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Top 10 March 27, 2011
Loosely, the yé-yé sound, emerging out of France and Quebec in the late 50s to the late 60s could seemingly be an all encompassing term, used to decribe any beat heavy music that makes one yell “Yeah! Yeah!”. R&B, twist, surf, gogo, garage and yé-yé were a seemingly endless inspiration to a giant crop of bands in Quebec. While the pop side of yé-yé had it’s Gainsbourgs and Francoise Hardys, the garage aspect of beat music was a rawer, rougher and more propulsive muse. There is a giant wealth of little discovered rock nuggets buried in the past up here, some of which is being rediscovered and reissued, and much of which might languish in obscure flea market bins all over the province. Which is how I discovered incredible bands like Les Jaguars and The Echo Men by the way, a ticket into the rock and roll past of my own back yard that cost me only $1.25. Here’s a small sample roughly spanning the fertile decade of the 60s sound of Quebec!
The Echo Men – “Elephant Rage” – 1963
I found this little gem in a heap of 1$ records a few years ago, and it sparked my interest in older quebec twangy rock n roll. These five guys (posed on the cover in front of the Jaques Cartier Bridge!) had a really hard core sound, doing some obligatory surf covers like “Wipe Out”, but the real star on this lp is the title track “Elephant Rage” which is heralded by a raw elephantine blast of sax noise.
Les Sinners – “Sinerisme” – 1967
Les Sinners bridged the gap between yé-yé and garage quite effectively, throwing in dashes of fuzzy psych to great effect. They wrote in both French and English and had a snarling Seeds – esque sound that must’ve situated perfectly in the kitchy and slick style of late 60s Montreal.
Batman – “Un Mauvais Farceur” – 1966
Later to become psych-garage-space-funk band Les Pharaons , this weird little project from nearby Laval called Batman put out some Screaming Lord Sutch style fuzzy proto-garage 45s which are probably rare as shit. They also dressed up like Batman. All of them.
Marc Hamilton – “J’Veux Pas de Vinaigre Sur Mes Patates” – 1973
Singer Marc Hamilton used to be in the amazing early Queb theatrical rock band Les Monstres , who were jumping out of coffins and sporting black metal makeup and masks 50 years ago!!! Later he put out a series of local hits (also big in France and Belgium, natch), the biggest of which was the sitar laced cheesy psych tune “Tapis Magique”, but I think my favorite tune by Marc is the jaunty 1973 single “J’veux pas de Vinaigre sur mes Patates”, which translates: “I Don’t Want Vinegar On My Fries”. Seriously!
Les Jaguars – “Les Jaguars” – 1963
Jean-Guy ”Arthur” Cossette and his trio of crack surf rockers were blowing people’s mind in the early 60s with sounds as yet unheard of. They took twangy surf rock and added some intense fuzz and delay sound as yet unheard on any surf recordings anywhere. Cossette, the guitarist who still peforms as Les Jaguars to this day was very experimental, building his own delay units and reverb tanks, fucking up his amp speakers until he managed to find a tone between the intensity of Link Wray and the smooth raunch of The Shadows.
César et les Romains – “Splish Splash” – 1965
One of the most enduring bands of the yeye movement was César et les Romains , who, like their contemporaries Les Classels employed the age old showbiz fiat of using heavy shtick. In their case they dressed up like cartoon romans. They rocked capes and dorky-ass high lace up sandals and some seriously gorgeous music gear. Like most bands of the era, their singles had to be a French version of an American/British top 10 hit with their own compositions snuck in on the B side. Later on, César et les Romains became sappier, slower and cheesier but in the early, mid 60s they were pretty unique and the guitar player could shred so hard you almost forget they look like total putzes.
The Beau-Marks – “Clap Your Hands” – 1960
Believe it or not, The Beau-Marks ‘ “Clap Your Hands” is the first ever internationally charting rock tune made entirely in Canada. For real! They even got to play Carnegie Hall on it’s success. Formed in Montreal in 1958, they were a rockabilly band called The Del-Tones, releasing singles under that name until they changed it in 1960 (possibly in deference to Dick Dale ’s band?).
Les Couche-Tard – “Chiro Twist” – 1961
Honestly I could never find much info on this band Les Couche-tard , which may evoke a smile from anyone who lives down the street from a Couche Tard (a ubiquitous convenience store chain in Quebec) but every time I hear this guitar solo, I just die. Taking the twist, throwing in some deep Duane Eddy attitude and then launching into space with a strange detuning section, it’s about one of the best and raunchiest twist songs I’ve ever heard.
Les Séparatwists – “Louiseville Twist”
Now that I’m on a twist kick I must throw this tune in there for the following reasons: 1- The first breakdown in this song features some badass trombone soloing. 2-The third breakdown features an even more badass drum solo. 3- The name Les Séparatwists is a hilarious concatenation of the French secessionist movement and the twist genre. Maybe you gotta be a Queeb to find that funny, I don’t know. Enjoy!
Les Monstres – “Le Thème du Cimetière” – 1965
An infamous group that certainly crossed over the yeye bridge into freakbeat, Les Monstres had caskets on stage, freaky Nosferatu makeup and horror-themed shows. Campy, strange and totally rock and roll. Here’s a great blog where you can see some awesome shots of Les Monstres and here more tunes, as well as explore a plethora of 50’s and 60’s Quebecois rock nuggets!
