STEREO TOTAL "DACTYLO ROCK (SEKRETÄRINNEN-ROCK)" (1996)

Wenn ich dich sehe KOMMA
Denke ich DOPPELPUNKT
Der Junge macht mir Kummer
Ich möchte PUNKT PUNKT PUNKT
Dass er mir sagt GÄNSEFÜSSCHEN
Bitte komm mit zu mir
Ja, wann denn FRAGEZEICHEN
Heute um PUNKT vier

Oh oh AUSRUFEZEICHEN, es wäre so schön
Ausruf AUSRUFEZEICHEN KLAMMER AUF, KLAMMER ZU
Oh oh AUSRUFEZEICHEN, es wäre so schön
Ich in deinen Armen, GÄNSEFÜSSCHEN und PUNKT

Heute um PUNKT vier
SEMIKOLON seh ich dich
Du wirst mich abholen
Dann machen wir BINDESTRICH
Du sagst zu mir GÄNSEFÜSSCHEN
Bitte komm mit zu mir
Wozu denn FRAGEZEICHEN
Es liegt allein an dir

Oh oh AUSRUFEZEICHEN, es wäre so schön
Ausruf AUSRUFEZEICHEN KLAMMER AUF, KLAMMER ZU
Oh oh AUSRUFEZEICHEN, es wäre so schön
Ich in deinen Armen, GÄNSEFÜSSCHEN und PUNKT

[From the lyrics of "Dactylo-Rock"]

"Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" 12" single, front

During winter 1992-93, Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring were living in the same neighborhood in Berlin and the legend has it that they casually met while shopping in a bakery in Adalbertstraße.

Françoise was about to close her experience with the French girl-garage-punk-R’n'R-Band Lolitas (...they released six albums in Germany and France and toured all over Europe and America, for more information about them have a look here...) and Brezel was keeping himself busy with an Experimental-noise-copyright-ignoring-tapeloop-soundeffects project called Sigmund Freud Experience (...he released three vinyl records under this guise, 100 copies each...).

In 1993 they started playing together. Their first recording was a ten minute cooking-recipe, in which all ingredients had sexual connotations. The recording is sadly lost... In 1994 they started rehearsaling and recording in Hamburg at the Alien Sound Studio of Peter Stein, and began to perform concerts in small venues in Berlin and Germany.

In those early days, the band logo consisted of two tits that were originally painted on a mix-tape Françoise made for Brezel entitled "Stereo Total", and I easily guess this is how the band's name was born... The logo was later shown on the backside of their first album "Oh Ah"; here you can have a look at the inlay-card of the CD version.

At this time the line-up included Françoise (vocals and drums), Brezel (vocals, guitar, organ and synthesizers) and Lesley Campell from Scotland (distorted guitar). With their unusual mix of music influences and languages, it wasn't easy then to find a label... The band used to play French Chanson, Disco, Rockabilly and Garage in a very minimal, simplified, essential way, often with self-built guitars and cheap electronics; lyrics were both written in French and German.

"Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" 12" single, back

At last, in 1995 Desert Records released their first 7" EP entitled "Allo... J'ecoute...", available here on Stereo Candies. This single is strongly linked to Lolitas, in fact the track "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" was recorded in New Orleans by Alex Chilton - who had produced the group's "Fusée d'amour" back in 1989 - and "Avec ma valise" was originally included on "Séries Américaines" in 1987.

During the same year, Palestinian bassist Ghazi Barakat, a.k.a. Iznogood - ex member of the Hardcore / Experimental combo Burst Appendix - joined in and for some time the band became a quartet.

In January 1996, Stereo Total finally released their first album entitled "Oh Ah", which included tracks recorded during 1994 and 1995 at the aforementioned Alien Sound Studio in Hamburg, and a lot of 4-track home recordings.

The CD version of the album was published in Germany by Peace 95, while the vinyl edition came in the form of a 2.000 copies limited edition LP on Little Teddy Recordings; these were divided into four different colours, with respectively 500 copies in black, translucent red, translucent blue and clear translucent.

The album spawned two singles which, once again, were divided equally betweeen the labels: Peace 95 took care about the release of the "Miau Miau" 7" EP, available here on Stereo Candies, while Little Teddy Recordings released "Dactylo Rock" in the form of a CD single.

At the same time, a 500 copies white label 12" blue vinyl of "Dactylo Rock" marked the beginning of Stereo Total's tenure at Bungalow and, as you already guessed, today is the subject of this post.

A picture taken during the same session the produced the "Dactylo Rock" CD-single cover, 1996

Here's the track list for this release:

01. Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock) (2:34)
02. Dactylo Rock (MS 20 Dactylo by Chrislo Haas) (2:22)
03. Dactylo Rock (Tijuana Dactylo by Sons of '68) (1:48)
04. Dactylo Rock (Atatak-Mix by A Certain Frank) (2:36)
05. Dactylo Rock (Dactylo Pop by Pop Tarts) (2:07)
06. Dactylo Rock (Hyper Modern Jazz Mix by Alec Empire) (4:10)
07. Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen Inferno by Le Hammond Inferno) (4:44)
08. Dactylo Rock (Bossa Dactylo by Sons of '68) (2:20)

All tracks were remastered from the original CD single and 12" vinyl release in January 2017, and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the complete original artworks.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.

"Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" CD single, front

The "Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" 12" single was one of the earliest records released by Bungalow, the great Pop and Electronica German label founded in the mid '90s by Marcus Liesenfeld and Holger Beier a.k.a. Le Hammond Inferno. Compared to the original CD single issued by Little Teddy Recordings, this release offers an improved track list, with a total of eight tracks instead of seven.

The record is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies. The number of each copy is usually written on one of the white center-labels, but the copy in my possession is not numbered, so I speculate that a few more than 500 copies exist, or maybe not all of them were numbered... The colour of the vinyl itself, the transparent stickered sleeve and the limited pressing make it a nice collectable item anyway.

Side A opens with the original version of "Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)", a track that has become a favourite during live concerts and perfectly expresses Stereo Total's ability to create simple but very effective little songs. The German lyrics written by Françoise Cactus offer many puns based on the names of punctuation marks as used in written and printed text, and the basic rhythm track is aptly performed on a... typewriter!

Chrislo Haas, best known as founder of the seminal act Liaisons Dangereuses and early member of Der Plan and Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, delivers a minimal remix which, according to its title, features electronic sounds created with the glorious Korg MS-20 synthesizer. On the CD single this remix is entitled "Chrislos Sekretärin", but the version is just the same.

A "Tijuana Dactylo" version performed by the mysterious Sons of '68 follows. As per its title, the song is played in a Lo-Fi Mariachi style with a faster tempo and French lyrics. In my opinion Sons of '68 is just an alias for Stereo Total themselves... Of course I may be wrong, but this version sounds like a garage rehearsal with guest trumpeteers, and the voice belongs to Françoise Cactus beyond the shadow of a doubt...

First side ends with the "Atatak-Mix" created by A Certain Frank, who are no less than the founders of the German Ata Tak label. Their version is close to the original, but adds interesting tape-machine noises, samples and dance floor-friendly elements.

"Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" CD single, back

As first track on Side B we find "Dactylo Pop" by Pop Tarts, a now disbanded young Pop/Punk German band that we'll hopefully be able to feature on this blog in the future. Just like much of their early output, their contribution was recorded live in a Lower than Lo Lo-Fi mode, with rough samples layered on top... You can't help but have a fondness for them!

An "Hyper Modern Jazz Mix" by Alec Empire follows. This version is entitled "Ausrufezeichen" on the CD single track list, but it is the same mix... I must admit that I'm not a big fan of Empire, although I enjoyed some of his earliest work, "Generation Star Wars" above all. I find the 13/27 rhythm track (...or whichever its time signature is...) mostly irritating, and in my opinion the only tiny vocal element sampled from the original is not enough to call this a remix: it is a completely different track and, although variety is usually a positive element when you collect several remixes in a single release, it doesn't fit quite well with the rest of the material, sorry.

Le Hammond Inferno, a.k.a. the Bungalow Records bosses deliver their "Sekretärinnen Inferno" remix, which is a cavalcade through different music styles that also offer a sample of their, ehm... sampling techniques and subtle sense of humour. Well done!

The single ends with another version created by the Sons of '68, entitled "Bossa Dactylo". As the title implies, the song is played in a vague Bossa nova style. Once again this seems to be a live recording and the lyrics are sung in French. Strangely enough this version was not included on the CD single, but was later added as a bonus track on the "Oh Ah" CD released by Bungalow in 1998, along with the aforementioned "Dactylo Pop" version created by Pop Tarts.

Here's the short credits list that appears on the CD single:

Mastering: C-Sa

Cover by Sabina Maria Van Der Linden.

Photo by Thomas Purwin.

Berlin '96

"Dactylo Rock (Sekretärinnen-Rock)" CD single, disc

The following clips offers a preview of the remastered single, enjoy four "Dactylo Rock" remixes by Chrislo Haas, A Certain Frank, Le Hammond Inferno and Sons of '68!









As a bonus, here's the original videoclip for "Dactylo Rock"...



