Avant tu m'parlais, tu m'parles plus
Avant tu m'voyais, tu m'vois plus
Avant tu m'touchais, tu m'touches plus
Avant tu m'aimais, tu m'aimes plus
Mais un jour
Tu me diras
Mais un jour...
C'est toi l'étoile de mes nuits
C'est toi l'étoile de mes nuits
C'est toi l'étoile de mes nuits
C'est toi l'étoile de mes nuits
Parle-moi quand je suis là
Regarde-moi quand tu me parles
Touche-moi quand tu me regardes
Aime-moi quand tu me touches
Touche-moi
Touche-moi
Oh touche-moi
C'est moi l'étoile de tes nuits
C'est moi l'étoile de tes nuits
C'est moi l'étoile de tes nuits
C'est moi l'étoile de tes nuits
[from the lyrics of "
Touche-moi"]
Cover of the German edition of "Lolitas" released by What's So Funny About.. in 1986
Lolitas were a French-German rock band influenced by
Punk,
Rockabilly,
U.S. Garage,
French 60s Ye-Ye Music and
Pop. Founded by
Françoise Cactus and
Coco Neubauer, they were active since the mid 80s for about eight years.
Their name was inspired by the famous
Stanley Kubrick's movie "
Lolita". The group mainly used the French language in their own music, reserving English mostly for covers of famous songs they regularly included on their albums.
Françoise Van Hove was born in Villeneuve-l'Archevêque, a small village in Burgundy, France. She earned the nickname "
Cactus" for her habit of spending her spare time hanging around in the greenhouse behind her parents' house.
During the first half of the 80s she started writing songs and moved to West Berlin; here she joined the
Geniale Dilettanten (
Ingenious Dilettantes) movement, a merger of the
New Wave and
Post-Punk scene. During those days she used to make a living by giving French lessons.
Guitarist
Coco Neubauer, also known as
Coco Nut, was born in southwest France and then used to live in Paris for many years. At age 9 he was fascinated by an early
Rolling Stones record played for him by his cousin and fell in love with the
Rhythm & Blues genre.
Cover of the French edition of "Lolitas" released by New Rose in 1987
Françoise and
Coco met in Berlin, they soon became friends and decided to form a band. Their common interest were focused on American music, from
Gospel to
Hardcore via
Rock'nRoll,
Country, etc. Morevoer, having spent her youth listening to the radio,
Françoise has always had a soft spot for
la Chanson Française, some of her idols were
Sylvie Vartan,
Christophe,
Antoine,
Françoise Hardy,
Jacques Dutronc,
Johnny Halliday...
In early 1986, with the complicity of an
unnamed Irish girl on the bass, they founded
Lolitas and began to play live in Berlin. Since the original bassist soon returned to Ireland, Italian guitarist/bassist
Michele "Tutti Frutti" Bordini (...described as "a mixture of
Adriano Celentano and
Sid Vicious"...) was chosen as a replacement.
With this new and more stable line-up,
Lolitas expanded their sphere of activity playing in other venues across Germany. Despite their French lyrics (...or perhaps exactly
because of them...) the band fascinated the audience exuding a naïve atmosphere, sexy, kitsch and slightly perverse.
In October 1986,
What's So Funny About.. - an independent label from Hamburg - released their homonymus first album which was highly welcomed by the German press. "
Lolitas" catched the attention of
New Rose who re-released it with a completely different cover in early 1987 for the French market: althought they have never played live in France, the band has made a mark with the
Rock'n'Roll aficionados.
New Rose was THE french indie label of the 80s. Created by
Patrick Mathé and
Louis Thevenon, the label knew ten years (1981/1992) of magnificence and fame; during its existence it was one of the most important independent labels worldwide.
At that point the trio expanded with bassist
Olga La Basse - a German girl from the
Black Forest region - allowing
Tutti Frutti to dedicate himself to the guitar, his preferred instrument.
Back cover of the German edition of "Lolitas" released by What's So Funny About.. in 1986
"
Séries Américaines", the second
Lolitas album, was mostly recorded during Summer 1987 at
Vielklang Studio in Berlin with the help of acclaimed Australian record producer and sound engineer
Tony Cohen, best known for his work with
The Birthday Party and
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The album was released later the same year by
What's So Funny About.. in Germany and in 1988 by
New Rose in France, once again with two completely different sleeves.
As their relation with
New Rose intensified,
Alex Chilton - who was already collaborating with the label and was a fan of the band - accepted to produce their third album.
