One of Lai's easiest-to-find 1970s scores, you might think that this isn't worth a look. To be honest, considering it's a double LP it's a slight disappointment but whenever Lai gets together with Christian Gaubert there's always a chance of something interesting. In this case it's the driving, oddball orchestral funk groove of 'Theme de Simon' which appears twice on the album, in an odd time signature. Much of the rest of the LP is mixed in genre, from early 1920s style jazz through to French pop - there's a decent three-minute pop tune on here too. Uneven but interesting - and don't forget to keep the sampler on for the dialogue segments.

Overall Rating: 3

Theme de Simon | Les Annees 1900 | La gare de l'Est et la remise des decorations aux vueves de guerre | Le cake walk | L'assissinat des Romanoffs | Charles Trenet 'Retour a Paris' | Toute un vie | Gilbert Becaud 'Dimanche a Orly' | Theme de Simon | Kites In The Sky - Groupe Pop | Toute un vie | Gilbert Becaud 'L'Orange' | Theme de Sarah | Escteka | Les Annees 1900 | Gilbert Becaud 'La Gaulee' | Gilbert Becaud 'Chante' | Les Speakers | Theme de Sarah | L'an 2000 | Gilbert Becaud 'Et Maintenant' | Toute Un Vie (Caroline Grant et Francis Lai) |