French art-rock unit Etron Fou Leloublan -- roughly translated, "Mad Sh*t, the White Wolf" -- was formed in 1974 by vocalist Eulalie Ruynat, bassist/vocalist Ferdinand Richard, saxophonist Chris Chanet, and drummer Guigou Chenevier. A product of the Rock in Opposition coalition -- a loose collective of British and Western European artists, spearheaded by Henry Cow, that openly challenged the commercial, creative, and sociopolitical aims of mass-market popular music -- Etron Fou Leloublan boasted a frenzied, densely rhythmic approach ably captured by their 1976 debut LP, Batelages. Saxophonist Francis Grand replaced Chanet for the 1978 follow-up, Les Trois Fou's Perdégagnent (Au Pays Des...); a brief 1979 tour of the U.S. yielded the live disc En Public au Etats-Unis d'Amerique. Bernard Mathieu assumed saxophone duties and singer/multi-instrumentalist Jo Thirion replaced Ruynat for 1982's Fred Frith-produced Les Poumons Gonfles, with yet another saxophonist -- Bruno Meillier -- signing on for 1984's Les Sillons de la Terre. That same year, a longtime Etron Fou Leloublan rule that the members could not participate in musical projects outside the group's ranks was lifted, and both Richard and Chenevier recorded solo efforts; the former teamed with Sophie Jausserand for A l'Abri des Micro-Climats, while the latter partnered with the celebrated cellist Tom Cora for En Avant. Chenevier concurrently formed a second group, Encore Plus Grande, while Richard moonlighted with Alfred Harth in Gestalt et Jive. Having apparently had their fill of revolving saxophonists, Richard, Chenevier and Thirion recorded 1985's Face aux Eléments Déchainés as a three-piece; the LP was the final Etron Fou Leloublan recording, with 1991's three-disc 43 Songs collecting the entirety of the group's studio output. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Batelages is Etron Fou Leloublan's first LP, recorded in late 1976 for the French label Gratte-Ciel. It has all the flaws of a first album: meager sound quality, overlong songs, a group identity still in its infancy. Despite all that, it remains an interesting record for two main reasons. First, it is the only Etron Fou featuring original singer/saxophonist Chris Chanet (aka Eulalie Ruynat). Second, what this group was playing was completely nuts. Ferdinand Richard's bass work had already reached a virtuosic level, enough for him to lead in two cuts. Guigou Chenevier's mad drumming, nevrotic, depressive-compulsive -- a cross between Magma's Christian Vander and free improv's original madman, Han Bennink -- challenged recording engineer Thierry Magal, who poorly captured his dynamics (with the exception of the drums solo "Sololo Brigida," crisp). The album opens with the 18-minute epic "L'Amulette et le Petit Rabbin," half complex avant-prog à la Henry Cow, half Zappa-esque comedy routine. The lewd adventures of the "short rabbi" have badly aged, but the provocative spirit of the song still brings a smile. Chanet/Ruynat sings lead. Following the drums solo is a very short ditty ("Yvett' Blouse"), the instrumental "Madame Richard/Larika," and "Histoire de Graine," another crazy epic, this one sung by Richard and featuring loud sax howls and forced melodies to match the uneven rhythmic motifs. This group would record much stronger material down the years, but this first effort holds historical significance for those interested in the formative years of the Rock in Opposition movement.
The full title of Étron Fou Leloublan's second album is Les Trois Fous Perdégagnent (Au Pays Des...), which could translate to "The Three Fools Lose'n'win (In the Land Of...)" -- granted, it doesn't make more sense in English than in French. On this opus from 1978, Francis Grand picks up the saxophone where Chris Chanet (aka Eulalie Ruynat) had left it. Despite his inventive growls and screams, he simply cannot tame the devastating rhythm section (and madcap creativity) of Ferdinand Richard and Guigou Chenevier. This album is a studio construction, filled with overdubs and intro/outro collages. The group has gained better knowledge of the possibilities offered by a recording studio, but still operates on a shoestring budget. The writing marks a step forward in cohesion, excitement, and zaniness. Instrumental tunes and passages are complex and fast (the opener, "Face à l'Extravagante Montée...," makes a good example). The songs absolutely make no sense, part Henry Cow circa In Praise of Learning, part pataphysical surrealism and circus freak show (the Mothers of Invention meet Camembert Electrique-era Gong). The album culminates in "Le Désastreux Voyage du Piteux Python" (The Disastrous Journey of the Pitiful Python), a loosely knit narrative backed by illustrative music and dominated by the many voices of Chenevier. French proficiency is not that important to appreciate Étron Fou's provocative Rock in Opposition, but you'd better have a sense of humor.
Etron Fou Leloublan's third studio album came out four years after its second, but the group had released the live En Public aux États-Unis d'Amérique in the interim. The trio lineup from that live album (drummer Guigou Chenevier, bassist Ferdinand Richard, and saxophonist Bernard Mathieu) is here expanded to a quartet with the arrival of Jo Thirion on Farfisa organ, piano, and trumpet. The music has also changed considerably. Gone are the long, multi-part epics and the free-form improvisations; now the songs are tighter and shorter (between two and seven minutes). The album is overall more accessible, but only because the previous two were so off the wall. But while previous studio efforts were indescribable manifestations from unique creators, Les Poumons Gonflés falls more easily into the early-'80s current of avant-garde rock. Parallels can be traced back to Samla Mammas Manna, the Art Bears, the Muffins, Quebec's Wondeur Brass and André Duchesne, and most of all Fred Frith, who produced the album and performed on two songs (Etron Fou had played backup band duties for half of the ex-Henry Cow member's solo LP Speechless a few months earlier). Despite the presence of a fourth member in Thirion, the songs sound colder and fleshed out, but they gain in focus without losing their wacky lyrics (still no English translations in the CD reissue; too bad). Highlights include the story of "Christine," who left her newborn child on the train (if you think that sounds dramatic you should guess again), the angular "Nicole," and Chenevier's instrumental piece "Upsalla," a tribute to Samla Mammas Manna (based in Upsalla, Sweden). Especially for non-French speaking listeners who can't grasp the Dadaist stories central to the LPs Batelages and Les Trois Fous Perdégagnent, Les Poumons Gonflés is the best point of entry in Etron Fou's discography.
~ François Couture, All Music Guide
