M&J

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Untitled

M&J is the debut album of popular French singer and model Vanessa Paradis. It was released in 1988 and featured the hit single "Joe le Taxi".

Background

The album's lead single was the enormously popular song "Joe le taxi", which made Paradis an overnight sensation. The song became a major hit not only in France, where it charted at number 1, but also in the UK, Sweden, Norway and other countries.[2]

The album's more acclaimed single, however, was the affecting tribute to Marilyn Monroe entitled "Marilyn & John". The song, including its English language version, was considered[by whom?] far superior to "Joe le Taxi", and Vanessa performed this song at virtually every awards ceremony during the 1987-1989 season. An obscure Spanish version of the track also appeared and charted.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

M&J is considered as one of the most successful French language debut albums in recording history[citation needed]. At the time of its release, Vanessa was only 15 years old, and had no creative control over the record. As a result, the album featured several childish and banal tracks that had little or no lyrical merit. Prime amongst these were "Mosquito" and "Chat Ananas", a song about a cat named Ananas (Pineapple). Vanessa often ridiculed her own work at this stage, and refuses to perform many songs from this CD (also refer to the track list of her Au Zenith album). English-language versions of many songs from the album were also recorded, including "Coupe Coupe" and "Maxou"; an English version of "Marilyn & John" appears at the end of the album.

Critics[who?] hailed the Beatles-influenced "Scarabée" as the greatest track from this record, though it is still remembered as being the album that contains "Joe le Taxi". The album also marked the start of what would become a long-lasting collaboration between Vanessa Paradis and composer Franck Langolff—an association that lasted 20 years until his death in 2006.

Track listing

  1. "Marilyn & John" 5:48
  2. "Maxou" 3:50
  3. "Le Bon Dieu est un marin" 4:28
  4. "Mosquito" 4:21
  5. "Soldat" 5:41
  6. "Joe le taxi" 3:56
  7. "Coupe coupe" 5:21
  8. "Chat ananas" 3:47
  9. "Scarabée" 6:25
  10. "Marilyn & John" [English Version] 5:46

All songs written by Étienne Roda-Gil (lyrics) and Franck Langolff (music).

Album credits

  • Mixed at Studio Guillaume Tell, Suresnes

Charts

Album

Chart (1988) Peak
Position
French Album Chart 13

Singles

5 singles were released from the album.

In addition in 1987 Paradis released "Manolo Manolete" (B-side "You You")[3][4] as a follow up single to "Joe le taxi", but following relatively disappointing sales, the single was left off the album.[5]

Year Single Chart Peak Position[6]
1987 "Joe le Taxi" French Singles Chart 1
1988 "Joe le Taxi" UK Singles Chart 3
1987 "Joe le Taxi" Swedish Singles Chart 7
1987 "Joe le Taxi" Norwegian Singles Chart 5
1987 "Manolo Manolete" French Singles Chart 10
1988 "Marilyn & John" French Singles Chart 5
1988 "Maxou" French Singles Chart 13
1989 "Coupe coupe" French Singles Chart 22

References

  1. ^ a b https://www.allmusic.com/album/r14823
  2. ^ Lescharts.com
  3. ^ Cover art for the Manolo Manolete single
  4. ^ Manolo Manolete singles from various countries
  5. ^ Manolo Manolete single
  6. ^ Lescharts.com
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