Chilton was a famous American songwriter, guitarist and singer known for his work with the
Box Tops in the late 60s.
"
Fusée d'amour" was recorded in Memphis in August 1988.
Lolitas discovered the U.S. and had a very good time: not only they lived the big adventure of recording with the legendary
Chilton (...who also produced
The Cramps and
Tav Falco's Panther Burns...) in the city of
Sun Studios and
Stax, and with the participation of
Jim Dickinson at the piano in a few songs, but also made the most of their trip playing some shows in New York, Baltimore, Memphis and down to New Orleans.
The album was released in early 1989 by
Vielklang in Germany and by
New Rose in France and... Can you guess it? Yes, the two editions featured a completely different artwork! This was also the first
Lolitas release available in CD format. Once, again, the album was well received by the press.
New songs were recorded under the supervision of German producer
Andy Young in May 1989, and five of them appeared later the same year on a 12" EP entitled "
Hara Kiri" released by
Vielklang in Germany and by
New Rose in France and... Can you guess it again? No, you're wrong, this time the cover artwork was exactly the same...
Compared to the band's previous output, the five cuts on the EP were unusually melancholic... What could be the reason for this? Maybe it is just pure coincidence, but exactly at this time
Tutti Frutti decided to quit the band and returned in Italy to devote himself to a more traditional form of
Rockabilly music with his new band, the
A-Bombers; sadly I wasn't able to find traces of these activity of him.
Tex Morton - born
Peter Hajunga - former guitarist of the German
Psychobilly band
Mad Sin and the
Hard-Rockers Lüde & Die Astros, joined
Lolitas in late 1989. According to
Coco, he was the only one who could replace
Tutti Frutti.
Back cover of the French edition of "Lolitas" released by New Rose in 1987
During the previous years
Lolitas had already released a few singles, but most of them contained tracks from the albums with no exclusive material. In 1990
Vielklang published a very special item: a gatefold 7" double single which, althought credited to
Lolitas, featured four tracks by the individual members (...plus guests...) recorded in late 1988 (
Tutti Frutti) and 1989 (all the others).
But let's go back to 1989: in October
Lolitas shared the stage with
Chris Spedding at a
New Rose party during the
Berlin Independent Days festival.
Spedding is one of the UK's most versatile session guitarists, and has had a long career that saw him tackle nearly every style of
Rock'n'Roll as well as sporadically attempting a solo career. Charmed by the freshness of their
Rock sung in French, which for once didn't sound at all like a bad copy of
American Rock,
Chris confirmed he was ready to produce their fourth album in his adopted new hometown of New York.
In April 1990
Lolitas made their second trip to the USA, excited by the collaboration with
Spedding, who gifted them with his warmth, charisma and immense creativity producing the songs and also playing piano, organ, cello, squeeze box (accordion) and backing vocals for them. In May the group toured across the U.S. for the second - and last - time.
"
Bouche-baiser", the result of the sessions at
Baby Monster Studio in N.Y.C., was released in September by
Vielklang in Germany and
New Rose in France, it was highly praised by the French and German rock medias.
During Autumn 1990
Lolitas extensively toured across Europe and recorded their performances directly to DAT; the best of these recordings were released in 1991 by
Vielklang on "
La fiancée du pirate", a sort of
official bootleg whose audio quality sits somewhere in between an
audience tape and a
soundboard recording.
A new album was recorded in July 1991 at the group's rehearsal room in Berlin. "
My English Sucks" was released by
Vielklang in 1992. All the songs on this release are sung in English, it includes brand new songs and new versions of old songs that already apparead on
Lolitas' previous albums.
In 1992
New Rose was sold to
Fnac and quickly disappeared.
Coco moved away to
Guadeloupe to start a new life and the group disbanded. In 1995
Françoise Cactus met
Brezel Göring at a local supermarket and founded
Stereo Total, but this is a completely different story...
A selection of tracks taken from "
Fusée d'amour" and "
Bouche-baiser" was released in 1998 as "
New York - Memphis" by
Last Call Records, a label created in 1994 by
Patrick Mathé, one of the original founders of
New Rose.
"
Lolitas" contains the following tracks:
01.
Elle se balance (3:10)
02.
Touche-moi (4:17)
03.
Ma Morphine (2:15)
04.
Blonde oxygénée (2:09)
05.
I Need You, Baby (4:14)
06.
La fiancée du pirate (1) (2:03)
07.
La poupée (2:46)
08.
Rio la Balafre (1:38)
09.