...and a 2013 live performance of the same song filmed in Leipzig, enjoy!





More information about Bungalow and Stereo Total is available here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130911023255/http://www.bungalow.de/index3.html

http://www.discogs.com/label/1125-Bungalow

http://rateyourmusic.com/label/bungalow_records/

http://stereototal.de

http://stereototal.stereototal.de

http://monokini.free.fr/index.html

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Stereo+Total

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_Total

http://www.facebook.com/StereoTotal

http://www.myspace.com/stereototal

http://soundcloud.com/stereototal

If you have any other useful information about Stereo Total - 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!

BUNGALOW RECORDS, THE POOL SERIES #2: STEREO TOTAL "SCHÖN VON HINTEN" (1997)

Du bist schön von Hinten
mit ein paar Metern Entfernung
Schön bist du im Nebel, wenn du gehen musst
Bitte, bleibe nicht bei mir
Zeig mir deinen Rücken
Am Schönsten bist du, wenn du gehen musst

Wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich,wie soll ich, mich nach dir sehnen
wenn du stets, wenn du stets, wenn du stets, wenn du stets bei mir bist?
Wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich mich nach dir sehnen?
Jeden Tag, jede Nacht, jeden Tag, jede Nacht bist du bei mir

Löse dich in Luft auf
Hiterlass keine Spuren
Zeig, wie du aussiehst, wenn du nicht mehr bist
Ich bedanke mich herzlich
Ich hatte viel Spaß mit dir
Aber ohne dich war es auch nicht schlecht
Vielleicht besser sogar

Wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich,wie soll ich, mich nach dir sehnen
wenn du stets, wenn du stets, wenn du stets, wenn du stets bei mir bist?
Wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich, wie soll ich mich nach dir sehnen?
Jeden Tag, jede Nacht, jeden Tag, jede Nacht bist du bei mir

Schick mir ein Foto von dir
Oder eine Postkarte
Geh, es ist vorbei
Goodbye

[from the lyrics of "Schön von Hinten"]



Bungalow Records was a Pop / Electronica label founded in 1996 by Berliner DJs Holger Beier and Marcus Liesenfeld, a.k.a. Le Hammond Inferno:

«We have always been passionate about music, towards the end of the '80s we started playing in an indie band and DJing at the same time, combining our strong passions for Pop and Dance music. That was a very fertile period for the Club scene in Germany and we were very busy organizing a series of parties that have entered into the history of German clublife. Parties attended by Saint Etienne, Towa Tei of Deee-Lite, Stereolab... At that point we ended up being a reference point and many people were interested in the creation of a label. We actually had never thought about it, but our encounter with Christof Ellinghaus of City Slang has made this possibility a reality. We founded Bungalow and slowly we tried to learn how to manage a record label.»

[from an interview published on Blow Up magazine, issue #26/27, July 2000]



For a few years, until the early '00s, Bungalow was a very prolific and cool label. Their compilations "Sushi 3003" / "Sushi 4004" marked the first time a western indie label delved into the cutting edge Japanese Club-Pop scene:

«...the initial spark was the moment we listened to "Twiggy Twiggy" by Pizzicato Five and later Towa Tei's "Future Listening". We were hearing a new, never heard craziness in playing around with Pop music. The first thing that came to our simple minds was: there must be more. So we contacted journalist and Nippon-Mania-Man Olaf Maikopf and had the quite naive idea to travel to Japan and put together a compilation of modern Japanese Club-Pop. After running through the streets of Tokyo for some 10 days, meeting about 35 record companies and even more bands, we were totally confused and had to carry tons of CDs and LPs back home (much to the pleasure of the Lufthansa customs agents). Back home we slept for a month and then compiled "Sushi 3003" as an introduction to Japanese Club-Pop and concentrated on giving a wide overview of what has been going on in Tokyo in the last 10 years.»

[from the "Sushi 4004" liner notes, 1998]



Bungalow gave us the chance to (re)discover the soundtrack works of German composer Peter Thomas; they also licensed most of Combustible Edison releases in Europe and brought Stereo Total to international success and fame, album after album.

Among others, they released lovely CDs by Czerkinsky, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Yoshinori Sunahara and Bertrand Burgalat, and other little wonders from the German underground like Pop Tarts, Dauerfisch, Mina... For this and all the rest, thank you Bungalow!

The "Pool Series" was a... series of 12" records that explored the more Dance-oriented side of the label. They were released in a simple brown cardboard sleeve with a sticker containing all the pertinent details.

The cover design was changed at a later stage, and the last five issues offered a different design, with all information printed directly on the sleeves and no sticker at all.

