Baby, Let's Do It The French Way

[FrontPage22]

So, never having been a fan of King of Clubs or the overlong Moulton mix of it, I had never gotten much into Chocolat. That is until a blog posting on American Athlete (GREAT blog) turned me onto the cut Baby, Let's Do It The French Way which comes off as a Cerrone cut given a slight Philly smooth arrangement. A great female chorus comes out from the intro, echoes at first and then full throttle...ugh, so terrific. The rest of the song is a big old fashioned French come-on. This is climbing into my Top Ten solely because of the female cooing and ooohing, which I have such a weakness too...makes me wish I liked girls

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Absolutely, one of my favourite Disco records of all time! Worked the "Medley Discolat's" to death, when it came out!

I have 2 copies of the French (for flanging & 2-beat echos), the Canadian (which has the complete mix, not on the Euro copies) & original Belgian (highest sound quality) pressings of it.

The thing about Les Fableux Chocolat's is seeking out all the different mixes & covers. The Canadian LP and 12" of "Baby, Let's Do It The French Way" have about 2+ minutes worth of break and mix-out that were cut off the original releases. (After she giggles her way through the closing line: "I am a petite madamoiselle, from Paris" there's a terrific bass/synth breakdown, that has a really bad edit, that loses a beat. I fixed it for myself, when I burned it for the car CD.)

And the Canadian has the entire "Boney M" section of the medley, that's edited out of the middle, on the Euro copies. (I always assumed it was a copyright issue.)

Also, if you can get your hands on the original version of the "Kings Of Clubs" LP, you'll find a much more reasonable 6'05" version. I agree totally about the Salsoul release. That song did not need to be 13mins+!

Produced by Jean Vanloo & arranged by Jean Luc-Drion, who arranged the super-classic "D.A.N.C.E." by Night Force. (1980 Ibach)

They're next LP, "African Chocho" was not similar to the "Les Fableux..." LP. although "Ma Gigollette" did fairly well.

I have another 12" medley, a 7" single and, maybe another LP stocked away. If you're wanting for more "Baby, Let's Do It...", I've never found another song of that style on their records. But if you research LPs arranged by Jean Luc Drion and/or Guy Delo, you'll probably find similar recordings.

[JussiK]

There's also a 3,5 minute fully vocal 7" version of "Kings of Clubs", with lyrics not present in any lp or 12". - That typically 1977 undulating bass, chirping chicks and suave gentleman sound of "Baby Let's Do It The French Way" is there on many Vanloo, JL Drion and Jean Kluger productions, all sorts of things out of France and the BeNeLux countries, as well as from Italy. White Heat ( the guy goes "tonight I'm going dancing...it's saturday night", the girls coo "dancing! dancing! Dancing like a superstar!" while the downwards spiralling strings straight out of the more known Jackie Robinson track screech in the background), Rosa Fumetto ( I'm a crrrazy chaaat, I'm youuur chaaat...), the various projects of A. Weyman (Weyman Corporation, Weyman Family etc).

[FrontPage22]

Stephen, thanks for the amazing reply; I had wondered why my version clocked in longer than the mp3 version I have (which was culled from a French pressing_ so thanks for answering that! I had noted the cover was quite different too-the outfits are...well, a scream,

And thanks Jussik as well....I'm going to have to go hunting for these records soon!

[the disco kid]

I Love "Baby Let's Do It The French Way" it was always the intro that got me, with the vocals slowly creeping up. But I must defend Tom Moultons mix of "King Of Clubs". I love every second of it, especially the second half where the song is stripped down to it's oh so sexy bass line, and then built back up with percussion and strings, and ethereal vocals. Tom also remixed the other songs on the LP and did an incredible percussive mix of "El Caravanero". a much overlooked LP back in the day.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

original Belgian (highest sound quality)

Ah, merci mon ami

Jean Vanloo: Maybe interesting to know that he was first known as a swim-champion, then club owner in Mouscron/Belgium where he started the "Twenty Club", then concert-promotor (he organised the 1967 European tour of Jimi Hendrix) and then he became the legendary Disco producer who also "discovered" Madonna. That story is known, he wanted to do a Disco album with her but she preferred Rock and their careers separated.

