Le Chat Bleu

Infobox Album
Name = Le Chat Bleu
Type = studio
Artist = Willy DeVille
Mink DeVille


Released = 1980 (Europe)
1981 (United States)
Recorded = L'Aquarium, Paris Music Farm, New York
Genre = Rock, Cajun, Soul, Latin, Cabaret
Length = 30:57
Label = Capitol
Producer = Steve Douglas
Reviews = * Allmusic rating|4.5|5 [http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gifixqr5ldae Link]
Last album = "Return to Magenta"
(1978)
This album = "Le Chat Bleu"
(1980)
Next album = "Coup de Grâce"
(1981)

"Le Chat Bleu", issued in 1980, is the third album by the rock band Mink DeVille. The album received critical acclaim and elevated leadsinger and composer Willy DeVille to star status. The "Rolling Stone" Critic’s Poll ranked "Le Chat Bleu" the fifth best album of 1980, ["Rolling Stone" magazine. [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rolling.htm#80 1980 - Critics.] Rolling Stone End off Year Critics & Readers Polls. (Retrieved 3-14-08.)] and music historian Glenn A. Baker declared it the tenth best rock album of all time. [Baker, Glenn A. (1987) [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/world_critics_lists.htm "Individual Critics Top 10s."] The World Critics Lists ~ 1987. (Retrieved 3-14-08.)]

"Le Chat Bleu" was was recorded in Paris. "I wanted that (French) sound," Willy DeVille told "Rolling Stone." "French records are so much more vivid. I knew what I was going for—this record was my dream." [Sears, Rufus (October 30, 1980) "Willy's back—and knocking 'em dead: Mink DeVille spurred on by success of 'Le Chat Bleu.'" "Rolling Stone." p.20-22.]

For the album, bandleader Willy DeVille dismissed the original members of Mink DeVille except for guitarist Louis X. Erlanger in favor of new musicians, including rhythm section Jerry Scheff (bass) and Ron Tutt (drums), who had recently toured with Elvis Presley. Instead of Jack Nitzsche, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Steve Douglas, another associate of Phil Spector, served as producer. "Le Chat Bleu" was the last Mink DeVille album to feature any original members of the band besides Willy DeVille.

Willy DeVille wrote some songs with the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame member Doc Pomus. As well as classic rock (“Savoir Faire," "Lipstick Traces"), DeVille delved into Cajun music (the accordion-dominated dance music of French-speaking Louisiana) and the French cabaret tradition for this album. Jean Claude Petit supervised the string arrangments of some songs. Joel Dorn did the remixing.

In "Lonely Avenue," a biography of Doc Pomus, Alex Halberstadt wrote about "Le Chat Bleu":

(Willy DeVille) created a record that sounded like nothing that had come before... It was clear that Willy had realized his fantasy of a new, completely contemporary Brill Building record. To the symphonic sweetness of the Drifters he added his own Gallic romance and, in his vocal, a measure of punk rock's Bowery grit. Doc was elated when he heard it. Thinking they'd signed a New Wave band, Capitol didn't know what to do with Willy's rock and roll chanson and shelved it for a year. When it was finally released in 1980, "Le Chat Bleu," remixed by Joel Dorn, made nearly every critic's list of the year's best records. [Halberstadt, Alex (2007) "Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus." New York: De Capo Press. pp. 214-215.]

Capitol Records' Release Delay

Capitol Records, Mink DeVille’s record company, was not happy with "Le Chat Bleu", believing that American audiences were incapable of listening to songs with accordions or lavish string arrangements; Capitol released the album only in Europe. "That really broke my heart," DeVille said, "That record was my ‘Starry Night.’ Records are like children; it’s like having a baby. Your blood is on those tracks, and you do the best you can. They threw dust in my face. To them the music was too avant-garde. They said, ‘We really don’t know what to do with this. We’ve never heard anything like this before.’ They didn’t even know what Cajun music was." [Cohen, Elliot Stephen (August/September 2006). “Willy DeVille.” Dirty Linen #125. p. 39.]