The second issue in the series was Stereo Total's "Schön von Hinten", released in 1997. The single was also published on CD - with a different track order - in the regular Bungalow catalogue.

Althought the remastered tracks presented here use the CD single as source, they are sequenced according to the track list of the original 12" vinyl release:

01. Schön von Hinten (Rimini Mix by Brezel Göring) (2:37)
02. Schön von Unten (Andreas Dorau, Michel und DJ It) (4:37)
03. The Other Side of You (Momus & Laila France) (4:23)
04. Schön von Hinten (Halb-Remix by Hermann Halb) (3:14)
05. Schön von Hinten (Sons of '68 & Jan Bontempi) (2:36)
06. Schön von Hinten (Original) (2:49)

All tracks were remastered in August 2016 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the complete original artwork.

As usual, please have a look at the comments for the download link.





"Schön von Hinten" seems to be a sort of farewell song and at the same time looks like a praise to a man's butt... Uhm, which of the two... Maybe both?

Side A opens with the "Rimini Mix" by Brezel Göring. Curiously enough, at the beginning of the song you can listen to Françoise Cactus speaking Italian announcing that «This song is by Stereo Total and is entitled "You're Beautiful From Behind"»... This remix turns the original into a cheap dance anthem and I can easily imagine it being spinned in some clubs during the most drunken hours somewhere on the Adriatic Riviera...

In their "Schön von Unten", Andreas Dorau (...of Die Doraus Und Die Marinas fame...) along with the mysterious DJ It and a certain Michel, opt for an 8bit treatment and I must admit that I don't like it that much, no.

Side B opens with the beautiful reinterpretation by veteran Momus & Laila France. The original is given new lyrics, both in English and French, and is a small educated masterpiece. A lesson to learn for everyone dealing with a remix duty.

Hermann Halb's "Halb-Remix" uses a few effects to create a feeling of estrangement, but musically I wouldn't say that it's quite interesting as it doesn't add much to the original.

In my opinion Sons of '68 & Jan Bontempi is an alias for Stereo Total themselves... Of course I may be wrong, but their version sounds like a garage rehearsal and the voice belongs to Françoise Cactus beyond the shadow of a doubt...

The record ends with the original song as heard on the album "Monokini". With the exception of the aforementioned Momus & Laila France cover, and despite the various remix treatments, I believe that this is still the best version and one of the trademark songs of the early Stereo Total. Now, if only I could figure out where that percussion loop was sampled from...

A short Stereo Total biography 1993-1997 is available here below. The following clips offer a preview of the remastered 12"/CD single; the promotional videoclip of the original version of "Schön von Hinten" is also included as a bonus, enjoy!

During winter 1992-93, Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring were living in the same neighborhood in Berlin and the legend has it that they casually met while shopping in a bakery in Adalbertstraße.

Françoise was about to close her experience with the French girl-garage-punk-R’n'R-Band Lolitas (...they released six albums in Germany and France and toured all over Europe and America, for more information about them have a look here...) and Brezel was keeping himself busy with an Experimental-noise-copyright-ignoring-tapeloop-soundeffects project called Sigmund Freud Experience (...he released three vinyl records under this guise, 100 copies each...).

In 1993 they started playing together. Their first recording was a ten minute cooking-recipe, in which all ingredients had sexual connotations. The recording is sadly lost... In 1994 they started rehearsaling and recording in Hamburg at the Alien Sound Studio of Peter Stein, and began to perform concerts in small venues in Berlin and Germany.

In those early days, the band logo consisted of two tits that were originally painted on a mix-tape Françoise made for Brezel entitled "Stereo Total", and I easily guess this is how the band's name was born... The logo was later shown on the backside of their first album "Oh Ah"; here you can have a look at the inlay-card of the CD version.

At that time the line-up included Françoise (vocals and drums), Brezel (vocals, guitar, organ and synthesizers) and Lesley Campell from Scotland (distorted guitar). With their unusual mix of music influences and languages, it wasn't easy then to find a record label... The band used to play French Chanson, Disco, Rockabilly and Garage in a very minimal, simplified, essential way, often with self-built guitars and cheap electronics; lyrics were both written in French and German.

At last, in 1995 Desert Records released their first 7" EP entitled "Allo... J'ecoute...", available here on Stereo Candies. This single is strongly linked to Lolitas, in fact the track "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" was recorded in New Orleans by Alex Chilton - who had produced the group's "Fusée d'amour" back in 1989 - and "Avec ma valise" was originally included on "Séries Américaines" in 1987.

During the same year, Palestinian bassist Ghazi Barakat, a.k.a. Iznogood - ex member of the Hardcore / Experimental combo Burst Appendix - joined in and for some time the band became a quartet.

