Midnight Blues: Paris-London 1968-1972

To say that Françoise Hardy is France’s leading female singer-songwriter is no overstatement. Of all the female vocalists who emerged from that country during the 1960s, only Françoise was afforded the privilege of consistent releases in the UK. Imported copies of her French releases were also readily available in the motherland. As a result, her recordings helped influence many of that generation’s young Britons to learn the French language. From the start of her career into the early 1970s, Françoise also recorded quite extensively in English, Italian, German and Spanish but relatively little of that material is obtainable these days. “Midnight Blues” – which comprises tracks from her albums “En Englais” (issued in 1968), “One-Nine-Seven-Zero” (1969) and “Françoise Hardy” (1972) – offers a welcome opportunity to hear her perform in English. In fact, of the 24 titles, 11 were recorded exclusively in English.

Recorded variously in Paris and London, our collection mixes Françoise’s own compositions with inter-pretations of material by contemporaries such as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Neil Young, Beverley Martyn, Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman. Highlights include four beautiful songs written and arranged by noted British session musos Tommy Brown and (later of the group Foreigner) Mick Jones.