And then comes the funny story, still in court. The guy who co-lead the Chocolat's, Salvatore Acquaviva,

http://pipl.com/directory/people/Salvatore/Acquaviva

still owns a record store in Mouscron/Belgium, has succesfully sued Madonna since the Belgian courts have ruled that he's the composer of "Frozen". That song is still forbidden for airplay in Belgium right now because the appeal is still going on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ic/4449580.stm

So, it's a sort of full circle!

Amazon-U.S. | Amazon-U.K.

1. Rythmo Tropical
2. Bamba
3. Chica
4. Baby Let's Do It the French Way
5. El Cumbanchero
6. Megamix: Brasilia Carnaval/Rythmo Tropical/El Bimbo/Brasilia Carnaval
7. Medley, Pt. 2: Madureira Chorou/Ze Marmita/Brigitte Bardot/Espanan ...
8. Orfeu Negro
9. Chocolate Samba
10. Yucatan
11. Cafe con Leche
12. Donne-Moi un Baiser
13. Chabara
14. File File
15. African Choco
16. Allez Les Verts



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1. Brasilla Carnaval
2. El Bimbo
3. Cubanita
4. Oh Mariquita
5. El Pin Pam Poum
6. El Caravanero
7. Medley, Pt. 1: La Chatte a la Voisine/A.I.E. A Mwana/Brasilia Carnaval
8. Fiesta, Brasilena
9. Kings of Clubs
10. Ay Carmela
11. Dime
12. El Charlatan
13. Samba Fantastico
14. Toca Toca
15. Lovely Girl
16. I Can't Survive

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Videoskooter

Ah, merci mon ami

My pleasure. But it's quite true. On the original ELVER pressing, I can practically hear the bows hit the cellos. Even the resonance of the strings comes through on that pressing. And "Medley Discolat's"??? The rythmn arrangement is spectacular...when you can hear the complete separation of the tracks. Also, it has the BEST front cover. All 5 girls, dancing/posing, in a perfect freeze-frame shot. (All the Chocolat's LP releases, for a couple years, had different photos, from the same photo shoot.)

On the back of the Belgian and French covers, are different shots from the same performance. The 2 guys and all 5 girls, look like they're having the best time.

I don't see "Medley Discolat's" on either of the Greatest Hits Discs. WHAAAA??
I love the last lines of the "Discolat's" finale...

Let's sing it 'round the whole world
Yeah, let's groove on it

And Jamie made a groove
to make the people move

And Jenna made the moves
So they can work it out!

I've always imagined that 'Jenna' is the one with the wild, long hair. And that "the petite madamoiselle" is the one with the cat's-eye make-up. The 2 lead guys look like brothers. (Actually, they both resemble Cerrone, but I won't hold that against them.) But since you can't cull much information from any of the covers, it's hard to know much about this worldwide-hit group. I'm only missing the "Brasilia Carnival" LP, which kills me, 'cause it's a dead-on knock-off of Bimbo Jet's "El Bimbo". (another of my absolute favourite, can't have enough copies of, records)

VanLoo really marketed the hell outta this group, too. There's so many variations on the 3 LPs out there! Switching tracks around, between different releases, in different countries.

Can you fill-in anymore of the blanks, Videoskooter???

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by STEPHEN L FREEMAN

Can you fill-in anymore of the blanks, Videoskooter???

Stephen, I'll try to visit Salvatore one of these weeks, he has all the info since he's steering The Chocolat's right now (they still perform occasionally).

YouTube - Chocolat's - Brasilia carnaval (1975) (no embedding allowed, just to proof that the rights are still under control)

[STEPHEN L FREEMAN]

Originally Posted by Videoskooter

Stephen, I'll try to visit Salvatore one of these weeks, he has all the info since he's steering The Chocolat's right now (they still perform occasionally).

My excitement is matched, only by my envy.
I'll be waiting on pins & needles!