Johnny Hallyday Est Mort. Vive Le Johnny Hallyday

Johnny Hallyday, The French Elvis, died recently.  The news in America hardly made a ripple.  In France it was a different story.  More people showed up for his funeral than for our president's inauguration.  When you compute this on a per capita basis, the attendance was even more staggering.

I'm always on the lookout for his records in the used bins.  Since he never caught on here, they're hard to come by.  Same with Guy Marchand (but that's for an entirely different reason).  I managed to snag one.

Johnny Hallyday - Solitudes a Deux (Phillips 1978)

One side consists of ballads, the other rockers.   Needless to say, I play the rocker side more often.

This one opens up to reveal Johnny in full late Elvis regalia - complete with Native American accessories.   Feast your eyes ladies!

The best way to discover French rock and roll is through Scopitones.  These were films made for video jukeboxes.  I'll leave it to you to spend a few hours looking at them.  My recommendation is to google 'Hallyday Scopitone' or 'Guy Marchand Scopitone'

Here's one to get you started.

And who can resist the jarring high pitched yodel of Guy Marchand?