Johnny Hallyday - "Rivière Ouvre Ton Lit" (1969)

Originally known as “The French Elvis Presley” for his pompadour, chiseled sneer, and hip-swinging ability to make teenaged girls shriek, Johnny Hallyday (born Jean-Philippe Smet), arguably France’s biggest rock star, is stylistically much closer to a David Bowie or a Madonna: a show-biz lifer with the chameleon-like ability to stay relevant by updating his music with the times. Astute, talented, and enduring, Hallyday has enjoyed over five full decades of top-of-the-charts success with nary a commercial lull.

In the late 1960’s, while the King himself was still struggling to overcome a decade’s worth of artistically bankrupt movies and soundtracks, Hallyday was hitting yet another creative peak. Having already squeezed the juice out of rockabilly, Motown, and Beatles covers (his frenetic version of “Got To Get You Into My Life” is magnificent and worth checking out), Hallyday dove head-first into acid rock. He assembled a stellar group of his musician friends that included Peter Frampton (then still just ‘the guitarist from Humble Pie’) and the entirety of the Small Faces to record his farewell to the 60’s. The resulting album, “Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit,” released in 1969, was an au courant kaleidoscope of psychedelic blues rock. Rhythm section Ronnie Lane (bass) and Kenney Jones (drums), in particular, destroy mightily throughout the album. Hallyday and company concoct a heavy, spacious sound that mirrored the nascent proto-metal that bands from the Jeff Beck Group to Deep Purple were simultaneously devising across the Channel.

Leading the turbulent charge is a very confident, excited-sounding Hallyday. His gruff voice is in fine youthful form, only beginning to betray the cracks that would deepen and mature his singing in the decades ahead. Placing himself front and center of the maelstrom from the first moments of the opening (and title) track, Hallyday sings himself into a froth within the first 30 seconds and never looks back. The band matches his bubbling-over passion in breathless simpatico. By the time Hallyday finally unleashes a falsetto whoop at the song’s finale over Jones’ triumphant cymbal crashes, the sense of hard-won closure is palpable—and that's only the first track. Goodbye 60’s; hello future.

click the image below to listen to song previews or buy the album: