G.P.S. - Quand Revient L'ete

Garage Psychiatrique Suburbain killed some, if not all, prejudices about French rock n' roll. For an early-eighties pop-savvy band, recall this was the era of Simple Minds, they rocked just fine. You can hear the guitars, the keyboards sound like a pub-rock holdover and the song is irresistibly catchy no matter what your mother tongue. It was ancienne and moderne all at once sorta like if the Go-Go's had been French (and guys). Of course, as befits the the French, there was touch of ironic distance, as if this was the musical equivalent of Euro Disneyland.


(What French lesbians and caged tigers have to do with this I can't say.)

This single from 1982, was a bit behind the times, with its surf-punk/new wave sound that fit somehwere between Plastic Bertrand's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" and The Barracudas "Summer Fun". So while the video is hilarious (sometime intentionally so) the band here, and on the more straight-up punk "Samedi Soir", acquit themselves of all charges of being cheese-eating surrender monkeys.


Quand Revient L'ete 7"

Here's a MySpace page but I believe their sole CD is out-of-print.