Customer Reviews

Les Colocs

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album simply blowed me away. The late Dédé Fortin (he just died three days ago as I write this:-( ) was an extremely energetic singer, and his songwriting here is superb. Paired with (the sadly also deceased) Patrick Esposito de Napoli's brilliant harmonica playing, and the rest of the band's inspired performance, this record is a must.

Standouts: "Dédé", the opener, is a fast moving song about a child in a terrible home, with an amusing tap dance bridge. "La rue principale" is a punkish country romp about the decay of the singer's hometown with the coming of a shopping mall and his fantasies of running it over: "One good day I'll return with a bulldozer/and the shopping mall, it's going to have a terrible 15 minutes!"

"Séropositif Boogie", written and sung bby harmonicist Pat, is a very dark song. "La Traversé" is a very fast moving and hilarious song about misadventures while touring about the Lac St. Jean region. "Julie" is a great pop song about a jailbait girlfriend ("Oh oh oh my young Julie/If you hadn't been so young, I'd have had you/Tell yourself I'm a patient guy/and come see me again when you turn 20"), with an interesting twist at the end. "Passe-moé la puck" is about a homeless guy and a patronizing TV reporter in a Christmas Eve.

The music is great, but you'll really get the most of this album if you can descipher Québéc French. Get a friend to explain you stuff, and you'll positively love this album. After this one, you should try the band's last album, "Dehors Novembre"-- it has the most amazing songs Dédé Fortin ever wrote.

LES COLOCS : REAL MUSIC The first time I listened to this record,I only thought : " Wow, how funny it is ". Then, I listened it again, and what it was revealing upseted me: that was so real, and I don't know many french speaking bands or singers who are able to make me feel like this. This generation of bands, born in the middle of a language war in their country, success in the language they have, and that's not an evidence at the beginning. They don't hide themselves behind their music, the music is there to support their lyrics, which are sometimes funny ("la traversée du lac St Jean", for an example), but which can be dramatic (at the french sense of the word), by example in "séropositif boogie". With their following records, they are still between these kinds of feelings, and that's a great time you have listening them!