Several French stars attempted to cross over into broader international success by recording in English. Usually these failed due to clumsy pronunciation and disinterest in American and British markets.
Francoise Hardy was more successful than most, both artistically and commercially. Her accent is slight and her phrasing accomplished on these English rerecordings of 18 of her most popular mid-'60s tunes. One of these, "All over the World," actually cracked the British Top 20 in 1965. And she actually managed to release several albums of English material in the States, though she never took off commercially. These performances are respectable, but you're still better off with the original French versions. Her native tongue lends itself better to her romantic and melodramatic melodies and arrangements, which remain distinctly French in spite of their liberal debts to American girl group pop and production. The backing tracks are unchanged or only slightly altered on these re-recordings; the CD remastering is a bit awkward, placing her voice way up front. ~ Richie Unterberger