      

Schön von Hinten" was also released as a CD single with a different track order...

In January 1996, Stereo Total finally released their first album entitled "Oh Ah", which included tracks recorded during 1994 and 1995 at the aforementioned Alien Sound Studio in Hamburg, and a lot of 4-track home recordings.

The CD version of the album was published in Germany by Peace 95, while the vinyl edition came in the form of a 2.000 copies limited edition LP on Little Teddy Recordings; these were divided into four different colours, with respectively 500 copies in black, translucent red, translucent blue and clear translucent.

The album spawned two singles which, once again, were divided equally betweeen the labels: Little Teddy Recordings released "Dactylo Rock" in the form of a CD single that included remixes by - among others - Chrislo Haas, A Certain Frank, Alec Empire and Le Hammond Inferno, while Peace 95 took care about the release of the "Miau Miau" 7" EP, which also included a few unreleased numbers and is available here.

At the same time, a 500 copies white label 12" blue vinyl of "Dactylo Rock" marked the beginning of Stereo Total's tenure at Bungalow. Compared to the original CD single, the 12" offered an improved track list. Its printed transparent sleeve and the limited pressing make it a collector's item.

Before the end of the year, after a tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland the band split and Stereo Total became a duo again... In 1997 Angie Reed started collaborating with Françoise and Brezel, and her name became officially associated with the group when their second full-lenght work, entitled "Monokini", was released.

"Schön von Hinten", one of the most memorable tracks on the album, was issued as a single - both as a 12" vinyl and CD - and is the subject of this post.

Stereo Total 1997: Françoise Cactus, Brezel Göring and Angie Reed

More information about Bungalow Records and Stereo Total is available here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130911023255/http://www.bungalow.de/index3.html

http://www.discogs.com/label/1125-Bungalow

http://rateyourmusic.com/label/bungalow_records/

http://stereototal.de

http://stereototal.stereototal.de

http://monokini.free.fr/index.html

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Stereo+Total

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_Total

http://www.facebook.com/StereoTotal

http://www.myspace.com/stereototal

http://soundcloud.com/stereototal

The "Pool Series" will continue in the next months. All your inputs are welcome, if you want to get in touch please write to stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

LOLITAS "SOLO SOLO SOLO SOLO" (1990)

"Solo solo solo solo", front cover

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.

"Solo solo solo solo", insert 1, front

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.

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.

"Solo solo solo solo", inner gatefold, left panel

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" (...available here...) 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.

"Séries Américaines", the second Lolitas album (...available here...), 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.

"Solo solo solo solo", insert 1, back

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 the 12" EP entitled "Hara Kiri" (...available here...), 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...

"Solo solo solo solo", inner gatefold, right panel

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 this 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.

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, which is the subject of this post: 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).

"Solo solo solo solo", insert 2, front

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.

"Solo solo solo solo", back cover

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.

"Solo solo solo solo", insert 2, back

"Solo solo solo solo" contains the following tracks:

01. COCO - Bambino (2:02)
02. FRANÇOISE & DIE DREI KAKTEEN - Ich Tanze (2:08)
03. OLGA LA BASSE - Reite, kleiner Reiter! (2:35)
04. TUTTI FRUTTI - A Bomb Bop (2:28)

All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in September 2015 and are available in FLAC lossless format, along with scans of the complete original artwork.

Please have a look at the comments section for the download link.

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"Poster for a concert at Düsseldorf Spektakulum, 01.12.1989

"Solo solo solo solo" was released by Vielklang in Germany, with cat. number 04036-04, sometimes in 1990, in the form of a deluxe gatefold 7" double single with two printed inserts housed in a transparent 12" plastic-sleeve together with a folded poster painted by Coco.

Althought credited to Lolitas, the single features four tracks by the individual members (...plus guests...) which were recorded in 1989, a few months before the publication, except Tutti Frutti's contribution, which dates back to October 1988.

The first record is opened by Coco, who presents his own Rock version of "Bambino", a cover of "Guaglione", a 1956 neapolitan song written by Giuseppe Fanciulli and Nicola Salerno that was originally performed by Grazia Gresi (...available here) and Aurelio Fierro (...here). In 1957 the song was given French lyrics by Jacques Larue and was brought to success in France by Dalida at the beginning of her career. You can watch Dalida's stunning performance by scrolling down this page or clicking here.

On Side B we find Françoise Cactus - accompanied by Die Drei Kakteen - performing "Ich Tanze", a German cover (...with lyrics written by Françoise herself...) of the 1964 sophisticated classic "Je Danse Donc Je Suis", a song written by Jean-Claude Massoulier and André Popp which is best known for the original version sung by Brigitte Bardot.

