Jean-Claude Vannier and Finders Keepers finally liberate two previously unreleased and fabled soundtracks.

This one black vinyl disc release features the only existing original historic recordings to his first ever 1968 collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, as well as the entire lost musical score for Vannier’s first major star-stuffed solo film commission.

As longtime custodians, Finders Keepers Records are proud to present both the hallucinogenic orchestral music to Robert Benayoun’s ‘Paris n’existe pas’ and the rhythmic onslaught and cyclic waltzes from Patrick Chaput’s ‘La bête noire’, complete with an extensive booklet of essays, interviews, secrets and rare images from both of these mythical cinematic obscurities.

TRACK LISTING

La Bête Noire (Intro)
Chasser La Bête Noire
Histoire De Daniel
The Black Beast (Effets Cords)
Rythme De La Bête Noire
Danse De La Bête Noire
Le Dealer
Karen/Antonia
The Black Beast 2 (Effets Cords)
The Writer/Yves
Chasser Bête Noire (Revenir)
The Juvenile Judge
La Bête Noire (Generique)
Paris N’existe Pas (Opening Titles)
Angela En Ambré
Télékinésie En Turquoise
Simon Slips
La Chambre Rose
Fantôme Félicienne
Le Feu
La Tête
Les Chemins N’existent Pas
Fantôme Soirée
Le Temps Passe
Flipbook
Fantôme Soiree (Outtake)
Flipbook (Outtake)

Mike Patton has teamed up with legendary French producer Jean-Claude Vannier (Serge Gainsbourg) for an album of sleazy pop rock that will appeal to fans of Patton’s projects such as Peeping Tom, Lovage and Mr. Bungle.

TRACK LISTING

Ballade C.3.3
Camion
Chansons D'Amour
Cold Sun Warm Beer
Browning
Hungry Ghost
Corpse Flower
Insolubles
On Top Of The World
Yard Bull
A Schoolgirl's Day
Pink And Bleue

After decades in the making Finders Keepers Records proudly present us with the first-ever pressing of Serge Gainsbourg’s most elusive and coveted soundtrack studio recordings - co-written, arranged and orchestrated by the genius Jean-Claude Vannier (‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’) during what many consider to be the dynamic duo’s most definitive creative period.
Believed to have been lost in a studio fire by Gainsbourg enthusiasts for over forty years (a myth that also shrouds Morricone’s lost ‘Danger Diabolik’ soundtrack) the misplaced master-tapes for the drug-fuelled/Mai 68 cash-in/road-movie ‘Les Chemins De Katmandou’ have been widely considered the final audio jigsaw piece in an immaculate discography/filmography thus earning this soundtrack bone-fide Holy Grail status amongst the most avid disc detectives.
Featuring the original crack team of Paris based players now recognised as French library music royalty, this LP epitomises the inimitable musical direction and expert psychedelic pop musicianship that graced classic Gainsbourg/Vannier soundtracks like ‘La Horse’, ‘Cannabis’ and ‘Sex Shop’. Laying the stylistic, futureproof foundations for subsequent decades of forward-thinking Gallic funk mastery.
Comprising Vannier’s signature recipe of thick plucked bass lines, close-mic’d drums, biting Clavinet and Eastern influenced strings and percussion (and a sprinkling of subtle traditional French instrumentation) the soundtrack to ‘Les Chemins De Katmandou’ (aka ‘The Road To Katmandu’ or ‘The Pleasure Pit’) captures Vannier and Gainsbourg in the first year of their creative partnership capturing their unique embryonic energy.
This previously lost full soundtrack score now exists on vinyl for the first time ever as an infinitely important milestone in the early development of the duo who would shape the sound of French pop music for years to come.

TRACK LISTING

Les Chemins De Katmandou (Titles)
The Pleasure Pit
Colin-Maillard
Le Roi Des Phlébotomes
Flower Child
Cache Cache
Opium Den
Overdose
Oliver
Fallen Rainbow
Colin-Maillard (Vox)
Les Chemins De Katmandou

To mark 10 years of Finders Keepers the label present a new and improved pressing of the album where it all began. Within the last 10 years the resurgence of sixties Gallic pop, once known as Ye-Ye music, has escalated beyond an inter-stellar dizzy height. What might have been a waning, embarrassing genre destined for a shelf life / death gathering dust amongst the Eurovisions of yesteryear, the ‘jerk-beat’ psych-sploitation records of the latter day French disco had soon found new floor space in some of the most credible nightspots in London and Japan.

