Les Rita Mitsouko
The No Comprendo

THE REVIEW

Fred Chinchin and Catherine Ringer formed this new group (a band of misfits, it must be said...) in '79, but only in the early eighties did the two, with the involvement of a third member, become the LRM.
According to the intentions of the three creators, who came from the most disparate (and when I say disparate, I do mean disparate, if you are Francophones, browse around a bit on the web...) artistic experiences, it was meant to be a group that would be remembered in the history of pop music and beyond... having failed this objective, it can certainly be stated that the LRM (now only a duo) have composed excellent music, very French, unpredictable, very fun and amused with that taste of obliquity that, in the opinion of the writer, must not be missing from a project worthy of being among my (perhaps also your?) favorites.

THE NO COMPRENDO LP (Virgin France, 1986) might be their most commercial record but it contains songs of great quality like the opening "Les Histoires d'A..": where A. stands for that thing that makes all of our hearts beat... :p
It continues with the two commercial successes of the work which are "Andy" and "C'est comme ça": to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, imagine the brilliance of the little prince of Minneapolis in the service of two characters with a distinctly histrionic personality and with very little desire to take themselves seriously... or a David Byrne without the ethno-musical part... an Alberto Camerini of a much more worthy world to live in... (there, now we're getting closer!).
The preparation of the record was immortalized in a film by Jean-Luc Godard (yes, yes! him indeed!) titled "Soigne Ta Droite," where our artists performed their (then) brand new single.

If we think about how the '80s have been incredibly revalued today, it seems strange that the selectors of à la page records haven’t rediscovered and trivialized this record as well, in fact, listening to it today you can hear everything that makes it "very eighties": the warm, round bass in the foreground, the sharp and at times martial drum machine, the synthesized keyboards, the guitars (in the background) funky, the only possible escape for an instrument that had been the undisputed and overused prince of the previous decades.

A final mention to the truly inventive and ironic lyrics (but still based on the A. mentioned above!!!) as well as to Catherine's almost trapeze-like vocal evolutions...
A record from the eighties truly to be re-evaluated!... even if it immediately wastes its best cartridges on side A (except for the skewed march of "Nuit d'Ivresse"), sigh!
In short, let’s clarify, if you love Stereo-Total you cannot miss listening to this record!!!!!