The second record offers Olga La Basse's rendition of "Reite, kleiner Reiter!", a 1940 song written by Ralph Maria Siegel that was originally performed by controversial Swedish singer and actress Zarah Leander, and an original Rockabilly composition by Tutti Frutti who had already left the band when "Solo solo solo solo" was released...

Lolitas as they appear on the CD booklet of "Fusée d'amour" (Vielklang edition), 1989

Here's the complete credits list of "Solo solo solo solo" as they appear on the two inserts, along with most of the lyrics and a complete preview of the remastered single:

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COCO - Bambino

Written by Giuseppe Fanciulli and Nicola Salerno, French lyrics by Jacques Larue.

Coco: vocals, guitar, bass, backing vocals
Françoise Cactus: drums, backing vocals
Olga: backing vocals

Recorded at Beat Studio, Berlin, 1989.
Sound engineer: Gerd Bluhm

Produced by Coco and Françoise Cactus.

Dedicated to Olga, Françoise, Michele Tutti Frutti, Tex Morton.
For Christiane Suckow with love and affection!

Les yeux battus la mine triste et les joues blêmes
Tu ne dors plus, tu n'es plus que l'ombre de toi-même
Seul dans la rue tu rôdes comme une âme en peine
Et tous les soirs sous sa fenêtre on peut te voir

Je sais bien que tu l'adores et qu'elle a de jolies yeux
Mais tu es trop jeune encore pour jouer les amoureux

Et gratte, gratte sur ta mandoline mon petit Bambino
Ta musique est plus jolie que tout le ciel de l'Italie
Et chante, chante de ta voix câline mon petit Bambino
Tu peux chanter tant que tu veux elle ne te prend pas au sérieux

Tu peux fumer comme un Monsieur des cigarettes
Te déhancher sur le trottoir quand tu la guettes
Tu peux pencher sur ton oreille, ta casquette
Ce n'est pas ça, qui dans son coeur, te vieillira

L'amour et la jalousie ne sont pas des jeux d'enfant
Et tu as toute la vie pour souffrir comme les grands

Et gratte, gratte sur ta mandoline mon petit Bambino
Ta musique est plus jolie que tout le ciel de l'Italie
Et canta, canta de ta voix câline mon petit Bambino
Tu peux chanter tant que tu veux elle ne te prend pas au sérieux



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FRANÇOISE & DIE DREI KAKTEEN - Ich Tanze

Written by Jean-Claude Massoulier and André Popp, German lyrics by Françoise Cactus.

Françoise Cactus: voice
Ted Gaier: guitar
Rudi Freese: bass
Frank Neumeier: drums

Recorded live at Beat Studio, Berlin, 1989.
Sound engineer: Gerd Bluhm

"Dance" picture on inner gatefold by Irina Hoppe.

Ich tanze, also ich bin
Ich tanze und folge Dir
Und folge ich Dir, ist es nicht für das, was Du denkst
Es ist für den Tanz
Nicht fürs Leben

Guck nicht so traurig
und bemühe Dich nicht,
Mir ständig zu sagen, dass Du nur mich liebst
Ich lege mich nicht fest,
Ich verspreche gar nichts
Mich killt man nicht
Mit einem Blick

Ich tanze,...

Du kannst es versuchen,
Vielleicht gefällst Du mir
Ich halte es nicht für ausgeschlossen
Mich nach dem Tanzen
Fangen zu lassen
Von wem? Das weiss ich nicht
Na warum nicht von Dir?

Ich tanze,...



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OLGA LA BASSE - Reite, kleiner Reiter!

Written by Ralph Maria Siegel.

Olga de la Wolga: vocals, bass
Frank Jürgen Krüger: guitar
Ollie Kobold: drums
Andinger Jung: piano
Ralph Droge: trumpet

Recorded by Gerd Bluhm at Beat Studio, Berlin, in November 1989.

Ollie appears courtesy of S.U.M.D., F.-J. Krüger appears with moral support, Droge appears courtesy of himself.

Olga greets Tutti Frutti, Coco, Françoise and Tex Morton.

Auf der Wolga
Fährt die Olga
Mit dem Schiff zum weiten Meer.
Doch der Iwan ein Kossak der sie liebt,
Reitet wild, Tag und Nacht hinter ihr her.

Reite, kleiner Reiter, reite,
Immer weiter, reite,
Dann lacht dir das Glück gleich!
Reite durch die Felder, reite
Durch die Wälder, reite
Bald hast du dein Ziel erreicht.

