Pigalle

In the 1980s François Hadji-Lazaro maintained two separate alternative projects, one of them the French band Pigalle, chiefly recognized for the single “Dans la Sale du Bar-Tabac de la Rue des Martyrs.” Whereas the concurrent Les Garçons Bouchers leaned harder into punk, Pigalle mixed pop, rock, and traditional colors in a gentler register. Hadji-Lazaro brought the group to an end in the late 1990s once four studio albums—Pigalle (1986), Regards Affligés Sur la Morne et Pitoyable Existence de BenjaminTrembley, Personage Fâlot Mais ô Combien Attachant (1990), Rire et Pleurer (1993), and Alors (1997)—plus the live set Pigallive (1992) had been issued. A reunion was nevertheless declared in 2007 and realized by a double-CD anthology that gathered major singles, assorted outtakes, and six previously unreleased recordings.