You That I’m Going’ ( Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M’en Vais) by Paris resident Jarvis Cocker and Kid Loco, the formers conversational delivery catching the mood perfectly, and the North African lilt via American hip hop influences of Gonzales, Feist and Dani’s reworking ‘Boomerang 2005’ (Comme Un Boomerang).