JOHNNY HALLYDAY - Le Roi de France 1966-1969

Let's play a little game of "what if": what if instead of staging a soul/gospel-infused comeback in 1968, Elvis Presley attempted suicide, dropped acid, and then recorded psychedelic rock? Obviously that scenario never transpired, but something awfully similar happened to France's version of Elvis, Johnny Hallyday, when the former teen idol began to convincingly adopt all the trademarks of LSD-fueled pop/rock.

The RPM reissue label has now handily put onto one disc the cream of Hallyday's attempts at total heavyosity; backed by Jimmy Page, Brian Auger, The Small Faces and other hard-hitting British musicians, the French vocalist belts out song after song, and sounds not unlike Tom Jones fronting the early Deep Purple (and that's a compliment, by the way!). With some gorgeous orchestral pop tunes thrown in for good measure, this compilation should appeal to those of you who gleefully discovered last year's excellent RPM collection of Jacques Dutronc. Vive la France, indeed!