Pizza (album) explained

Pizza
Type:studio
Artist:Alain Bashung
Cover:Alain_Bashung_Pizza_1.jpg
Released:1981
Studio:Rockfield Studios, Monmouth
Genre:French rock, new wave
Label:Philips, Barclay, Universal Music Group
Producer:Alain Bashung, Ken Burgess
Prev Title:Roulette russe
Prev Year:1979
Next Title:Play blessures
Next Year:1982

Pizza is the third album by French rocker Alain Bashung, issued in 1981 on Philips Records.

Production

This album immediately followed Bashung's breakthrough single, "Gaby oh Gaby" (which was added on the CD reissues of the album). Lyricist Boris Bergman wrote part of the lyrics, the other part was made of improvisations by Bashung. The album features a somewhat surreal mood, with abstract lyrics, full of double entendres, plays on words, puns and automatic writing. For instance, when talking about how a girl pisses him off on "Vertige de l'amour" ("Love vertigo"), his second hit single which helped bolster the sales of the album, Bergman wrote "Si ça continue j'vais me découper" ("if it goes on like this I'm gonna cut myself"), the verb "découper" (which means "cut") being used instead of "j'vais me casser" ("casser" both meaning "leave" and "break" in French), to which Bashung improvised "suivant les pointillés" ("along the dotted line").

Reception

Commercial performance

Pizza hit #1 on the French charts.

Critical reception

In 2010, the French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 19th greatest French rock album (out of 100).[1] In his book La discothèque parfaite de l'odyssée du rock, Gilles Verlant, although he did not include the album in his list of essential albums, qualified the album string of Roulette russe / Pizza as a "triumph".[2]

Track listing

Bonus Tracks (CD reissue)

Personnel

Singles

Notes and References

  1. Magazine Rolling Stone, n°18 of February 2010,
  2. Book: fr . Gilles . Verlant . Gilles Verlant . La discothèque parfaite de l'odyssée du rock . Hors Collection . 2006 . 978-2-258-08007-2.