FRANÇOIS WERTHEIMER

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Man, I love stuff like this! A hidden gem of a song during 1974, which appears to have been a slow recording year for Vangelis, done prior to his big move from Paris to London. I admit to have never heard of François Wertheimer before this single, although he is known as a top-notch song writer in France, having written songs for French singer Barbara in the early 70s. Sometime in 1974, he had a chance meeting with Vangelis and ended up recording this one-off single, and only the A side at that, titled "Pour un Peu Mieux que D'habitude". For this particular single, I was lucky enough to also get a press sheet, which reveals a little bit about Mr. Wertheimer and his meeting with Vangelis. Interesting to note that he is still recording, having done the soundtrack to the recent French documentary "The Gleaners and I" in 2000. The following is a translation of the interesting sections of the press sheet.  The first part is biographical: Born on May 4, 1947 Normal childhood Adolescence filled with indecency Studies: English, by chance and correspondence During, before and afterwards: figure skating, hockey, classical music, theater, magic, singer of suburban rock'n'roll group Founder of the Jean Sans-Terre troop (mime, comedy, dance, etc.) Director with the research centre of ORTF. Writer of a musical in 1970: "Pop'era Cosmique"; banned ten days after the premiere. Makes a fortune, and loses it. Decides to occupy himself with songs that he has written during past ten years. Continues to write for others Writes the last LP of BARBARA, for BARBARA Records his first album Meets Vangelis O. Papathanassiou Records with him "Pour un peu mieux que d'habitude The second section is a little more "poetic": It is with the small sun, the pale paddle of the cities  It is in the early morning, on the banks of the large river,  I went in my canoe on my quiet path, It sailed towards the banks when paddled anew  Suddenly it stops Suddenly I freeze And like two statues waiting in the garden The dew which awakens the pink on its stem Vangelis spoke, I listened to his song And the Seine and the wind sang in unison And nested one evening, in Davout Studio We made this child who presents himself to you. So, what have we learned? Not much, but we do see that the song was recorded in the same studio as the Earth album. But what of the music? Unlike the Sammy Gaha track from the same year, where Vangelis did not play a prominent musical role, this music is all Vangelis, beginning with the slow, pulsing beat throughout this moody piece, to the choir that begins the track. The song is beautiful, perhaps similar to a slow track he would have done with Claudio Baglioni.  I'm listening to this track as I type this, and I must say, it is a crime that this track slipped into obscurity. [Thanks to Roland Weißflog for the scan of the test pressing 7"!]

7" singles

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Title	Pic?	Country	Label	Catalog No.	Notes
Pour Un Peu Mieux Que D'Habitude/Saturne		France	Sonopresse/Aeroplane	AP 40145	Picture sleeve, press sheet
Pour Un Peu Mieux Que D'Habitude/Saturne		France	Sonopresse/Aeroplane	AP 40145	Picture sleeve, white label test pressing

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