Etron Fou Leloublan - Les Trois Fous Perdégagnent. 1978 France

Etron Fou Leloublan were one of the 5 original Rock in Opposition bands. RIO, as it is more commonly referred to, was initially nothing more than a protest concert against the music business for ignoring challenging rock music. One look at the lineup though, and it becomes clear that all the bands (save maybe Univers Zero) were of a common strain - that of the far Leftist avant garde of the late 70s. It isn't like Carpe Diem, Artcane, and Metabolisme (and 100's of others) were being fawned over by the record companies either...

And no band represented this movement in its purest form better than Etron Fou Leloublan. The "RIO movement" as it were, would be in later years be tagged with the Avant Prog label, something that covers more of the entire spectrum. But Etron Fou Leloublan isn't even that really - they are what should be called Dadaist Rock. What is Dadaism anyway? I'll quote Wikipedia, but it does capture the spirit of the movement well: "The Dada movement consisted of artists who rejected the logic, reason, and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their works." That folks is exactly what Etron Fou Leloublan are all about.

To my ears, Etron Fou Leloublan represent a caricature of what your average American thinks of French art. 99.99% of Americans have never heard a note of Etron Fou Leloublan, but if I happened to play some to unsuspecting ears, I'd likely get a "What's that crap? Sounds Frenchy artsy-fartsy to me". One immediately thinks of Monty Python's own imagery of the French (think the Holy Grail here...). This is SILLY FOU FOU folks. I absolutely adore France and French progressive rock music, but not this strain...

If it was only that, I'd rate this a 1 star and continue my bashing from here on. But of course, EFL's second album Les Trois Fous Perdégagnent (Au Pays Ses...) isn't tuneless drivel. There are many fantastic sequences that one wishes would keep going. But one is never too far from some silliness and atonal squonking lurking just around the corner. With nasally French vocals to further annoy.

Look, I would have liked to enjoy a Cuban with Duchamps and Ernst too and debate the evils of the world while sipping cognac. But this whole deconstructionist thing in music... shrug.

Personal collection
CD: 1991 Musea

The above CD is known as 43 Songs, and is 2 discs that contain all 5 of Etron Fou Leloublan's studio albums. With no documentation unfortunately. I bought it sometime in the 90s. I would sell it if all the other albums were similar, but memory tells me each is different. So another day awaits.