Published
Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 15:51
- The label will take stock of the French-born artist's '80s catalog later this month.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux's last four albums will be reissued by Light In The Attic on February 26th.
In August 2015 the label issued Descloux's 1979 debut, Press Color, a record with a punk-funk sound that stood out even in the heady NYC downtown scene of the time. The following four LPs saw Descloux looking further afield. On her second album, 1981's Mambo Nassau, she travelled down to the Bahamas to record at the venerable Compass Point studio, where she worked with session musicians like Wally Badarou to create a record which embraced "not just mutant funk, disco and punk but a pastiche of Bavarian oompa music and jazz," according to Light In The Attic. The record also hinted at Descloux's deeper interest in African music.
Fittingly, 1984's Zulu Rock had Descloux recording in South Africa. She scored a number one in her native France with "Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles?" off that LP—that song reworked a Shangaan disco tune. Descloux kept up the globetrotting for 1986's One For The Soul—for that one, she set up the studio in Rio De Janeiro and recruited legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker with the goal of "reimagining the blues." She wrapped up her recording career with her fifth album, Suspense, before moving on to focus on painting and writing. In 2003 she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away a year later.
The Light In The Attic versions have been remastered from the original tapes and include bonus tracks, essays penned by Vivien Goldman as well as interviews with key players involved in the albums' production.
Watch a video preview for the reissue series below.
Tracklist
Mambo Nassau
A1 Lady O K'Pele
A2 Room Mate
A3 Sports Spootnicks
A4 Payola
A5 Milk Sheik
B1 Funky Stuff
B2 Slipped Disc
B3 It's You Sort Of
B4 Bim Bam Boom
B5 Five Troubles Mambo
Zulu Rock
A1 It's All My Imagination
A2 Abyssinia
A3 Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles?
A4 Dolby Sisters Saliva Brothers
A5 L'éclipse
A6 Les Dents De L'Amour
B1 Wakwazulu Kwezizulu Rock
B2 Momo On My Mind
B3 I'm Liquor
B4 Queen Of Overdub Kisses
B5 Sun Jive
B6 All The Same
One For The Soul
A1 One For The Soul
A2 Simply Beautiful
A3 Fog Horn Blues
A4 Women Don't Like Me
A5 My Funny Valentine
B1 Sound Of Leblon Beach
B2 Garden Of Alas
B3 God-Spell Me Wrong
B4 Off Off Pleasure
B5 Long Voodoo Ago
B6 Love Streams
Suspense
A1 Gueule D'Amour
A2 Cape Desire
A3 Salomé
A4 Vroom, C'Est La Voie Lacée
A5 The Long Goodbye
B1 2 Femmes À La Mer
B2 L'Heure Bleue
B3 Once Upon A Time Out
B4 Echec Et Mat
B5 A Room In New York
Light In The Attic will release Mambo Nassau, Zulu Rock, One For The Soul and Suspense on February 26th, 2016.