Saturday, February 21, 2009

Gazoline - 1977 - Sally 7'' (FR)

Gazoline - 1977 - Sally 7'' (FR)
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Alain Kan was the singer / front man for GAZOLINE. Alain had an interesting music career dating back to the mid-Sixties and he apparently disappeared in 1990. GAZOLINE released two singles, Sally, and, Killer Man, which was comped on Killed By Death Vol. 1. Killer Man is classic nutzo late '70's punk and one of the best featured in the KBD series. I wish I found Killer Man but I'm not complaining about the Sally single. Released in 1977, this single is really ahead of its time (though the photo of the band tends to date it). The titular a-side is not as interesting and less abrassive than the b-side, Electric Injection (which I included below). Electric Injection is a truly nifty piece with mechanical, atonal guitar riffing and frantic, nasal vocals. If nothing else, this song shows that the band could get a little artsy as well as rock. I bought it from a French-Canadian dealer who actually used that fingertip kissing hand gesture thing that seems so stereotypically French to express his opinion about GAZOLINE. All I could say in return was, oui oui!
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source Soupernaut (link)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've heard and liked "Killer Man" and I assumed it was a one-off. I didn't even know this one existed, thanks for posting it. Don't they look like just what a casting director would have had in mind for "extras at punk club, circa 1977"?

I'm sure they thought the B Side was just to fill up the space, and, OK, it's not really a song but the sound and spirit of it is fantastic.

I found some more information here (in French): http://onechordwonders.blogspirit.com/archive/2007/04/18/alain-kan-et-gazoline.html

The woman in the foreground is apparently Marie-France --- Wikipedia describes her as a transexual singer/actress --- and is not a band member. I think Metal Urbain mentioned her in a song too, so maybe she was visible in the Parisian punk scene.

Anonymous said...

PS That would make Marie-France the Sue Catwoman of Paris. Poor Sue Catwoman: you see her photo everywhere as an instant pop icon that everyone recognises as punk but I'll bet she's never seen a penny from it.

Anonymous said...

PPS Soo Catwoman does have a website though. I'll have to check it out when I'm not wasting time at work.

http://www.soocatwoman.com/

isksp said...

haha awesome this site of soo catwoman... wonderfull things you can find out wasting your time at work

Anonymous said...

It could be awesome if there was some content. She must have some great stories, she knew everyone in the 77 UK punk scene.