Amanda Lear "Sweet Revenge" 1978***

At long last, I'm back on my prefered holiday spot, the Greek island of Antiparos. Last year I wrote about the island on this blog and included some travel advice, so I'm not going to repeat it here. Just one word of caution: travellers who appreciate quiet and relaxing vacations should definitevely avoid the peak season (mid July to late August) since the town has in the last couple of decades transformed from a fishing village to a tourist hotspot. Anyway since I'm just beginning my vacation I thought I'd post something appropriately summer-y. Now I know for most people the summer's already behind, but I spent a rainy July and August at The Netherlands. Right now it may be September, but in Greece the sun is shining, temperature is above 25 C and the sea is calm and inviting. I call that summer, don't you? Having just spent the night at the island's legendary disco (it opens at 3 AM and really gets going after 4:30AM - these are normal hours for party islands, my friends) which only plays 70's and 80's dance music, I decided nothing spells carefree summer vacations better than disco diva Amanda Lear.

When I was a kid, disco ruled the airwaves. I know that the 70's was also the era of great rock music, especially prog and hard rock as well as the nascent punk/new wave scene, but you couldn't tell that from Greek radio. No - as a child I only remember the likes of Boney M, ABBA and Rafaella Carra. Amanda Lear's "Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)" was inescapable, a fact only made worse by the existence of a popular Greek version by ultra-gay singer Giorgos Marinos. Of course I didn't know the singer was gay or what being gay meant, but I thought the guy looked weird and the song was annoying. From the moment I got access to my own radio and, later, stereo it was all rock for me. Nowadays, of course, disco doesn't sound so bad to my ears: It sounds nostalgic and innocent, even when loaded with sexual innuendos. And my opinion of Amanda Lear changed as I got to learn about her: How can you snub someone so close to Salvador Dali? More than just the surrealist master's protégée, for a couple of decades they were inseparable, almost family. Her other early obsession was rock stars (not that Dali wasn't a rock star in his own way): romantic relationships with The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, David Bowie and Brian Ferry are rumoured or confirmed. Since back then "celebrity" wasn't a profession yet, she was officially a model. It would still be a few years before she'd become a recording artist but before we go to the music we'll have to acknowledge the Lear enigma. Nobody (except maybe Dali who is often credited with her "creation") knows when, where, or under which name and which gender she was born. On occasion she's said that her mother was English or French or Vietnamese or Chinese, and that her father was English, Russian, French or Indonesian. She claimed to having been born in Transylvania in 1950 but was probably born in Hanoi in 1939, or Hong Kong in either 1941 or 1946. 

She is said to have been Alain Tapp, a French or Swiss transvestite born in the Far East and working at a Paris drag queen revue. After a nude photo shoot for Playboy confirmed she was anatomically a woman, the prevailing story became that she was a transsexual who had an operation in 1963 in Casablanca by the guru of sex change surgeons Dr Bourou. An operation ostensibly paid for by Dali, although they were supposed to have met for the first time two years later. The sexual ambiguity was part of her lore and encouraged by her in the beginning of her career, to be persistently denied later. If the latter is true and this turns out to be an elaborate Victor/Victoria-type ruse, I wouldn't be surprised if a certain eccentric genius had indeed masterminded it all. Want more drama? How about her husband (French gay aristocrat Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villèle) burning in a mysterious house fire, together with his young friend and professional cat breeder, pets and some priceless Dali paintings - on a night that Amanda wasn't herself at home. You just can't make all this up, so it's not surprising that the music is overshadowed by her personality. "Sweet Revenge" was her biggest hit, but I hadn't heard any songs beside "Enigma". I bought the LP from the €1 stack of a record bazaar just for its gloriously ridiculous retro cover featuring dominatrix Amanda in leather pants holding a whip. Unsurprisingly it's missing the topless fold-out poster it initially came out with. Some guy surely decorated his room with it -I wonder if he knew Amanda was probably born a boy- but there's still the glam/sexy photos of the inlay and the Marlen Dietrich-like back cover. It frankly wouldn't have mattered if the vinyl was unplayable but thankfully this wasn't the case, as I quite unexpectedly found out I actually liked the music within. The main reason is Amanda's deep husky voice and sexy delivery which reminds me of Marianne Faithfull. Another is Anthony Monn's exemplary Eurodisco production incorporating violins, choirs, Moog synthesizers and Kraftwerk-style proto-electronica. And the ambition of it all: Unlike other disco divas, Amanda wrote her lyrics herself, and didn't do half measures: In the best prog rock tradition, side one is one continuous track, a disco mini-opera based on Faust, no less: A girl sells her soul to the Devil "Follow Me" asks for riches "Gold" but later changes her mind "Mother, Look What They've Done to Me" and runs away (the galloping "Run Baby Run") to find happiness and true love "Follow Me (Reprise)". Side two opens with "Comics" a cabaret ode to the so-called 9th Art which reminds me of Cockney Rebel's "Mr. Soft". This is followed by the silly but utterly danceable "Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)" and hard rocking (no I'm not kidding) "The Stud". This song just begs for a Judas Priest cover - please mr. Halford will you do it? I promise I won't bother you ever again. The album ends with "Hollywood Flashback" a nice glam/funk ballad a la Brian Ferry. I still can't believe it, and I hope my teenage self never finds out: this is a disco album I actually enjoyed.