Without a shadow of doubt, the flagship LP with best odds on becoming a discerning household object was. An inimitable, 45-minute concept LP handcrafted by a bassdriven psychedelic rock group and a heaven sent, 1001 piece orchestral and choral symphony. The album left hip hop producers alongside progressive rock aficionados crying out for more and more for years to come. This LP was in a league of its very own… or was it?

The seldom-sung musical arranger for the classic ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’ by Serge Gainsbourg has become one of the most enigmatic names in Frenchfunk; lorded by many as the French David Axelrod, Jean-Claude Vannier’s name is the lesser-spotted, tell tale seal of sample-friendly quality when it comes to crate-digging ‘en Francais’. Suitably, when rumours amongst French record dealers claiming “the band who played ‘Melody Nelson’ recorded a follow-up LP” became a legend of psychedelic folklore. Another unconfirmed rumour about Jean-Claude Vannier taking the remaining outtakes of the beloved ‘Melody Nelson’ to create a promo-only experimental rock LP left sample hungry producers and DJs in turmoil.

For those in the know the answers to these mysteries lay between the anonymous gatefold sleeve of an undiscovered conceptual album bizarrely entitled ‘L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches’ by a custom-built avant-rock entourage called Insolitudes. The treasure hunt began. For record collectors looking for that special something, this LP contains everything.

For those in the know the answers to these mysteries lay between the anonymous gatefold sleeve of an undiscovered conceptual album bizarrely entitled ‘L’Enfant Assassin des Mouches’ by a custom-built avant-rock entourage called Insolitudes. The treasure hunt began. For record collectors looking for that special something, this LP contains everything.

History denotes that when ‘our man in Paris’ Msr. Gainsbourg first heard the initial bones of this LP he took his poetic pencil to paper providing bizarre liner notes, thus consummating the most extraordinary concept album of all time. The story ‘The Child Assassin Of The Flies’ was to be included as the only information to grace the LP’s highly collectible concertina gatefold sleeve. The story in full is reproduced in its native-tongue on this very special re-release package.

DJs and producers such as Jim O’Rourke, Stereolab’s Tim Gane and David Holmes have spent sleepless nights in perusal of original copies of this perfect release and now regard it as one of the best. Recent copies on eBay have commanded ridiculous price tags and is now one of the most sought-after articles amongst the vinyl hungry hip hop community.

Lovingly remastered and repackaged in an authentic gatefold sleeve to celebrate the 10th birthday of Finders Keepers Records.

Featuring updated liner notes this is the album where it all began. Available once again, having been out of print for a number of years.

Precisely four decades since the original release of the 1971 album ‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’, Serge Gainsbourg’s most celebrated composer, arranger and composer Jean-Claude Vannier now returns to the same artistic territory that has since come to represent his most iconic period and continually inspire almost five generations of experimental rock luminaries.

This all new album comprises a personnel of the legendary European session players that appeared on classic Vannier and Gainsbourg scores such as ‘Cannabis’, ‘La Horse’, ‘Slogan’ and ‘Les Chemins de Katmandou’, as well as ‘Histoire De Melody Nelson’ itself, and his own mythical follow up, the truly bizarre 1973 avant-garde ballet ‘L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches’ (which was finally rescued from obscurity in 2005 by Finders Keepers as the label’s debut release).

Recorded partly in Paris and partly in the UK (not unlike the classic Gainsbourg LPs) the album ‘Roses Rouge Sang’ ('Blood Red Roses') hears JCV taking care of vocal duties in his own unique style combining the macabre and the optimistic with ingenious world play and expert poetic use of the French language. Flourishing from initial rehearsal sessions for the first-ever live performance of 'Histoire De Melody Nelson', ‘Roses Rouge Sang’ captures the authentic line-up just weeks after their initial reunion.