Casino De Paris 1985

The 80s didn’t look kindly on many 60s icons, yet this rare 1985 live outing six years before his death found Serge Gainsbourg in defiant form. As might be expected, the legendary bon viveur is audibly drunk for most of it, and while the slickness of his contemporary backing band might seem like an odd fit — fretless bass, yacht-rock guitar, squealing saxophone — it’s magnificent, like putting a Rottweiler in an Armani suit, as Serge growls, weaves and presumably chain-smokes his way through glossy renditions of his work with a bite and menace that frequently outstrips their studio counterparts.