Harley Davidson (2:25)
10.
Les fers de tes bottes (5:10)
11.
La fiancée du pirate (2) (1:46)
12.
Sous la Lune (3:13)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in June 2012, they are available as a single
FLAC lossless format file or
high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 file. Both formats include complete printable artwork as PDF files.
Before you burn this album on CD-R using the provided CUE file you will need to convert the original files to WAV format using an appropriate software. Here's an option for
FLAC to WAV conversion and one for
MP3 to WAV conversion.
As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download links.
Labels of the German edition of "Lolitas" released by What's So Funny About.. in 1986
"
Lolitas" opens with the tribal drumming and rich
Rock'n'Roll riffs of "
Elle se balance". This tracks was chosen as the B-Side for the "
Touche-moi" single released in 1987 by
New Rose. "
Touche-moi" is one of the best song on the album:
Françoise's voice sounds both desperate and alluring, the music is simple and sweet. The song is also probably a favourite of
Cactus since she reinterpreted it more than ten years later on the third Stereo Total album "
Juke-Box Alarm".
"
Ma morphine" and "
Blonde oxygénée" are two short tracks that struck with their energy, the latter offering a
chanson feeling hidden in its innermost DNA. "
I Need You, Baby" (...also known as "
Mona"...) is a cover of a song written by
Ellas McDaniel a.k.a.
Bo Diddley; it was also covered by
The Rolling Stones on their debut album back in 1964.
The first side closes with a piano version of "
La fiancée du pirate" (...arranged by
Michael Scarati...), a song supposedly inspired by the homonymus French film of the late 60s about an oppressed and exploited young woman.
Knowing
Cactus' infatuation for
la Chanson Française, it is very hard to believe that "
La poupée" is not directly inspired by "
Poupée de cire, poupée de son", the winning entry in the
Eurovision Song Contest of 1965 performed by
France Gall and written by
Serge Gainsbourg... "
Rio la Balafre" is another short but effective number with lo-fi drums and prominent
Rock'n'Roll guitars with
Françoise's voice layered on top.
"
Harley Davidson" is a cover of a famous piece that
Serge Gainsbourg originally composed for
The Brigitte Bardot Show in 1968. The
American Myth is filtered by the
French provocateur and
Lolitas add their
something extra to the recipe.
Clocking at over five minutes, "
Les fers de tes bottes" is the longest track on the album; a slow piece that builds up with
Françoise's
onomatopoeias and screams layered on an extended and almost
neverending guitar solo.
A full group version of "
La fiancée du pirate", complete with
harmonica reinforcements by
Michele Tutti Frutti, preludes to the end of the album that is carried out by the slow and dreamy "
Sous la Lune".
Labels of the French edition of "Lolitas" released by New Rose in 1987
Here's the credits list of "
Lolitas":
Françoise Cactus: vocals, drums
Coco: guitar, vocals, bass
Michele: bass, harmonica, guitar
All songs written by
Lolitas except "
I Need You, Baby" (
Eugene McDaniel) and "
Harley Davidson" (
Serge Gainsbourg).
John Boy plays piano on "
La fiancée du pirate (1)" (arrangement:
Scarati) and
Axel plays guitar on the intro of "
Touche-moi".
Photos:
Irina Hoppe,
Françoise Cactus [
What's So Funny About.. edition]
Photos:
Arens,
M. Scarati [
New Rose edition]
Graphics:
P. Huart /
P. Cholley [
New Rose edition]
Recorded at the
Building Site Studio, Hamburg, except "
Touche-moi", "
La fiancée du pirate (1)" and "
Rio la Balafre", recorded on 8-tracks in a Berlin basement and at the
Frawo Studio, Berlin.
Sound Engineer:
Nainz Watts
Françoise Cactus in concert with the Lolitas, this picture was probably taken in 1986
A few more information about
Lolitas is available here:
http://www.lastcallrecords.com/frenchbiogs/lolitaf.html
http://pirate.family.free.fr/pages/Lolitas.html
http://www.myspace.com/leslolitas/
http://www.45toursderockfrancais.net/rockfrancais/lolitas45t.htm
http://www.rockmadeinfrance.com/encyclo/lolitas/
http://euthanasie.records.free.fr/discographie/Zgroupe-L/Lolitas.htm
http://namaste-baba.blogspot.com/2011/04/des-lolitas-stereo-total-mettez-une.html
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Lolitas
If you have any other useful information about
Lolitas - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at
stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
