VA ILS SONT FOUS CES GAULOIS VOL. 1 LP rare garage comp

$

54

V.A comp "Ils Sont Fous Les Gaulois Volume 1 LP (Disques Ronnie Rds, 1995), NM/NM, complete with the elusive insert ! you won't find a better copy of this now IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND comp (originally issued at 500 copies only)... Killer comp of french-speaking 60s garage beat weirdness from France, Belgium and Canada. Obscure stuff to say the least, have you ever heard about the "Shish Kebab Ye Ye"? There's even some frenchies doing a great garage punk cover of the Fugs "Super Girl"! ... here's a complete review from the great Freakout USA zine (cc from the Ugly things database):

Ils Sont Fous Ces Gaulois! #1

We didn't believe it could happen, but it did. In fact, most of you never ever thought about it, but it's here! The very first sixties punk sampler sung in French! OK, in fact it's the third: we had Generation Perdue and Rumble a few years ago, great collections indeed but almost no one saw it outside France or Quebec. This one is even better: 16 tracks with bands from France, Belgium and Canada. Not one single weak track, only killers.

If you don't speak French - and I think most of you don't - you'll miss the humour that filled all these songs' lyrics (some are truly genius). That was the French trademark: humour with a beat. None of the (few/kinda) famous are here: Ronnie Bird (dig the label), Jacques Dutronc and Antoine can already be found on various reissues. But now you get Basile & Ze Pecqu'Nouz Groupe (imagine a jam session between a frog Hillbilly and your local fuzz punkers) who sing about a "sick cart" anda "broken horse" (truly sick); no wonder these guys also recorded one of the (at least) three French versions of "They're Comin' To Take Me Away."

On a (little) more serious basis, you get two Music Machine-type punkers by The Falcons and Jean-Pierre Kalfon (hey, remember that Walt Disney production Condorman? He was the bad guy in the black Porsche!).

The Somethings (of "Le Monde Infernal" fame) are here to protest against racism with their cool protest punker "Mr Lincoln." Racism is also in question with Alix "J'Ai Mon Amerique" - he claims his love for a black girl to a wild Diddley beat. The legendary Jacqueline Taieb is even here with the French version of her classic "Seven AM."

On the Belgian side of the tracks, you get the weirdest of them all with Pop Liberty Six, almost the local Monks (great bizarre lyrics again!).

If you're looking for Canuck classics, dig Les Mystics and Les Chancelliers with two more "social" teen anthems; on the loco front, dig crazy covers of "Jolly Green Giant" ("Le Grand Geant Vert"), "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl" ("Est-Ce Un Garcon Ou Est-Ce Une Fille") and "Keep A Knockin"' ("Monsieur Longtemps" - eh?!), the last one being done in the great Rivieras' tradition.

One of my fave tracks is "Shish Kebab Ye Ye" by Ali Baba & Ses Four Voleurs (Ali Baba & His Four Thieves - fab name!) but again the lyrics are a big part of my wild love for this number.

The spiffy cover is crammed full of pix, and there's also an insert with some info (in French, bien sur!) and most of all, extremely fantastically fabulous songs. Is there any cool being around who thinks he or she can keep on living without this? I guess not!- Laurent Bigot (Originally published in Ugly Things #14)

It's common knowledge that rock & roll didn't really go over big in France, despite the efforts of such 60's artists like Ronnie Bird and Antoine et les Problems. I think this is only the third comp of French acts, and even then they had to draft six Canadian and two Belgian bands to fill out the grooves. But don't be quick to dismiss this, as it's got some of the wackiest tracks this side of Pebbles #3. I'd call them novelty tunes, good only for a laugh, if they weren't also such authoritative beat/punk pounders. All lyrics and liner notes are in French, but I gather the bands are singing about typical, universal teenage concerns, like...vampires, dead presidents, and shish kebab?! I think you get the skewed picture....

Standouts on Face 1 include Les Chancelliers with a swinging tambourine basher, "La Generation D'aujourd'hui", and fellow Canadians, Les Mystics, griping in fine beat/punk form over their sorry financial state on "Mon Pere Est Millionnaire". "J'ai Mon Amerique", by Alix, owes its success to Bo Diddley, and it's not often you can say that about a "protest song"! You'll recognize Gallic girl on the go Jacqeline Taieb from her triumphant appearance on Girls In The Garage; here's the French version of the same song. Perhaps the closest any band comes to French rock & roll royalty is The Somethings, of "Le Monde Infernal" fame. "Mr. Lincoln" is more menacing R&B from the lads.

Face 2, and it's The Falcons' "El Camel", garage punk with a trace of traditional Arabic music, along the lines pursued by Les Sinners on the Sinerisme LP. Bet they wowed 'em on those Foreign Legion tours. Belgium is represented by Pop' Liberty 6, whose "Qu'est-ce Que Ma Soeur f...dans La Machine A Vapeur?" (whew!) is built on a sullen, threatening riff, punctuated by blasts of organ, and a too-brief rave-up at the end. Three translated covers ("Are You A Boy, Or Are You A Girl", "The Jolly Green Giant", and what by any other name is still "Keep A-Knockin'"), all by Canadians, round out the side.

Then there's the inexplicable: Basile & Ze Pecqu'nouz Groupe on "Ma Charette Est Malade, Mon Cheval Est Casse", where Basile dopily speaks/sings the verses before emitting the most astonishing yelps and yowls, not unlike a samurai coughing up a hairball, with fuzz guitar and lowing cattle thrown in for good measure! Or how about Les Fleurs De Pavot, who's moronic "Super Girl" combines the tune of "Itzy-Bitzy Teeny-Weeny Polka-Dot Bikini" and a backwards-taped cacophony? And we must mention Stella, who compensated for her truncated name by giving her 1966 pop art single an eighteen-word title, which you can live without knowing. It's similar to The Models' "Bend Me, Shape Me": lots of weird sound effects, including still more barnyard animals. Somehow they fit right in.

- Menachem Turchick (Originally published in Freakout U.S.A. #2, 1996)

Side 1
     1. Ali Baba Et Les 40 Voleurs - Shish Kebab Ye Ye
     2. Saphirs - Jivaros
     3. Mystics - Mon Pere Est Millionnaire
     4. Les Chancelliers -  La Generation D'aujourd'hui
     5. Basile & Ze Pecqu'nouz Groupe - Ma Charette Est Malade, Mon Cheval Est Casse
     6. Alix - J'ai Mon Amerique
     7. Jacqueline Taieb - 7 Heures Du Matin
     8. The Somethings -  Mister Lincoln

 Side 2
     1. Les Fleurs De Pavot -  Super Girl
     2. Pop' Liberty 6 - Qu'est-ce Que Ma Soeur F... Dans La Machine A Vapeur?
     3. Les Falcons -  El Camel
     4. Jean-Pierre Kalfon - Chanson Hebdomadaire
     5. Stella - Si Vous Connaissez Quelque Chose De Pire Qu'un Vampire, Parlez M'en Toujours, Ca Pourra Peut-etre Me Faire Sourire
     6. Cavemen - Est-ce Un Garcon...Ou Est-ce Une Fille?
     7. Goliath Et Les Philistins - Le Joyeux Geant Vert
     8. Les Habits Jaunes -  Monsieur Longtemps

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