Customer Reviews

Press Color

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

 

 

So glad this was finally made available on cd...along w/ the bonus Rosa Yemen stuff (previously unknown to me). Can't understand why the end of Torso Corso was abbreviated (i.e. edited). However, great to hear the mission impossible theme and jim on the move w/ lyrics not found on the original (both from the tv soundtrack by lalo schifrin-cheers rick for turning me on to this). The Rosa Yemen version of the MI theme is about 3x faster and cool too...as is Morning High in which Patti Smith and Lizzy's poetic cadences dance around one another. Exquisite! C'est magnifique!

99.9% of the female rappers/singers du jour cannot touch Lizzy in terms of the effortless sexiness of her delivery.

I adored this when it was released on LP in '79. Though both sides on vinyl barely amount to 20 minutes total, it was a more-or-less perfect little gem.

This misguided reissue is a puzzle to me. For no apparent (and certainly no *good*) reason, the track order has been reassembled, much to the detriment of the music. Not only is the integrity of the original album lost (in which there was a natural-sounding progression from track to track), but it seems that at least one throw-away introductory exclamation by Lizzy has been simply discarded. (I haven't heard the LP in years, and it really was a throw-away line; something like "A charisma I call breaking up the secrets of the nothing-to-look-at body gossips!", in Lizzy's inimitable French-driven English.) Made not much sense, sure, but in context it was a perfect intro to the next track -- "Aya Mood", if I remember correctly.

The rearrangement of the tracks -- and the only reason for it I can imagine is to highlight "Fire", easily the weakest track of the set, though still endearing for its masterful and goofy send-up of the period's disco boom-ba -- is unfathomable in my opinion, and really messes up my enjoyment of the album. It's possible to restore the original sequence by programming the player, of course, but what a pain in the aff to have to do so when the track sequence on the LP was so nearly perfect. It's clear that Lizzy had a hand in the release of the LP version. According to a credit in the booklet included with the CD, the CD tracks were "Selected by Lizzy Mercier-Descloux and Michel Esteban", so it's quite possible that Lizzy herself had a hand in the changes. Sadly, that doesn't necessarily make them an improvement.

By mid-2003, when this CD was released, Lizzy was fighting cancer (She died April 20, 2004) and may have understandably been more preoccupied with that than with this CD. Perhaps only Mr. Esteban and the folks at Ze know how the project evolved.

Listeners who weren't familiar with the LP will probably not be bothered by the difference, of course. But as someone who's been a big fan of Lizzy's for nearly thirty years, I can still hope that there will eventually be another release that restores the track sequence of the original release. I think that would be both a better introduction to Lizzy for new listeners and a more appropriate tribute to an inventive, energetic, and (I think) underacknowledged artist.

The additional, non-"Press Color" material on the CD, previously available only on rare vinyl EPs or not available at all, while not matching stylistically with "Press Color", is mostly Lizzy in experimental moods with more abstraction and less production. Great stuff with which to round out the program, and "Hard Boiled Babe", a 1979 track remixed in 2003 by Lizzy and Charlus de la Salle, would by itself be worth the price of admission.

If not for the messing-around with the original album, this release would easily merit five stars -- perhaps six.

exquisita, el lado retorcido de Blondie, la version femenina de Yello, una visionaria que hace sonar al post punk de lo mas vigente. Todo el sabor de principios de los ochenta y finales de los setenta. Plastico, acrilico y Nueva York eferveciendo como nunca en aquellos años. Lizzy Mercier es tan ludica como los flying lizzards. La hermana de Lydia Lunch que proyecta mas estilo que rabia. Incluye sus trabajos como Rosa Yemen. Es sin duda una verdadera Hard boiled babe hecha en Francia.

When I first heard this lp in 79 I bought a bass and continued playing for 25 yrs. I''ve argued with others about the authenticity of Lizzy's vocals-some have accused her of east village, "art school" pretension, but I contend that there was substance to her style. Instrumentally, the tracks are bass-driven gems (DJ Banes) with tempered but somewhat disjointed guitar lines.
Recommended for those who enjoy less anglar no wave; contortions, esg, y pants, bush t.

Everyone must listen to this CD, one of the best EVER. She's BRILLIANT. NUFF SAID