Roots Archives Forum

A little curiosity. I'd like to know if Serge Gainsbourg's excellent works in Jamaica are well known by you reggae afficionados. French reggae fans obviously know this great music but what about english, spanish or american guys ?

ok, that's what I supposed. Just let me give you that advice : you must absolutly listen to the album ''Aux armes etc.''. Even though it is a french alcoholic (he's also a poet) who sings, it is an amazing production recorded in Tuff Gong with Sly/Robby, the I threes and the best musicians from the island, in 1979. The sound is excellent and the musicians at their best. You also have dub versions mixed by King Tubby if my memory's good.

I have that album..Well, actually, he has two albums with some of the nicest artists on the island..Big Youth, Spectacular, Lisa Dainjah, Telegram, Lone Ranger, Dr. Kex, Al Pancho, Mark Holloway, Rizzlamigo, Buffalo Bill, Wungy, Mumma Leck, Mr. Murphy, etc.

I know about it (not from France) but I have never picked it up. I would check for his Melody Nelson album instead, before I reach to his reggae attempts.

so more informations on gainsbourg reggae works from a french guy.in fact there is two originals
studio lp from the great serge: the first is an amazing
rockers-rub-a-dub album done with some of the best roots musicians
in jamaica: sly and robbie ansel collins mikey chung etc etc...top of the tops hun?aux armes etc...,eaux et gaz a tous les etages,la beauté des laids,le brigade des stups....10 beautiful and hilarious songs from a style of french dub-poet.the second one titles bad news from the stars and you can find the same musicians but its recorded in nassau bahamas.a little bit more ironic and sad than his grandbrother.not as good but you will certainly love it to.recently those 2 albums have been remixed by solgie hamilton(remember channel one sound engineer)with lone ranger big youth king stitt(the ugly one) and many youths from the streets of kingston.its a french guy bruno blum who originated this revival concept in 2004.there is a third album a live album recorded in a old school place ( le palace)in paris in 1980 with the same people sly and robbie etc...what else?well a little "anecdote" :
during the french tour in strasbourg the show has been stopped by soldiers who did not accept the remake of the french hymn "la marseillaise" in a revolutionnary style "aux armes etc...".the rastas were afraid and went away but serge sung it a cappella with the fist in the air.voila voila...

i hope you enjoyed all this.

sorry for my english (I'm french)

it is 2 gainsbourg reggae album : "aux armes ect.." (the first and the best) and "mauvaises nouvelles des étoiles"; but I advise you to hear the live album: "live from palace" whith sly & robbie and the another jamaicans musicians, this live is very very good

for the album "melody nelson", it's not reggae, but it's a very good gainsbourg album with an exeptional bass line !

hi skully how are you doing,
iam writing from senegal and did love gainsbourg reggae foray through his 3 lps he performed withword sound and power.i had"aux armes etc..""mauvaises nouvelles des etoiles""live at the palace"but would really like to have them on cds after having looked for that for mainly 20 years.iam writing from senegal and of course neeless to tell you that i speak french .
fadel

by the way skully how did you get to be named skully
fadel

Aux Armes Etc is OK but not very rootsy, I would love to hear the live CD though....Melody Nelson is probably the best one, sounding like Can in places (albeit only 30 min long)..another good one is Rock Around The Bunker. I read in the book A Fistful of Gitannes that Serge never smoked the herb when he was in Jamaica, too bad !

Hello.
another anecdote about this album is Bob Marley became furious when he discovered Gainsbourg made his wife Rita Marley sing erotic lyrics. serge gainsbourg was famous not only for be a heavy drinker and drug abuser he use to sing songs with double-meaning and black - humor.

For me is a great roots reggae album recorded with top and great musicians