As a a pianist, arranger and composer in a french kind of easy listening field, Raymond Lefevre is especially famous for his scores dedicated to several films starring Louis de Funès, especially in the series of "Gendarme" with the unforgettable: Douliou, Douliou, Saint-Tropez (in "Le Gendarme de Saint-Tropez") or "La soupe aux choux", "Faites sauter la banque","Les Grandes Vacances", or "Jo".
Raymond did not think some of his compositions would become so popular, but he became very famous in Japan (where he was rewarded with golden records) but also in Germany and in many other countries.
As he composed a lot for comedies, he suffered from a "light music" label. However, just listening to his scores will lead you to appreciate the melodic direction, accuracy and efficiency of his orchestrations alongside an immoderate taste for speed.
Stéphanie/indicatif de la rose d'or 1970 (V.Papathanassiou/arrangt R. Lefevre)
5th symphony (Beethoven/arrangt R. Lefevre)
C'est la fête (M.Fugain/arrangt R. Lefevre)
All the scores for the films of Louis de Funès, PlayTime were reissued on CD's as still findable limited editions. The French 7' is impossible to find, though, so here is the japanese copy !
Douliou-Douliou Saint-Tropez (Geneviève Grad/Raymond Lefèvre)
And here comes the poster for the film, a classic Sunday night on TF1:
le gendarme pop (Raymond Lefévre)
Bonus:
Finally, here you'l find a big dirty REMIX music by Raymond for "The cabbage soup. " Gabber too!
