''Osez Joséphine'' ''(Dare Joséphine)'' is the eighth studio album by French rocker

Alain Bashung Alain Bashung (born Alain Claude Baschung, ; 1 December 1947 – 14 March 2009) was a French singer, songwriter and actor. Credited with reviving the French chanson in "a time of French musical turmoil", he is often regarded as the most importan ...

, issued in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Barclay Records Barclay is a French Universal Music Group record label, originally owned by Eddie Barclay in 1953. Barclay previously established Riviera-LM Records in 1951. Eddie was a bandleader, pianist, producer and nightclub owner. With his wife and voc ...

. Rolling Stone magazine considered it the greatest French album of all time.

Reception

Commercial performance

The singles "Osez Joséphine", "Volutes" and "Madame rêve" ("Madame dreams") were successful, as was the album which peaked at 14th on the French charts. With this album, Bashung broke into the mainstream. The album sold 300,000 copies rather quickly for a French album at the time.

Critical reception

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, the French edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine gave this album the top spot of their list of the greatest French rock albums (out of 100). The album is included in the book ''La discothèque parfaite de l'odyssée du rock'' by Gilles Verlant, who calls ''Madame rêve'', ''Osez Joséphine'' and ''Volutes'' "new classics from his repertoire" and the guitar riff by

Sonny Landreth Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Br ...

on ''Osez Joséphine'' "historical".

Legacy

In 2016, Australian psychedelic rock artist Nicholas Allbrook conceived his video for his single "A Fool There Was" (from his album ''Pure Gardiya'') as a tribute to the video for the title track of ''Osez Joséphine''.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

(5, 6, 9) *

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

(1, 4, 5, 7, 9),

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

(2, 5, 7, 9),

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

(2, 3, 4, 7), lapsteel & wind (3) *

Bernie Leadon Bernard Matthew Leadon III ( ; born July 19, 1947) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Eagles, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of thr ...

- electric guitar (1, 5, 7), acoustic guitar (2, 4, 9),

mandoline A mandoline used for slicing a carrot A mandoline (US, ) or mandolin (British, /ˌmandəˈlɪn/, /ˈmandəlɪn/, /ˈmandl̩ɪn/), is a culinary utensil used for slicing and for cutting juliennes; with suitable attachments, it can make crinkle ...

(7) * Roland Vancampenhout - electric guitar (1, 5, 8), harmonica (5) *

Ron Levy Ron Levy (born Reuvin Zev ben Yehoshua Ha Levi, May 29, 1951) is an American electric blues musician and composer. Levy was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He primarily plays piano and organ. Levy grew up in Brookline, Massachu ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(1, 2, 3, 7, 9) * Ken Blevins -

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s (1, 2, 4, 7, 9), chimes (3) * David Ranson -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(1, 2, 3, 4, 9), bass & strings (4) * Philippe Decock -

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

s (3, 10),

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(8)

Production

* Tom Harding: sound engineer (Memphis) * Sophie Masson: sound engineer (Paris) * Phil Delire: sound engineer (Bruxelles), mixing, realisation * Éric Clermontet: realisation, executive production * Alain Bashung: realisation * Marc Antoine: realisation, executive production *

Jean-Baptiste Mondino Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna (entertainer), Madonna, David Bowie, Sting (musician), Sting, Björk, Don Henley, ...

: photos * Huart / Cholley: graphism

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osez Josephine 1991 albums Barclay (record label) albums Alain Bashung albums