Françoise Hardy - Ma jeunesse fout le camp (Remastered) (2016)

Hardy moved toward a more adult, sedate form of orchestrated pop balladry on this 1967 album. Nothing wrong with that per se; what makes it less exciting than her previous work, though, was that in general the material lacked the bounce and melodic strength of her best recordings. "Il N'y a Pas D'Amour Heureux" ("There is No Happy Love") she sings in one of the tracks, and that sets the mournful tone for much of the tunes (half of which were written by herself), which often deal with sentimental themes of sad farewells. Still, it's delivered with classy grace and ornate period production, and the uplifting "Voila" (easily the best cut here) is one of her top classics. John Paul Jones (presumably the future Led Zeppelin bassist) was one of the arrangers.