M&J

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.^[1]

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 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

M&J is considered as one of the most successful French language debut albums in recording history. 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 meaningless song about a 'Pineapple Cat'. 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 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 Etienne Roda-Gil (lyrics) and Franck Langolff (music).

Charts

Album

Singles

5 singles were released from the album:

• Joe le taxi - April 1987 (B-side : Varvara Pavlovna)^[3]
• Marilyn et John - June 1988 (B-side : Soldat)^[4]
• Maxou - November 1988 (B-side : Le bon dieu est un marin)^[5]
• Coupe Coupe - March 1989 (B-side : Scarabée)^[6]
• Mosquito - September 1989 (B-side : Chat ananas)^[7]

In addition in 1987 Paradis had released Manolo Manolete (B-side You You)^[8][9] as a follow up single to Joe le taxi but following relatively disappointing sales, the single was left off the album.^[10]

References