Doch die schnellen Wolgawellen
Trugen schneller als dein Pferd.
Und das Schiff fuhr drum dem Iwan davon
Der verzweifelt von Ferne den Rufe hört
Reite durch die Felder, reite
durch die Felder, reite
Bald hast du dein Ziel erreicht.

Doch das Ende
Der Legende
Das ist traurig aber wahr,
Denn der Iwan
Springt hinein in das Meer
Und so wurden die zwei
Leider kein Paar

Reite, kleiner Reiter, reite,
Immer weiter, reite
Nicht die Liebe macht dich blind.
Reite, mit dem Schimmel reite,
In den Himmel reite
Weil doch tausend Olgas sind?



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TUTTI FRUTTI - A Bomb Bop

Written by Tutti Frutti.

Mike B. Bordini (Tutti Frutti): vocals, guitar
Nikil Merani: double bass
Mathias Meyer: drums
Klaus: sax

Recorded at Beat Studio, Berlin, in October 1988.
Sound engineer: Gerd Bluhm

Well, deciphering the lyrics of "A Bomb Bop" is way beyond me... If you know the lyrics to this song, please get in touch!

The original version of "Bambino", performed by Dalida in 1957, the original version with French lyrics of "Ich Tanze" entitled "Je Danse Donc Je Suis", performed by Brigitte Bardot in 1964, and Zarah Leander's 1940 rendition of "Reiter kleine Reiter!" are included here below for your listening pleasure courtesy of YouTube...

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.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 and "Solo solo solo solo" - 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!

STEREO TOTAL "MIAU MIAU" (1996)

Miau miau wilde Katze mit grünen Schlitzaugen
Miau miau wilde Katze steht ganz nass im Regen
Ich lasse dich vor der Tür miauen und jaulen und fauchen
Ich sah dich auf allen Dächern der Stadt dich rumwälzen

Miau miau wilde Katze komm bitte nicht nach Haus'
Weil du nach wilder Strapaze nur etwas Milch brauchst

Miau miau wilde Katze zeigt ihre weiße Tatze
In dem Schlitz meiner Tür nach wilder Strapaze
Wenn dir nichts Schöneres einfällt und wenn dich der Hunger quält
Wenn das Wetter dir missfällt miaust du vor meiner Tür

Miau miau wilde Katze komm bitte nicht nach Haus'
Weil du nach wilder Strapaze nur etwas Milch brauchst

Miau miau wilde Katze verbringt die ganze Nacht
Auf einem fremden Dach und kommt am nächsten Morgten
Zu mir ihre Milch holen

Miau miau wilde Katze komm bitte nicht nach Haus'
Weil du nach wilder Strapaze nur etwas Milch brauchst

Miau miau wilde Katze der Sturm und der Regen
Sind meine Wut, meine Tränen um dich böse Katze
Miau miau nur wenn es regnet wenn sich böses ereignet
Wenn ein Feind dir begegnet miaust du vor meiner Tür

Miau miau wilde Katze komm bitte nicht nach Haus'
Weil du nach wilder Strapaze nur etwas Milch brauchst

[From the lyrics of "Miau Miau"]



During winter 1992-93, Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring were living in the same neighborhood in Berlin and the legend has it that they casually met while shopping in a bakery in Adalbertstraße.

Françoise was about to close her experience with the French girl-garage-punk-R’n'R-Band Lolitas (...they released six albums in Germany and France and toured all over Europe and America, for more information about them have a look here...) and Brezel was keeping himself busy with an Experimental-noise-copyright-ignoring-tapeloop-soundeffects project called Sigmund Freud Experience (...he released three vinyl records under this guise, 100 copies each...).

In 1993 they started playing together. Their first recording was a ten minute cooking-recipe, in which all ingredients had sexual connotations. The recording is sadly lost... In 1994 they started rehearsaling and recording in Hamburg at the Alien Sound Studio of Peter Stein, and began to perform concerts in small venues in Berlin and Germany.

In those early days, the band logo consisted of two tits that were originally painted on a mix-tape Françoise made for Brezel entitled "Stereo Total", and I easily guess this is how the band's name was born... The logo was later shown on the backside of their first album "Oh Ah"; here you can have a look at the inlay-card of the CD version.

At this time the line-up included Françoise (vocals and drums), Brezel (vocals, guitar, organ and synthesizers) and Lesley Campell from Scotland (distorted guitar). With their unusual mix of music influences and languages, it wasn't easy then to find a label... The band used to play French Chanson, Disco, Rockabilly and Garage in a very minimal, simplified, essential way, often with self-built guitars and cheap electronics; lyrics were both written in French and German.



