Pulp, Nick Cave and San Francisco weird-art rockers The Residents have all contributed tracks to a tribute album to 60s French pop idol Michel Polnareff.
Poulnareff is comparatively obscure in this country, never having enjoyed even the limited international success of contemporaries such as Serge Gainsbourg. Polnareff‘s music acknowlegded garage rock and post-‘Smile’ Brian Wilson while he cultivated an almost Bowiesque constantly changing public image. He retired from music and lived as a virtual recluse before releasing new material fairly recently.
For the tribute album, Pulp cover ‘Le Roi De Fourmis’ while Nick Cave does a Tom Waits-like version of ‘Goodbye Marylou’.
Other contributors include Pizzicato Five, Saint Etienne, ex Van Der Graaf Generator singer/songwriter Peter Hammill (himself deserving of a tribute album), The Gentle People, Simon Warner and Bill Pritchard ex of The Legendary Pink Dots.
‘A Tribute To Polnareff’ is released by Tora Records on November 1.