Evolution of a Disque, Part I

Previously, on Desperate Housewi—uh, Operation: Disque Drop…

Welcome back to Op Drop. Today’s imaginary reader of bold headlines is Marcia Cross, better known as Bree Van de Kamp from Desperate Housewives. Although I’m not a big fan of the show, Alizée is (at least according to aw’s informative and hilarious Alizée blog), and Bree is apparently her favorite character…so, voila. Personally, I preferred Marcia’s turn as Dr. Kimberly Shaw, the mentally unbalanced redheaded hottie on Melrose Place. Mmm…mentally unbalanced redheaded hottie…

Anyway, to business: the whole recap thing at the beginning of each post is getting kind of long and tedious, so we’re just gonna reduce it to bullet points this time around…

• Who Alizée is, who I am, why I’m a fan, and why you should be one, too
• Op Drop’s goals, and why I believe they’re achievable
• What Op Drop actually does to achieve them, and where I got (read: stole) the idea from
• A brief overview of what’s on these disques I’m dropping (and my plea for various parties not to sue me for it)

There’s that wasn’t so painful now, was it?

So what's on these discs you're dropping?

Geez, Marcia…do you have to sound so hostile when you ask that? Why are you glaring at me? What? No, I did not sleep with Micheal…!

So I sorta answered this question last time, in very broad terms—a variety of mp3’s from all four of Alizée’s albums, 5 avi’s of music videos and television performances, and a few desktop wallpapers, to make up kind of an ‘Alizée Fan Starter Kit’. But then I got distracted by the discussion of intellectual property law and the possibility of getting my pants sued off, and forgot to mention which songs and videos I actually used.

So, here they are:

The songs:

1. LILLY TOWN (Psychédélices)
2. MOI...LOLITA (Gourmandises)
3. GOURMANDISES (Alizée En Concert)
4. J.B.G. (Alizée En Concert)
5. J'EN AI MARRE! (Mes Courants Electriques)
6. I'M NOT TWENTY! (Mes Courants Electriques)
7. A CONTRE-COURANT (Mes Courants Electriques)
8. L'ALIZE (Alizée En Concert)
9. MADEMOISELLE JULIETTE (Psychédélices)
10. FIFTY SIXTY (Psychédélices)
11. MON TAXI DRIVER (Psychédélices)
12. DECOLLAGE (Psychédélices)
13. HUNG UP (Generation Disco)
14. LA ISLA BONITA (Psychédélices, Mexican Tour Edition)

The videos:

• FIFTY SIXTY (Music Video)
• MADEMOISELLE JULIETTE (Music Video)
• J’AI PAS VINGT ANS! (Music Video)
• LA ISLA BONITA (TV Performance)
• J’EN AI MARRE! (TV Performance, and tactical nuke of Lili fandom)
  

The track selection is deliberately weighted more towards the latest album than the older ones, in an effort to make it more reflective of the artist Alizée is today. Although her debut single Moi…Lolita is unquestionably the biggest hit of her career, using Lilly Town as the introductory track was a no-brainer. Not only does it literally start out with a welcome to the listener, it’s easily the catchiest cut off Psychédelices and packed with awesome references that North American fans are likely to grok, even if they don’t understand the language. (“Wait…did she just take a shot at Paris Hilton?!”)

Most of the favorites from the album Gourmandises are represented by live tracks from En Concert instead, mainly just because I prefer how the concert versions sound compared to the studio versions. Though I’ve read more than a few complaints about the quality of her voice in En Concert, I tend to think that Lili actually sounds pretty frakkin’ awesome live. I’ll take enthusiasm and energy over pitch-perfect studio sterility any day of the week.

It’s also probably going to be controversial that I elected to include ‘I’m Not Twenty!’ instead of the superior French version ‘J’ai Pas Vingt Ans!’ My rationale is simply that I really wanted to get a third English song in there, and ‘I’m Not Twenty!’ is less of a bastardization than ‘I’m Fed Up!’, and more fun than ‘Youpidoo’ or ‘Amelie’. I tried to make up for it by throwing the French version of the JPVA music video.

Video selection was far easier: Fifty Sixty and Melle Juliette are her most recent, so they were no brainers; Alizée is at her most radiant in the video for JPVA (and you just can’t beat those shots of her going to town on the drums); La Isla Bonita is easily the hottest English-language performance she’s ever given; and, as I’ve stated often, this performance of JEAM has served Lili fandom well as our weapon of mass devotion. (Over nine million YouTube views can’t be wrong.)

Agree? Disagree? Think I’m completely off my nut? Let me know in the comments below. One of the great things about this project is its ability to grow and evolve over time, so if you think there’s a great track or awesome performance I’ve neglected (or I’ve included one on here that you absolutely can’t stand), go ahead and make your case, and we’ll see what happens!

More to come on the evolution of the disc next time, I think, as Marcia has just donned a short blonde wig and headed out to the garage, muttering something about ‘setting that bitch Jane up to take the fall’. I should probably see about putting a stop to that…

See you on Monday, Op Drop fans…same Lili-time, same Lili channel!