At last, in 1995 Desert Records released their first 7" EP entitled "Allo... J'ecoute...", available here on Stereo Candies. This single is strongly linked to Lolitas, in fact the track "Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais" was recorded in New Orleans by Alex Chilton - who had produced the group's "Fusée d'amour" back in 1989 - and "Avec ma valise" was originally included on "Séries Américaines" in 1987.

During the same year, Palestinian bassist Ghazi Barakat, a.k.a. Iznogood - ex member of the Hardcore / Experimental combo Burst Appendix - joined in and for some time the band became a quartet.

In January 1996, Stereo Total finally released their first album entitled "Oh Ah", which included tracks recorded during 1994 and 1995 at the aforementioned Alien Sound Studio in Hamburg, and a lot of 4-track home recordings.

The CD version of the album was published in Germany by Peace 95, while the vinyl edition came in the form of a 2.000 copies limited edition LP on Little Teddy Recordings; these were divided into four different colours, with respectively 500 copies in black, translucent red, translucent blue and clear translucent.

The album spawned two singles which, once again, were divided equally betweeen the labels: Little Teddy Recordings released "Dactylo Rock" in the form of a CD single that included remixes by - among others - Chrislo Haas, A Certain Frank, Alec Empire and Le Hammond Inferno, while Peace 95 took care about the release of the "Miau Miau" 7" EP, which is the subject of this post.

   

"Mia Miau" comes with a cheap black and white postcard...

Here's the track list for this release:

01. Miau Miau (2:01)
02. Tu m'as voulue (2:11)
03. Aua (2:06)
04. À la sortie du lycée (2:01)

All tracks were remastered in May 2015 and are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files; both formats include scans of the complete original artwork.

Please have a look at the comments for the download links.



"Miau Miau" was released in Germany by Little Teddy Recordings sometimes in early 1996 with catalogue number "LiTe2-UP". The EP was available in a standard black vinyl edition and in a 200 copies limited edition on clear vinyl. My copy looks almost white in the scans presented on this page, but I swear that the vinyl is clear, my friends!

Side A opens with the title-track "Miau Miau", a song which - as Françoise Cactus puts it - "...is about a cat, a stray cat, wild cat, who comes home too late next morning and gets problems with his girlfriend, female cat..." or as someone else explains in a comment I found somewhere on YouTube again - "It's a story about a man and a woman who live in an open relationship and she sings about how the guy only comes home to get food and maybe sex... and she doesn't want that ;D"...

Based on a Rockabilly groove, "Tu m'as voulue" - or "Tu mas volu" as printed on the center label - offers an infectious riff and French lyrics about what seems to be the disillusion and grudge that often emerge after the end of a love story: "...Tu m'as vue, tu m'as voulue, tu m'as prise, mais tu ne m'as pas comprise...". Françoise's voice is compressed, distorted and effected with other delay treatments.

"Aua", an interjection which can be translated in English as "Ouch", seems to be a female/male call and response about a master/slave intercourse, as detailed in the description of this clip... Anyway, nice little guitar solo in here, and cool electronic bits too!

The EP ends with "À la sortie du lycée", or "Sortie de Lycée" as on the center label, another winner which in 2002 was released on the old Stereo Total website as part of the "Trésors Caché" online rarities compilation, with the following description: "This is a song about a home for pensioners, that is built next to a school. The girl in the song gets molested by old daddies."... Amazing, isn't it? This is just one of the one thousand nine hundred and sixty-three reasons why I love Stereo Total!!!



Here's the complete credits and personnel list as translated from the back sleeve of the EP:

Lesley Campbell: guitar
Iznogood: bass, vocals
Brezel Göring: music, synthesizers, organ, guitar
Françoise Cactus: lyrics, vocals, drums

Go Go Girls: Ogar, Beth Love, Lesley, Siggi

Recorded in 1996 by Peter Stein, Gerd Bluhm, Brezel Göring.

Artwork by Sabina Maria Van Der Linden.

Postcard picture by Holger Flosz.

Stereo Total 1996: Iznogood, Brezel Göring, Lesley Campbell and Françoise Cactus, picture by Holger Flosz

The following clips offers a preview of the remastered single, enjoy "Aua" and "À la sortie du lycée"!





As a bonus, enjoy the original videoclip for "Miau Miau"...



...and a 2012 live performance of the same song with introduction by Françoise Cactus, enjoy!





More information about Stereo Total is available here:

http://stereototal.de

http://stereototal.stereototal.de

http://monokini.free.fr/index.html

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Stereo+Total

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_Total

http://www.facebook.com/StereoTotal

http://www.myspace.com/stereototal

http://soundcloud.com/stereototal

If you have any other useful information about Stereo Total - 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!