Various Artists – Psyché France Vol. 8
I admit I usually struggle to find a lot to get excited about with Record Store Day releases – sometimes there are three or four things I want, maybe one that I desperately want, and then some things that if they’re still lying around the shop some time later I’ll give some thought to. But for last spring’s RSD, I did have a little list and did line up at my friend’s record store in order to have my best chance at them. With my tastes, there isn’t often a lot of competition, but I have lost out sometimes. I was happy to grab up the April March Meets Staplin album, got a couple of others that I was interested in, but incredibly, someone who was not me bought up Psyché France Vol. 8 before I could!
It was just my love of French pop that got me caught up in wanting this – I’d never even heard of the series before, but it sounded wonderful, a sampler of various styles of French pop, including a spirited Led Zeppelin tribute that I love more than any Zeppelin song (sorry, not a fan), several sweet little pop rock songs and an odd but enjoyable 8:11 sonic odyssey that closes out the album. As I’ve said before, I don’t have enough French to understand much of what’s being sung, but to me it’s such a lovely language that I just love hearing it sung.
So I missed my chance at my local shop, Forever Changes, and it certainly wasn’t something I was gonna run around looking for. But last fall we made a rare trip down to Lancaster, and stopped in at A Day In The Life, which has a lot of RSD titles in stock, so when I saw this I grabbed it there, and am happy to have it to add to my little French pop collection. And if I run across volumes 1-7, I’ll probably snap some of those up as well.
Find a certain alternative French Pop with this 8th volume of the Psyché France collection! This new immersion in the 60’s and 70’s will surprise you with its curiosities initiated by psychedelic visionaries and forgotten snipers.
Start these sonic tribulations with The Masters, whose members all bore the name of Sretsam for the joke.
Assisted by the Gascon stripper Jacques Filh, they will leave the field open to the muse Dani before the cult group The assembly begins its funny “Blues en Do Banal”. You will listen further to guitarist Jean-Pierre Castelain with the very rare ‘Ce jour-là’ and go on a trip with Philippe Chatel, before succumbing to Gilbert Deflez’s Mandragore. On the B side, Quo Vadis will tetanize you with the ‘Zeppelin Party’ tribute, which will be succeeded by two Pop jewels signed Voyage (friends of Papillon who officiated in Triangle) and Richard Contell. It is up to Richard Lable to deliver a more hypnotic groove before the final appearance of the wizard Igor Wakhévitch and his ‘Chirakan – Ixmucané… Blinding like a July sun! But over, let the magic take you away!
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