Open today: 00:00 - 23:30

By continuing your navigation on this website, you accept the use of cookies for statistical purposes.

Claude François
Alexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris versions

Alexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris versions
Alexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris versionsAlexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris versions

Catno

LDP001

Formats

1x Vinyl 12"

Country

France

Release date

Sep 22, 2023

Claude François is one of the most mythical figures of French Pop music you might have never heard of. He was active from the mid 60’s until his sudden and untimely passing in a tragic domestic accident in 1978. He was mostly known as a teenage sensation, but being a trained percussionist, he had proper groovy numbers too. Most importantly, he co-wrote and sang the original version of what would become “My Way”, one of the most enduring songs in history. In 1977, after hearing Lamont Dozier‘s ‘Going Back To My Roots’; “Cloclo” (as the french lovingly called him) saw the potential of this new Disco trend. This quickly led to the recording of ‘Magnolia For Ever’ and ‘Alexandrie Alexandra’ under the direction of his long time band leader Slim Pezin, who happened to be a Manu Dibango collaborator as well as a core member of seminal Disco studio outfits Voyage & Arpadys. ‘
Alexandrie Alexandra’ was recorded in October 1977 at Trident Studios in London and featured a team of skilled UK players, all of whom were involved in Cerrone recordings.
Back in Paris, Raymond Donnez AKA Don Ray added strings and horns, then sound engineer and keyboard maestro Bernard Estardy, AKA Universal Energy, L.E.B Harmony and La formule du Baron did the original mix.
‘Alexandrie Alexandra’ features an all-star studio cast, but unlike other French acts with same Disco pedigree, it never reached an international audience, mostly due to the very prominent vocals being sung in French.
As Claude François last single and one of his most successful, it was never originally remixed for clubs, nor released as a 12’’. To this day, it is still the most played French song in the country’s Discotheques, transcending generations.
Dimitri From Paris, being very familiar with this song, always felt the urge of lifting the vocal layer to unveil the beautiful orchestration. So, when finally entrusted with the original multi track stems, he turned the spotlight on Don Ray’s string and horns, bringing the great drums and percussion to the forefront, adding his signature tricks and breaks in the process.
This very special 12’’ on Dimitri From Paris new Les Disques De Paris label, features a full vocal ‘Version Discotheque’ and a dubbed out ‘Version instrumentale’, on each side.
With these new remixes ‘Alexandrie Alexandra’ finally sounds like a Cerrone Vs Claude François record. Something it almost really always was.

Drums : Peter Van Hooke (Love & Kisses, Chaz Jankel, Polnareff, Jane Birkin)
Bass : Mo Foster (Olivia Newton John, Don Ray, Cerrone productions)
Guitar and rhythm arrangement: Slim Pezin (Manu Dibango, Voyage, Arpadys, Cerrone productions)
Piano 1977: Lance Dixon (Cerrone productions)
Piano 2023: Allister Thepault (Chatobaron, Dimitri From Paris productions)
Percussion : Franck Riccoti / Ray Cooper / Marc Chantereau (Elton John, Voyage, Cerrone productions)
Strings and horn arrangement: Raymond Donnez AKA Don Ray (Françoise Hardy, Crystal Grass, Cerrone productions)
Synthesizer: Bernard Estardy (Nino Ferrer, La formule du Baron, Universal Energy, L.E.B Harmony)
Recorded at Trident studios London by : Stephen W. Tayler. Mixed at studio C.B.E by Bernard Estardy

A

Alexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris version instrumentale

B

Alexandrie Alexandra - Dimitri From Paris version Discotèque

Other items you may like:

