Et bien encore une autre coté de Madame Workman...

As promised, Nanette Workman, Part II, for a groovy Sunday afternoon. As in, really groovy. Because Lady Marmalade, the One Buck Record of the day is Nanette in up-tempo, groovy, funky mood. I mentioned in my write-up yesterday that Workman issued a couple of French-language record with an eye on the burgoning disco market, and this is one of them. But, unlike the self-titled follow-up, Lady Marmalade isn't a shameless disco platter, but rather a mix between rock and funk, much harder edged and thus more enjoyable than the albums people usually issued to profit from the rising popularity of disco. It seems Workman issued two albums with identical artwork, a French and an English one. I could only find the former, but judging from the one English track I found (attached as a bonus track), the songs aren't the same. 

From the saucy artwork on, Nanette lays on the sexy, sultry shtick really thick, Gitchie Gitchie Ya-Ya Da-Da, indeed. But it works. I'm normally not a fan of records that want to sound sexy, but Lady Marmalade is a pretty good exception to the rule. Mainly, because it rocks, hard. The heavy rock direction on one half of yesterday's One Buck Record didn't come out of nowhere, the instrumentation here is pretty muscular, while keeping the funkiness that this kind of platter needs.

                                                   Gitchie Gitchie Ya-Ya Da-Da!

The emblematic "Danser, Danser" is an absolute banger, as the youth of today would say, and so is "Pas Fou", which brings up some groovy guitar work.The 'come to Mama' stylings of opener "Baby Boom" sets the atmosphere nicely for Nanette's sultry Madame persona (and isn't it interesting that she then wrote the song "Madame" for Grits And Cornbread?), and she isn't exactly subtle about her intentions on the relentless, harmonica-driven "Lache Moi": "Je me vois déjà dans ton lit!" Woof, is it me ou il fait chaud ici? "Super Lady" is two minutes and forty-three seconds of supercharged rock'n'roll and appreciable, even the slower, softer songs aren't too slow or too soft. 

So, with this you're pretty nicely set up with Madame Workman. No matter what mood you find yourself in - country, rock, funk - Nanette has something for you. So get groovy, get heavy, get country-fried...Madame Workman et le mec à un sou s'occupent de vous...