Album: Françoise Hardy, Midnight Blues (Ace)

Culled from three albums recorded in Paris and London between 1968 and 1972, Hardy sings – in English – songs by Leonard Cohen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Randy Newman, Beverley Martyn, Neil Young and others.

It's all very enjoyable, partly due to the charm of Hardy's voice, and partly to the high quality of studio hack-work of the time, with plenty of 12-string jangle. Bob Stanley's notes tell of how Nick Drake was too shy to collaborate.