The First Wave of French Punk 1977-80

(scott) Today's third and probably final John N submission for today will be this way-cool comp, I'm gonna
just paste the write-up for this one as it pretty much says it all, but (upon carpet bombing) it sounded great to me, and, of course, another fab historical document as well.......and let me take this opportunity to thank John N once again for all of his magnificent submissions and his much-appreciated help with keeping this blog breathing and fresh!
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The latest in Soul Jazz’s Punk 45 series, Les Punks: The French Connection, The First Wave of French Punk 1977-80 documents the first radical underground punk bands to come out of France.

Emerging from a tradition of dissidence and revolution, whether sexual (Serge Gainsbourg) or social (Paris ʻ68 riots), and inspired by proto-punk sounds of the US and UK, bands like Metal Urbain (the first group ever to be signed to Rough Trade Records), Marie et Les Garçons, and Asphalt Jungle, blazed a trail across French music that’s rarely given the visibility it deserves.

Paving the way for more experimental cold wave/ minimal wave electronic groups such as Charles de Goal, Kas Product and A3 Dans le WC that emerged towards the end of the decade, the French punk scene also helped provide more theoretical frameworks to punk’s identity, whether through notions of Dadaism and Surrealism in the US or Situationism in the UK.

1. Marie et les garçons – Rien A Dire [03:24]
2. Metal Boys – Sweet Marylin [04:09]
3. Fantomes – I Wanna Be Your Dog [02:57]
4. Gazoline – Sally [03:09]
5. A3 Dans Le WC – Photo Couleur [04:09]
6. Asphalt Jungle – Planté Comme Un Privé [02:25]
7. Warm Gun – Broken Windows [01:38]
8. Metal Urbain – Paris Maquis [03:10]
9. Electric Callas – Kill Me Two Times [04:09]
10. Kas Product – Mind [02:46]
11. 84 Flesh – Salted City [02:51]
12. Les Olivensteins – Euthanasie [02:29]
13. Angel Face – Wolf City Blues [03:31]
14. Guilty Razors – Hurts and Noises [01:44]
15. Dogs – Here Comes My Baby [02:01]
16. Charles De Goal – Dans Le Labyrinthe [02:08]
17. Guilty Razors – I Don’t Wanna Be a Rich [02:35]
18. Marie et les garçons – A Bout De Souffle [01:52]
19. Calcinator – Électrifié [02:03]