Official vinyl pressings of unreleased material by 60's to 80's French bands
LP 33rpm, 10 tracks, (P) & (C) 2009 Mémoire Neuve, MN004
A-SIDE |
B-SIDE |
It was yesterday, a little more than thirty years ago. Nice in 1976/1977 was isolated from everything: London, L.A., New York, Paris… It was jumping in every corner, rock was back and we could nearly see a revolution in the exchange of ‘chichon’ and patchouli for Valstar and Fringanor. In our little corner way down in the southeast we were a preposterous distance from our dreams and from the legends. To put it another way, we had nothing; no concerts, no venues, no record shops, only a local police force determined that Nice should remain a “town for the old”. As if from nowhere, surely resulting from the deficiency, the isolation and the difficulties encountered by not being able to fulfill our dreams, we had to make do with what we had – t he Findlater’s on Lepante street or the She She Club in the upper quartier of Cagnes, also known as the CBGB or Max’s Kansas City – and we invented our own rock scene. On a smaller scale but certainly a rock scene… with some colorful characters, places, intrigue, stars and survivors, and above all a real attitude and a REAL SOUND. Difficult to understand, listening to the original recordings finally unearthed that nothing was released back then. Among the blossoming groups on Nice’s rock scene, Dentist was a case a bit different from the rest. Sure a little less punk (even if the word itself seemed to have been invented solely for Frank Durban) than rock n’ roll. It was more frequent to say “les“ Dentist in the same way one would say “les” Stooges, or “les” Flamin’ Groovies or above else “les” Saints that the contemporary Nice group could be considered cousins. Without any real intent, but with friendships going back to school days, Dentist found the alchemy of the great angry groups. A singer/shouter, François “Bebert” Albertini, became the unquestionable local star, stuck behind his microphone in a manner that nobody else dared to do besides Joey Ramone. Two exceptional guitarists who were furiously complementary: to my right Jean Marc Seni, intrinsic head of the orchestra and provider of sharp and bleeding riffs, then to my left Pierre Nègre, back from London especially to link up with the others for20the project, bringing with him a wall of sound as a virtuoso treasure like all the guitar heroes. Finally in the rhythm section: Fifi Lejeune on the drums and Frank Durban on the bass who we felt was capable of repressing any temptation of their colleagues to reduce the energy.d!
Dentist played fast. Dentist played well. Dentist chose superbly their covers ranging from Otis to Radio Birdman, from The Stooges to Question Mark, essential songs exclusively... Even more, Dentist got to writing their own material inspired by the models that they were caught up in, producing an original sound that was neither ridiculous or immature. There was also a series of concerts not even dreamed of by with this line up. This is what is presented on the A side of the album and represents the 1978 session. 1979 saw the beginning of a new period for the band. After the departure of Pierre Nègre to form Strideur (another major band of the Nice’s music scene), and the short passage of Bernard Segard in the ranks who subsequently left to form les Bandits (equally another big name of that scene), Jean Marc Seni took over the guitars and with that the leadership of the band. In the image of some of their mentors, Flamin' Groovies in mind, Dentist with20a lighter and fresher sound was able to reinvent itself and achieve a real second career without losing any of the mad energy of their origins. At this time we even started to hear Bebert sing, yes sing, and moreover in French... a revolution that is illust rated in the titles on side B of this album recorded during the 1979 session. Sliding towards a more 60's sound which was an early sign of things to come and of the end of the group... Late 1980, Dentist split to leave space for another story: les Playboys.Would their destiny have been different if they had managed to put out these recordings back then, if they had been from Paris or NY, instead of Nice, if they had gotten the attention they deserved? It is hard to say, thirty years later, and now it is of little importance. What remain are the memories, the photos (like the one of Bebert dressed with an arab sheik illustrating the unlikely mixture of Question Mark and Bin Laden, with sidekick Frank as a legionnaire for what should have been a new years day concert at the Findlater’s), and knowing with conviction to have lived something a little magical, and above all the pleasure found in rediscovering these songs to play as they were originally conceived: at full speed!
Youri Lenquette - Mars 2009
