Love Me, Please Love Me

This early work by French performer Polnareff is a varied and not too impressive grouping of ten songs, all of which he wrote or co-wrote, usually singing in French (though occasionally in English). Various hues of circa-1966 pop/rock, folk-rock, and French sentimental pop are explored and combined by the singer/songwriter, whose vocal range is wide but not to everyone's liking. Sometimes he sings gentle, pleasantly (though not memorably) melodic folk-rock ("Sous Quelle Etoile Suis Je Ne?"); at others, period British-influenced mod pop ("Time Will Tell"); at others, in a more Continental crooning style ("Ballade Pour Toi"). At times he leaps into an almost yodeling falsetto that is a little annoying; on "Time Will Tell," he sounds a bit as if he's trying to leap into Lou Christie territory, though he ends up closer to Bobby Vinton's ear-piercing high parts from "Mr. Lonely." The title track, "Love Me, Please Love Me," is a low point with its groveling romanticism and extensive repetitions of that semi-yodeling falsetto, though "Ballade Pour un Puceau" manages to do even worse with its nasal-megaphone, "Winchester Cathedral"-like vaudevillianisms. On the other hand, "You'll Be on My Mind" is almost punky Bo Diddley-styled rock, and "La Poupee Qui Fait Non" might be the most familiar tune to British Invasion collectors, as it was covered by the Birds in the U.K. (though not issued until 1999). Procol Harum fans might want to seek this out for two obscure songs on here that Polnareff penned with Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid, the aforementioned "Time Will Tell" and "You'll Be on My Mind." — Richie Unterberger.