Les Blousons Noirs Special Rock - Blousons Noirs 1961-1962 (CD)

(Born Bad Records) 8 tracks, digipack

These eight songs by Blousons Noirs are the ultimate testimony to youthful rage and the rock'n'roll spirit.

They are indispensable to understand what rock music is and what it should always be: determined, primitive and wild. Hailing from Bordeaux, Blousons Noirs seem to have bought their instruments only the morning of the recording session: the singer sings out of tune, the drummer is feverish and the guitarist is a total weirdo. With the Blousons Noirs, nothing is pretend or fake.

Their enthusiasm and insouciance are so strong that the songs express just that in a wonderfully convincing, rousing and exuberant way.

And being a French band, they naturally covered French rock standards, which they did with enthusiasm! Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks), Les Chats Sauvages (The Wild Cats) and two songs by Johnny Hallyday were thus thrust into the spotlight. The only original song was Les fous du twist (Crazy for the twist), written by their young producer Claude Ghislain.

By the way, their Eddy soit Bon (Eddy be Good) was originally Chuck Berry's Johnny B Good. Congratulations guys, good job! A long year separated the two recordings and not much improvement was heard.

The Blousons Noirs were bad and obviously didn't really care. The fact that they used the same image for the cover of both EPs reinforces the sense of total uselessness and don't give a fuck attitude that real rock'n'roll sometimes has. This band can easily be dismissed as a joke or a curiosity, but like it or not, Blousons Noirs were pioneers of the French punk and DIY scene.

To get a better picture, consider that Hasil Adkins didn't release his She Said until 1964, the Peruvians of Los Saicos released Demolicion in 1965, and the legendary Stardust Cowboy released his Killer Paralysed in 1966. The Shaggs and their late Philosophy of the world in '69 were too late. To become a band with cult status, the Blousons Noirs just had to remain anonymous.

Our research to identify these rock'n'rollers was in vain. All we know is that they have nothing to do with the band of the same name that served as the opening act for Tony March, the Elvis of the French region of Aquitaine. The only information about the identity of Blousons Noirs comes from Marc Liozon (editor-in-chief of the fanzine Club des Années 60), who found a copy of the second EP dedicated to a certain Minie. So we found out that the band consisted of Clod (lead guitar), Jo (rhythm guitar), Did (drums) and Samy (vocals). A nice bunch! In short, no known identities, no concerts, no photos, two crazy EPs out of nowhere.

Long live punk, long live France, long live LES BLOUSONS NOIRS!