Le Retour de Gérard Lambert is the fifth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by French singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Renaud

Renaud

Renaud, born Renaud Séchan, is a French singer, songwriter and actor.Renaud may also refer to:* Renaud , a male French given name* Renaud , a 1783 opera by Antonio Sacchini* Renaud, Quebec, part of Laval, Quebec...

. It was released in 1981 by Polydor Records

Polydor Records

Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...

. In Renaud's overall discography the album was released between two live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

s, Un Olympia pour moi tout seul (1982) and Le P'tit Bal du samedi soir et autres chansons réalistes (1981).

The album title refers to Gérard Lambert, a character from a song on Renaud's previous studio album Marche à l'ombre

Marche à l'ombre

Marche à l'ombre is the fourth studio album by French singer-songwriter Renaud, released in 1980 by Polydor Records. It is the first of Renaud's album that officially has a title, his three first albums being unnamed....

, who by this stage has improved his lot from riding a mobylette

Mobylette

The Mobylette, sometimes shortened as Moby, is a model of moped manufactured by French manufacturer Motobecane during the second half of the 20th century. The Mobylette was launched in 1949 and was manufactured until 1997 with production number exceeding over 14 million with the 1970s being its...

 to driving a Simca 1000

Simca 1000

The Simca 1000 was a small, rear-engined, four-door saloon manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1961 to 1978.-The launch:The car was inexpensive and, at the time of launch, quite modern, with a brand-new inline-4 watercooled engine of 944cc...

.

Songs

"Le Père Noël noir" (French for "Black Father Christmas") tells the story of a black burglar that Renaud mistakes for Santa Claus. "Oscar" pays homage to Renaud's grandfather who had been a communist trade-unionist and "La Blanche" was a widely acclaimed anti-drug anthem. "Soleil immonde" was written by a close friend of Renaud, the French humorist Coluche

Coluche

Michel Colucci , better known as Coluche, was a French comedian and actor, famous for his irreverent sense of humour....

 whose 1986 death would provide the inspiration for Renaud's later album Putain de camion

Putain de camion

Putain de camion is a studio album from French artist Renaud, released in 1988 by Virgin France.The first song, Jonathan, refers to white South African musician Johnny Clegg who became a friend of Renaud. Rouge-gorge was dedicated to Robert Doisneau and Allongés sous les vagues is a song deriding...

.

Side one

1. "Banlieue rouge" – 4:01
2. "Manu" – 2:42
3. "Le Retour de Gérard Lambert" (Renaud Séchan, Jean-Philippe Goude
   Jean-Philippe Goude
   Jean-Philippe Goude is a French composer and keyboardist, born in Paris in 1952.-Early years:* 1969: first compositions* 1975: composition and recording of the soundtrack for Frankenstein, a play by Philippe Adrien at Théâtre de la Roquette * 1975: publication of the disc Jeunes Années * 1976 to...
   
   ) – 4:11
4. "Le Père Noël noir" – 3:26
5. "J'ai raté Télé-Foot" – 3:05
6. "Oscar" – 4:10

Side two

1. "Mon beauf'" (Renaud Séchan, Alain Ranval) – 4:00
2. "La Blanche" – 4:22
3. "Soleil immonde" (Michel Colucci
   Coluche
   Michel Colucci , better known as Coluche, was a French comedian and actor, famous for his irreverent sense of humour....
   
   ) – 3:49
4. "Étudiant-poils aux dents" – 4:28
5. "À quelle heure on arrive?" – 4:40

Personnel

• Renaud – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Alain Ranval – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Jean-Michel Kadjan – guitar
• Patrice Meyer – guitar
• "Rolling" – guitar
• Jean-Philippe Goude
  Jean-Philippe Goude
  Jean-Philippe Goude is a French composer and keyboardist, born in Paris in 1952.-Early years:* 1969: first compositions* 1975: composition and recording of the soundtrack for Frankenstein, a play by Philippe Adrien at Théâtre de la Roquette * 1975: publication of the disc Jeunes Années * 1976 to...
  
   – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Bob Boisadan – keyboards
• Jean-Louis Roques – accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  
• Gérard Prévost – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Amaury Blanchard – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Klaus Blasquiz – percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , background vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  
• Vincent Barres – percussion, background vocals
• Bertrand Auger – horns
  Horn (instrument)
  The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
  
  
• Pierre Rigaud – horns
• Dominique Derasse – horns
• Patrick Bourgoin – horns
• Jean-Marc Welsh – horns
• Carol Rowley – background vocals
• "Wino" – background vocals
• Coluche
  Coluche
  Michel Colucci , better known as Coluche, was a French comedian and actor, famous for his irreverent sense of humour....
  
  – background vocals
• "Professor" Choron – background vocals