SUPER FREEGO-POURQUOI ES-TU SI MECHANT?, LP, 1982, FRANCE
In passingly referencing this French zeuhl unit in one of my other reviews a while back, I referred to Super Freego's music as sounding like Planet Kobaia meets Planet Claire, as pithy a capsulization of the irreverent new wave inflections they bring to this often decidedly serious (bordering of sanctified) genre as I can manage to muster. Of course, their name alone is a bit of a giveaway vis a vis their playful attitude to the Magma mothership (Magma = heat, Super Freego i.e. Super Frigidaire = cold). This has earned them something less than adoration in certain humor deprived sectors of the prog geek universe. To these po-faced folks I say Feh! Super Freego are one of the most awesome zeuhl outfits of the whole period, their seemingly chalk and cheese mixture in truth picking up on a latent thread of show-bizzy wackiness in late model Magma, which in itself is a bit of a line in the sand in zeuhl quarters. Anyone that has ever caught Magma's early 80's Bobino concert footage will know precisely what I mean by this. Super Freego seize on some of this Rocky Horror Picture Show musical revue-style schtick (specifically Retrovision's high camp) and run for the hills with it. And, as it turns out, the hills are alive with the sound of...Rock Lobster.
Get it Here
13 comments:
Oh my God, I've been looking for a copy of this FOREVER! Thanks a million! Do you incredible people happen to have copies of the Motor Totemist Guild's "Ballad of a Thin Man" single, the LAFMS comp with the Rev. Toad-Eater's "Alden Street", or the ReR quarterly album with an early version of Thinking Plague's "Organism"? Those are the other super-rarities that've been impossible for me to find, and the only people who could possibly have it would be you guys. Thanks a million!
Norton Zenger-Yer welcome. The MTG single will eventually appear as part of my to-be-continued alphabetical singles collection upload. The ReR Quarterlies are also something I'll be getting around to posting eventually here (got 'em all). Not sure which LAFMS comp that Rev. Toad Eater cut appears on though...
The Rev. Toad-Eater cut appears on "Blorp Essette Volume Two", which is apparently amazingly rare, as despite the NWW-related desirability of anything LAFMS, I've never seen a copy. I have an incomplete version of "Alden Street" as filler on an old Captain Beefheart bootleg cassette (The Rev. Toad-Eater was AKA Richard "Midnight Hatsize" Snyder), but it cuts at the end of the tape side.
In any event, many thanks! The Super Freego album has blown away not only me, but everyone I've played it for, and honestly I didn't even expect it to be that good.
SUPER FREEGO-POURQUOI ES-TU SI MECHANT?, LP, 1982, FRANCE
Just finished listening to this and I absolutely loved it. The number of items within this new wavish sub-genre, in which you've introduced me, is astounding and equally appreciated.
You guys have made the last number of months a wonder to behold.
I thank you, once more!
Gnome
Just got around to listening to this- what a lot of fun! Thanks!
Hi! Thanx A lot from Austria! I'm a big fan of obscure and rare music and i found your blog after watchin the Super Freego vid on youtube and it's like a cockaigne 4 me! Thx alot again 4 all of your music you're contributing and sharing with other music lovers.Have a nice day
Thankyou very much, this is a fantastic gem that needs to be heard....I just googled them after a friend directed me to a clip on youtube. Similar, but more overtly funky and new wave, than Eskaton at a similar time. My step-son of 13 years age even asked for a copy on CDR upon hearing it!
I've been wary of prog rock for most of my life (as are many people), due to the heavy amount of bloated pap that's been passed off as "progressive." Fortunately, this blog has shattered most of those preconceptions. This combination of "Zeuhl" and quirky, b-52isms sounds delectable.
Unfortunately, the rapidshare link seems to have died. Might it be possible to re-upload this? Sorry for any inconvenience.
Thanks, this looks great!
However, the DL link is dead.
If there is a chance that you
could reup I would be grateful.
Thanks so much!
Something is wrong with the link...Please fix.
Le lien est mort. Quel dommage, j'avais cet album sur K7, je me suis régalé de revoir ce groupe sur youtube.
Quelqu'un a t il des informations sur les musiciens ?
PLEASE REPOST!!!!! Link dead and I'm dying to hear this!
You may want to discover this gem amongst tons of others, on France Musik, a great blog focalised in obscure french 70's/80's music:
http://francemusik.blogspot.com/2009/07/super-freego-pourquoi-es-tu-si-mechant.html
And thanks Mutant Sound for being.
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