**** for Follow Me, Run Baby Run, Follow Me (Reprise), Comics, The Stud

*** for Gold, Mother Look What They've Done to Me, Hollywood Flashback

** for Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)

Toyen "Malír Smutnej" 1993***

I bought this CD on a whim, just because it was cheap and I liked the cover. I was familiar with Czechoslovakian 60's Beat music but this one was my first contact with the modern Czech indie scene - if such a scene even exists. It's difficult to tell, as there's little relevant information out there. One might blame the Czech language: even speaking it seems like an arduous task to non-natives, imagine trying to sing in it. But one listen to Toyen disproves this theory: their songs are easy on the ear, lyrical and melodic. In fact this album sounds a lot like early U2 - in an alternative world where English hasn't dominated popular culture, Toyen might also be international superstars. As it is, a googlesearch brings up mostly entries on the painter whose name they adopted. Which is just as well, otherwise I may never have heard of her/him: born Marie Čermínova, she/he adopted the name Toyen (from the French "citoyen") and often switched gender identities (usually preferring the male one). She/he was one of the founders and main representatives of the Czech surrealist movement since the 20's, leaned politically towards anarchism,  and saw her/his art championed by André Breton and other surrealist leaders. It's a story well worth reading and her/his paintings are equally worth of attention, so I'm glad this CD led me to the discovery of Toyen the painter. Back to the same-named band, they started as a punk group with the name Letadlo during the Communist era but kept getting marginalized by the government and eventually quit, only to reform with another name after the regime change. They got some international attention thanks to fan Scott Murphy from ABC-TV, but quickly quit any ambitions for an international career - as is evident in this, their second, album being exclusively sung in the Czech language whereas their debut was divided between Czech and English. Opener "Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic" immediately catches the ear, a radio friendly tune reminiscent of REM circa "Green". It's followed by the lyrical new wave "Ten Druhý" inviting comparisons with early U2 and melodic ballad "Srdcerváč". "Myji Si Ruce" is guitar-driven rock  while "Fotky"'s indie pop carries echoes of The Smiths. "Byl Tu Chvíli" and "Příběh Lásky" are closer to 80's Goth (the former reminded me of Mission) and "Sv. Jan" is another epic U2 soundalike with a "heroic" guitar solo. The last two tracks are a couple of dance mixes that made me drop one star in the rating. They'd be OK as a standalone single (especially "Bestie") but tucked at the end of an atmospheric new wave album, they ruin the mood with their attempt to imitate the British rave scene of the time. That mis-step aside, this CD is another potent reminder that great music continues to grow away from the Anglocentric pop mainstream - if we only open up our ears to it...

**** for Po Stopách Zmizelých Železnic, Ten Druhý, Srdcerváč, Fotky, Byl Tu Chvíli

*** for Myji Si Ruce, Příběh Lásky, Sv. Jan, Bestie (Dancing Groovie Mix)

** for Železnice (N.Y.C. Summer Mix)