Comet presents the first release from its new Disco Highlife series, featuring remastered originals by Ghanaian legends Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas and disco reedits by LeonxLeon and Leo Nanjo.Founder of Comet Records, Eric Trosset, started working with those great heroes of West African music, back in 2010. Taking on the role of manager/publisher, Comet teamed up with Strut Records and musician/producer Ben Abarbanel Wolff to revive Ebo Taylor‘s international career with a string of album releases: Love & Death, Appia Kwa Bridge and Life Stories. In 2014, he collaborated with Pat Thomas & The Kwashibu Area Band on a new album, gathering together the old ‘pals’ (Ebo Taylor, Pat Thomas, Tony Allen) in producer Kwame Yeboah’s studio in Accra.It is with great pleasure that Comet launches this new series. Let's make this beautiful and timeless music the soundtrack to an unforgettable summer!On side A, comes “Enye Woa” by Pat Thomas, originally released in 1988 on Nakase Records and taken from the album Me Do Wiase. It’s killer disco cut, and as innovative a piece of highlife as it was 30 years ago. Paris-based producer LeonxLeon has been cooking up songs in his Parisian home-studio since 2013. He did a remarkable remix of Cerrone's "Funk Makossa" and more recently released his new Rokanbo EP on Cracki Records. His remix of “Enye Woa” is a classy modern disco cut with funky bass and spacey synths.On side B is “Atwer Abroba” by Ebo Taylor, a stand out up-tempo track from the album Twer Nyame, originally released in 1978 on Philips West African Records. Tokyo-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/arranger Leo Nanjo formed the first Japanese afrobeat group, Kingdom Afrorocks. Since the band broke up in 2014, Leo has been producing and arranging music with various collaborations, such as DJ Muro, Pushim and Misia. This is a trippy afro-futurist, broken-beat reedit with highlife grooves flying to deep space.
Following previous ventures with The Funk League and production credits for Large Professor, Diamond D or Gift of Gab, french producer Hugo LX returns with a new collective project under his KenJaNaï’ alias.The debut album “Faceless Heroes” (coming out in October 2014) showcases a radical shift for the young beatsmith, as the production style leans towards futuristic beats, 80’s synths and also some downtempo - sometimes ambiant - jams influenced by Japanese electronic and new funk legacy.KenJaNaï is not only a producer effort, but a close collaboration with fellow musicians and top shelf vocal artist: the mighty Elzhi (from Detroit very own Slum Village) and indy star Oddisee supply classic verses, while Canadian songstress Amalia (known for her tremendous work with Opolopo) brings her Nu-Funk trademark and soulful vibe in the mix, alongside Kandisky Effect' bassist Gael Petrina and turntablist DJ Suspect.Cruising through atmospheric layers and hard hitting drum patches, “Faceless Heroes” expresses nowadays producers’ ability to navigate from a place to another on the musical spectrum, in order to keep the music vibrant.
The Mighty Zaf & Phil Asher present ’80s, their new edit label specializing in disco & boogie, and strictly vinyl only.Their second releases continues their strive for edit heaven with three scintillating selected cuts.Best not to sleep on this because the first sold out fast!
This is the debut album from the Nancy-based quartet NCY Milky Band.The four musicians deliver unique jazz experiments at the crossroads of 70's french groove and modern electronica. The album covers a wide range of moods, switching from cheerful anthems with goofy synths to slow jams in which the saxophone breezes a deep feeling of nostalgia. With Burn’IN, NCY Milky Band are bringing a refreshing and original touch to the upcoming french jazz scene.
Behind the alias GO.SOUL.MAP. hides Salvo 'Dub', one of the most authentic and purest talents with a marked sensitivity, not only artistic, of the current music scene in Catania, of which, under other guises and names, he has been an indispensable pillar for over a decade.The debut album of this project is anticipated by two preview tracks that will be released not only digitally, but also in physical format on 7" / 45 rpm.The launch single is 'Pushing', an explosive track in a Nu-disco key, modern but firmly rooted in the past, with a production that enhances the sound of the keyboards; full of 70s/80s Funk and Soul, it also has a Disco-Pop vein that makes it perfect for radio. The track is excellently performed by Derane Obika of Living Sounds. A Londoner of Nigerian origin, as well as an exceptional singer, Derane is also the author of the song's melodic lines and lyrics, which can be interpreted as a dialogue between an imaginary interlocutor and his spiritual guide journeying through the maze of life.The 'Pushing' 45 will feature as a B-side an exclusive instrumental version (the one sung by Reiwa Pia will be included on the full-length) of 'Back In The Underwater', a track that combines a Hip-Pop groove with cinematic atmospheres.GO.SOUL.MAP.'s debut album is titled 'Peaceful Sound for Broken Minds' and is scheduled for release February 28th 2024, a little gem in which pop and soul intersect and the clichés between mainstream and underground leap. A Space-Nu-Disco, Soul and R&B journey in which Derane Obika's fundamental contribution to the lyrics and melodies of no less than nine tracks out of twelve stands out! - This is a greatly anticipated album made for the ears of music lovers performed and produced by musicians with same love for the art of music.Dont miss it!!!!!!
After two hip-hop albums (Got To Get Down in 2016 and Impact in 2017), the unpredictable Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra comes back to its fundamentals with a new instrumental album: MORPHEUS which repositions the band in the spirit of their previous spatial, almost cosmic albums Last Odyssey (2012) and Pulsion (2015), both released on Ubiquity Records and acclaimed by spiritual and fusion jazz lovers, library music fans, as well as rare grooves diggers (ALVO’s first 4 vinyl albums now being out of stock).Each new ALVO new release is a millesimal which evolved and learned from its predecessors. Masta Conga, who’s still leading the herd, has for main purpose to explore the musical space-time, gaining ground on never before revealed tracks, followed by his now faithful team of atypical and farseeing musicians.Compared to Miles Davis and his On The Corner by Wax Poetics, the band dives again in this “realm of psychedelia and beyond”, in particular with the contribution of Indian musicians. Twirling around violins, superimposed patchy keyboards and effects, just as if their conductor wasn’t already sufficiently influenced by Pierre Boulez and others such as Hiroshi Murakami…The result is however more uncluttered and loaded with multiple vibes than its predecessor Pulsion, which already carried the ceremonial characteristics of cult movie soundtracks. Tracks “Moksha”, “Air” and “Morpheus” are the perfect demonstration, and far beyond their names. Simple grooves, lunar, but terribly efficient, emphasized by a mix that puts focus on these fiddly contributions of ethnic instruments, on percussions and horns on a drip of delay, reverbs and other space-echoes.On the other side, the very rhythmic “Descarga Uno”, “Descarga Dos” and “Super Dopamine” show that the Parisian crew hasn’t lost its good habit to look around latin, ternary, and syncopated rhythms, in the ALVO only style!A new millésime, a Grand Cru maybe, but for sure to taste and appreciate in all weathers including space ones.