Four albums recorded in France and one song that should have been – The Connexion

From the late 1960s to the end of the 1970s, British musicians headed to recording studios across the Channel in search of creativity and easy living.

France was considered a liberated country where musicians could be louche at their leisure while working on their next album.

Here are four classic LPs recorded in France and one song, the most licentious of the lot, that you would have thought must have been made in decadent France but wasnt.

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Escaping from their tax problems and in search of hedonism in the sun, the Stones holed up in Keith Richards villa on the Cte dAzur and used a mobile recording truck to work on their new album in the basement.

It has to be admitted that none of the 18 tracks is a standout work of genius no one chooses Turd on the Run as a Desert Island Disc.

It is said that some session musicians took so many drugs they couldnt remember being there.

Elton Johns seventh studio album was recorded in this 18th century chateau north of Paris.

An earlier Elton John album, Honky Chateau, was named after the building.

The Gibb Brothers (the Bee Gees) wrote Stayin Alive while staying here.

When David Bowie came here to record Low, his friends were convinced it was haunted.

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Her second studio album, and the only one to be recorded outside the UK, was produced at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes, a converted restaurant on the Riviera.

She was still only 20 years old.

The building is still there, but is no longer a recording studio.

Paul McCartney and Queen also recorded here.

This studio created by Jacques Loussier was chosen for Pink Floyds concept album.

Other artists who have passed through here include Judas Priest, the Cranberries and the Cure.

The chateau is now owned by Brad Pitt who plans to reopen the recording studio

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The sixties may have been liberated but this steamy and scandalous song was a step of important French licentiousness to set any stiff upper lip trembling.

The British tabloids were convinced that they could hear the couple having sex next to a live microphone.

In fact, it wasnt recorded in France at all but in a mundane studio in Marble Arch, London, with each of the singers in his or her own telephone cabin.

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Four albums recorded in France and one song that should have been - The Connexion