Seach and Destroy: Michel Legrand

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All right I'll play too. What are the thoughts contained herein on the French Burt Bacharach. 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' is quite good you know. Is that his best work?

Alex Firtzin (AlexZ), Friday, 15 August 2003 00:41 (twenty-two years ago)

if there's anything better I'd love to know about it. it's hard to believe how good 'umbrellas of cherbourg' is at times.

the incredible aspect of 'cherbourg' is that it's not really song form, since the melodies are forced to follow the conversational dialog, it keeps breaking out of traditional song format. the lovers wrapping sporadic melodic lines around each other, the arguments forming counterpoints, you just get sucked in immediately.

the other stuff I've found is more traditional. 'young girls of rochefort' was a bit of a letdown in comparison. still neat, just not 'I've watched this film a dozen times' good.

milton (Jon L), Friday, 15 August 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

TUOC is high up on a list of my favorite films of all time. I can't imagine anyone else who could have pulled off that score.

Alex Firtzin (AlexZ), Friday, 15 August 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, that's a totally ambitious and impressive score. A few of his "solo" albums are dreck, and some of the film scores I've heard are pretty bad. Search his soundtrack for Demy's followup, "Les demoiselles de Rochefort," which has a few iffy moments but is othewise similarly brilliant.

amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 15 August 2003 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Thomas Crown Affair OST, especially the track "Boston Wrangler." A great soundtrack to a very stylish film. "The Windmills of Your Mind" track isn't as nearly as sublime here as the Dusty Springfield cover though.

The later Windmills of Your Mind LP with Steve McQueen in a boat on the cover has excerpts from the film La piscine??? which is vintage Legrand.

Ex-Tennis Star, Friday, 15 August 2003 03:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Ditto on the Thomas Crown Affair - it's a great soundtrack (albeit to a shitty film). It's hard to think of Legrand's work outside of his soundtracks but I think my favorite work by him is his sixties Godard scores (Vivre sa vie, Woman is a Woman, Band of Outsiders and a couple of others I can't remember...)

I think he also did the Smurfs and the Magic Flute score which is surprisingly good. (or maybe I just have a soft spot for Smurf soundtracks...)

Worst work he did that I can think of is probably Yentl.

Jacobo, Friday, 15 August 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

meisenfek, Friday, 13 March 2009 08:44 (sixteen years ago)

http://filmsdefrance.com/1972_Un_homme_est_mort.jpg

meisenfek, Friday, 13 March 2009 08:52 (sixteen years ago)

....
http://www.basichipdigitalgold.com/pop/004-04.jpg

meisenfek, Friday, 13 March 2009 08:55 (sixteen years ago)

TS: Michel Legrand vs. Fedde Le Grand

naus, Friday, 13 March 2009 08:57 (sixteen years ago)

Snowballing, Friday, 13 March 2009 09:00 (sixteen years ago)

Snowballing, Friday, 13 March 2009 09:02 (sixteen years ago)

six months pass...

...and again with orig footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9AyZvV3hM&feature=player_embedded

meisenfek, Monday, 12 October 2009 06:05 (sixteen years ago)

four years pass...

Jonathan Rosenbaum prefers the score for Rochefort (his fave musical) to Cherbourg

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=6517

eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 14 October 2013 02:39 (twelve years ago)

was just listening to this the other night
http://www.birkajazz.com/graphics2/legrandJazzColumbia.jpg
pretty great stuff, actually, with some pretty magical miles davis playing. too bad they didn't make a whole album, almost prefer it to the (also great) gil evans collabs.

tylerw, Monday, 14 October 2013 02:57 (twelve years ago)

five years pass...

RIP

tbh his final (?) score for the Welles movie didn't leave a big impression.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 26 January 2019 22:11 (seven years ago)

On the occasion of a 2010 concert at Olympia Hall in Paris, Mr. Legrand was asked by French radio whether any of his dreams had gone unfulfilled.

“Off the top of my head,” he said, “I regret that I didn’t learn more languages, visit certain countries and listen to music that I don’t yet know about. In other words, there’s a whole cultural process that it’s been difficult for me to undertake because I’ve written a lot, worked, traveled, played around. So I haven’t had time to read some of the extraordinary books that I still think about.”

“And then,” he added, “I would have liked to work with Judy Garland, who I nurture a mad passion for. But I was born too late. So no regrets.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/26/obituaries/michel-legrand-dead.html

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 28 January 2019 15:36 (seven years ago)

the Alan & Marilyn Bergman lyrics for those late '60s megahits are so goddamn riotous

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 28 January 2019 16:03 (seven years ago)

obits/tributes

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6172-farewell-michel-legrand

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 18:20 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9AyZvV3hM

omar little, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 18:42 (seven years ago)

the Alan & Marilyn Bergman lyrics for those late '60s megahits are so goddamn riotous

This. Was gonna say that "Windmills of Your Mind" is a brilliant song but I think a big part of what makes it indelible is those lyrics.

Josefa, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 18:59 (seven years ago)

ROUND...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQnXBTFlKxw

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 19:04 (seven years ago)

The Bergmans were in the audience once at a a show I was at- Annie Ross, I think- but I didn’t get a good look at them, let alone interact with them.

Only a Factory URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 19:09 (seven years ago)

you'll remember that for the north and east and west of your life.

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 19:12 (seven years ago)

Ha, just heard that song on a tribute broadcast to him.

Only a Factory URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 February 2019 15:45 (seven years ago)

three weeks pass...

Listening to another little tribute today

Only a Factory URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 February 2019 16:58 (seven years ago)

Meant to mention that it is his birthday

Only a Factory URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 February 2019 16:59 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

NYC film retro, w/ karaoke on July 30

https://fiaf.org/events/2019-season/cs-michel-legrand/

a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 29 June 2019 19:02 (six years ago)


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