The 2015
Annie Philippe
compilation
Sensationnel! Ye-Ye Bonbons 1965-1968
brings together a nice cross section of hits from the popular French vocalist at the height of her career. A European reworking of the American phrase "yeah! yeah!," ye-ye pop showcased young, cherubic-voiced female singers framed against dance-ready beats and rock & roll hooks in songs often riddled with thinly veiled sexual innuendo. It was bubblegum pop meets softcore porn and it was massively successful in Europe from the late '50s through the '60s. Along with singers like
Sheila
,
Sylvie Vartan
Francoise Hardy
, and
France Gall
Philippe
popularized the ye-ye sound and became one of the decade's poster girls for hip, mod-friendly Euro style and pop culture. While the vocalists themselves were certainly the focus of public interest in ye-ye, the success of the ye-ye sound was due, at least in part, to the behind-the-scenes talent and technical expertise involved in the production and songwriting.
alone worked with a bevy of gifted lyricists and arrangers, including such luminaries as
Gilles Thibaut
Jacques Revaux
Paul Mauriat
Jean-Claude Vannier
Christian Gaubert
. Furthermore, no amount of money was spared in a song's production, and subsequently many of
's cuts, including tracks like "C'est la Mode," "Plus Rien," and "Une Petite Croix," are lush productions replete with orchestral flourishes, ripe horn parts, vibrant backing vocals, and, as always, the fertile guitar buzz of an electric rock quartet underpinning it all. Though the popularity of ye-ye began to fizzle by the 1970s, and
scored her final hit in 1967, the genre -- and
's career for that matter -- lived on in the guise of such post-ye-ye movements as '70s disco and '80s new wave. ~ Matt Collar