CD Reviews

Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited

Various Artists| Verve Forecast

By SIMON W. VOZICK-LEVINSON | August 1, 2006

2.5 Stars

Everyone knows that Cat Power lightened up on her most recent album, but it’s still a bit of a stunner to hear the once-somber songstress whispering sweet nothings in the ear of Jack White’s wife, supermodel Karen Elson, on this compilation’s second track. Mark up another score for the seductive spirit of Serge Gainsbourg. Revisited’s producers transport his randy œuvre from post-’68 Paris to today’s indie scene, creating the musical equivalent of an Austin Powers sequel; famous fans like Franz Ferdinand, Feist, and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker line up to cover the master’s très French come-ons in plain English. Some tracks, of course, are as sexy as a soggy batch of freedom fries once the words are comprehensible. But the best updates — including trip-hop slow-burners from Tricky, Portishead, and Michael Stipe, who improbably outdoes them both — have a seedy splendor all their own.