L'homme à tête de chou

Description

On says that it is a sculpture by Claude Lalanne (photographed on the back of the record) that inspired Serge Gainsbourg in 1976 for this second concept album (after "Histoire de Melody Nelson").
The muse/fictitious heroine of these twelve songs is called Marilou this time, and while the music, bold, supervised by arranger Alan Hawkshaw (some synthesizer sounds mixed at full blast are amusing but should please the senses of electro enthusiasts), transports less than at the time of "Melody," the lyrics, for their part, have lost none of their sharpness, quite the contrary.
Slightly abandoning easy wordplay and systematic prosody, Gainsbourg recites at random from his complex calculations, between two hurried puffs of brown cigarette, further increases the volume of his voice and places a yellowed finger on the lips of melodies that he only sings very sporadically (Ma Lou Marilou, Marilou under the snow, exceptional).
A choice piece, ideal soft porn epitaph, Variations on Marilou sounds like the absolute synthesis of his eighteen years of song already passed.