However, "Le Chat Bleu" sold impressively in Europe and in America as an import, and Capitol finally released it in the United States in 1981.

DeVille told "Leap in the Dark:"

On "Le Chat Blue" we had all these great people involved, you know, and we thought we had something great. I came back to America, and my label at that time said, “Well, we think we should put it on the shelf for a while.” This was right before Christmas for God's sake when you know people are going to be buying stuff, so I asked them what the problem was. They said they had never heard anything like it before and didn't know what to do with it. We had Charles Dumont, Elvis's goddamned rhythm section, and they say they've never heard anything like it. I was heartbroken and angry. Finally Maxine Schmidt from my distributor in France (EMI Paris) phones and he says, “Willy what's going on?" So I told him. He said don't worry we'll release it over here. We did, and then it became a matter of not what are we going to do with Willy Deville, but who the hell let him get away. As an import it was wracking up great sales here. Capital finally went and released a copy of it, but never did too much work on it." [Marcus, Richard (2006) [http://blogs.epicindia.com/leapinthedark/2006/05/interview_willy_deville.html “Interview: Willy DeVille.”] [http://blogs.epicindia.com/leapinthedark/ Leap in the Dark (a blog).] (Retrieved 3-14-08.)]

For the American release of "Le Chat Bleu", Capitol substituted "Turn You Every Way But Loose," a rocker, for "Mazurka," a Zydeco song written by Queen Ida.

Other Information

The shoulder and panther tattoo on the cover of "Le Chat Blue" belong to Toots, DeVille's first wife. [Sears, Rufus (October 30, 1980) "Willy's back—and knocking 'em dead: Mink DeVille spurred on by success of 'Le Chat Bleu.'" "Rolling Stone." p. 22.]

Critic Robert Christgau, who had previously called DeVille "the songpoet of greaser nostalgia," did not care for "Le Chat Bleu." He wrote sarcastically about the album, "Goils — they break your heart, run off with your coke, mess up your drug deals, and take your count when you go to the blood bank. Rhythm and blues was never like this, so maybe he's a punk after all. But more likely he's one more struggling professional musician." [Christgau, Robert (1978) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=2290&name=Mink+DeVille Mink DeVille] Consumer Reviews. (Retrieved 3-14-08.)]

Track listing

"Unless otherwise noted, all songs by Willy DeVille."
# “This Must Be the Night“ - 2:40
# “Savoir Faire" - 3:08
# “That World Outside” (Willy DeVille, Doc Pomus) - 2:59
# “Slow Drain“ - 3:28
# “You Just Keep Holding On“ (Willy DeVille, Doc Pomus) - 2:47
# “Lipstick Traces“ - 2:49
# “Just to Walk That Little Girl Home“ (Willy DeVille, Doc Pomus) - 3:52
# “Mazurka” (European release) (A.J. Lewis/Queen Ida) - 2:28; “Turn You Every Way But Loose“ (U.S. release) - 3:35
# “Bad Boy“ (Lil Armstrong/Avon Long) - 2:47
# “Heaven Stood Still“ - 2:52

Personnel

*Willy DeVille – guitar, vocals
*Steve Douglas – saxophone
*Louis X. Erlanger – guitar
*Jake and the Family Jewels - background vocals
**Allan "Jake" Jacobs
**Rochelle "Bunky" Skinner
*Kenny Margolis – piano, accordion, background vocals
*Eve Moon - background vocals
*Jean-Claude Petit - string arrangements
*Jerry Scheff – bass
*Ron Tutt – drums

Production

* Chris Coffin - engineering
* Willy DeVille - producer
* Joel Dorn - mixing (at Regency Sound, New York)
* Steve Douglas - producer
* Gerry Gabinelli - engineering
* Roy Kohara - art direction
* Jean Luc – photography
* Eric Migliaccio - assistant engineer
* Nicola - assistant engineer
* Phil Shima - design

References