French TV - Pardon Our French (2004) new links

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The history of French TV is complex, filled with lineup changes, missed opportunities, delays, and disillusions. And yet, a growing body of work testifies to one man's sagacity and stubbornness. In the middle of French TV's chamber of 32 revolving doors stands bassist/composer Mike Sary. Blending elements of prog, fusion, cartoon music, and Rock-in-Opposition, the music of his group can be simultaneously hilarious and highly challenging, making it one of the most original American prog rock outfits.

The group began its uncertain life back in 1983, when Sary and keyboardist Steve Roberts put a group together to explore twisted forms of rock their previous basement projects would not allow. They recruited Fenner Castner (drums) and Artie Bratton (guitar), and proceeded to record their first album. Released in a limited edition of 500 copies in 1984, French TV was a very imperfect first step, but a step nonetheless. Quickly the plague of departures began, beginning with co-leader Roberts, who went on to run his prog rock record shop ZNR Records.

From that point on, French TV would live by Sary, who would add to the name of the band a number for each album released ("French TV 3," "French TV 4," etc.), a way to underline its constant state of flux. After a hiatus of four years, he released After a Lengthy Silence. By the end of 1990, a third album, Virtue in Futility, was ready for release, but it only came out four years later when, tired of looking for interested parties, Sary decided to launch his own record label: the self-mockingly titled Pretentious Dinosaur. In French TV's track titles and liner notes, humor plays an important role, as do left-wing politics.

Virtue in Futility (FTV3) was the last to feature Castner and Bratton. By the time of Intestinal Fortitude (FTV4; 1995), the band had burned another quasi-stable lineup: Tony Hall (guitar), Bob Douglas (drums), and John Robinson (keybaords). The album marked a departure as it included compositions from other bandmembers than Sary, some with lyrics, and a sound slightly less wacky. By the live album Yoo-Hoo!!! (FTV5; 1997), Dean Zigoris had replaced Hall. At this point, the group began to garner some attention in progressive rock circles and started to perform elsewhere in the U.S.A. A few concerts with Volare (including an appearance at ProgDay '97 in Raleigh, NC) led to drummer Brian Donohue sitting in for a few nights and recording material for The Violence of Amateurs (avant-garde maverick Eugene Chadbourne also makes a cameo). This FTV6, released in 1999, remains the group's best achievement, an incredible cartoon roller coaster acclaimed by the specialized press.

For the 2001 CD The Case Against Art, French TV consisted mostly of Sary, keyboardist Warren Dale (of TRAP), and drummer Chris Vincent, with many past and new friends sitting in.

If The Case Against Art, French TV's previous effort, had signaled a fallback to a simpler form of progressive rock (akin to the group's mid-'90s material), Pardon Our French! resumes where the glorious Violence of Amateurs had left off, coming back to a wild brand of avant-prog. The music is highly complex, odd meters passing by at light speed and riffs parading in an unruly fashion, each new one tugging the music toward a new direction – including symphonic progressive rock, bluegrass, circus music, jazz-rock, dark chamber rock, and cartoonish avant-prog. This time around, the band's nucleus consists of the ever-faithful éminence grise Mike Sary, Chris Smith, Warren Dale, and newcomer Jeff Gard, each musician playing two armfuls of instruments. The album begins with "Everything Works in Mexico," a ten-minute workout that will remain the simplest tune of the set, despite it being quite eventful. Clocking in at six minutes makes "Sekala Dan Niskala" the "hit single" of the CD, although its incredibly dense and shifting arrangements (among other things) disqualify it for massive radio airplay. Try cramming guitars, electric violin, viola, rebab, accordion, sampler, clarinets, saxophones, flutes, recorders, bass harmonica, bass, drums, tabla, dumbek, riq, and innumerable other percussion instruments in only six minutes of music! "Tears of a Velvet Clown" is the album's highlight, a truly mad piece of writing, featuring circus and fanfare elements woven throughout this epic. Fast-paced, complex, exhilarating, and hilarious like only French TV can manage to pull off. "When the Ruff Tuff Creampuffs Take Over" follows similar guidelines (!), but is somewhat less coherent. The obligatory cover track on this eighth record (the eight ball on the cover artwork gives it away) is actually a medley, "The 'Pardon Our French' Medley," a virtuoso run through songs by the key French progressive rock groups of the '70s: Pulsar, Shylock, Carpe Diem, Atoll, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Ange, whose "La Bataille du Sucre" is butchered in the opening minutes (even this French-speaking reviewer couldn't make out half of the lyrics). It is not as powerful as the Samla Mammas Manna cover found on The Violence of Amateurs, but it is nevertheless a connoisseur listen. Pardon Our French! will not rekindle U.S.-France political relations, but it should be welcomed with open arms by the few music fans who enjoy sportive, mind-boggling avant-progressive rock.