Les Blousons Noirs

Les Blousons Noirs in English translates as The Black Jackets. It is also the catch-phrase for French youth in the 1950s until the early 1960s who wore rockabilly/biker outfits. It is also the name of a band that recorded two EPs, Special Rock and Special Twist. Eight songs in their entirety, and as they appeared, they mysteriously disappeared. The legend is that they showed up at the recording studio in the morning, and by afternoon they had finished their recording. The record label that signed them is Guilain, located in Bordeaux, France, who only released about twenty titles, and then they too disappeared. Les Blousons Noirs was their only ‘rock n’ roll act if the band is genuinely rock n’ roll. No one knows who the four musicians were, they only used their first names, and even that is not credited on the label or liner notes.

The great French label Born Bad re-released Les Blousons Noirs 1961-1962 and it’s a record that I don’t know if it’s real, a joke, or very serious. But I do like it, and I like it a lot. It can be a parody of rock music by jokers who can barely play their instruments, or it’s on the level of the New York No Wave movement, but 28 years earlier, and in France, of course. And there are traces of The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and The Shaggs. The secret of rock n’ roll is that it is already absurd, and you can’t really make a joke on absurdity. So, whatever the origins are regarding this “band,” to me, and at the end of the day, I have to take it seriously.

The 12” album consists of both EPs, side one being Special Rock and the other side Special Twist. 45 rpm, and by the time you walk around your living room, or go to the kitchen the record will be over. The drummer can barely keep a beat, and the bass is way under-recorded, but what is clear is the vocals and what I think is an acoustic guitar. Repeated listenings I’m peeling this record as it is a juicy fruit, and I find new flavors after one texture after another. The guitarist grabs me the most because his playing is beautiful. He comes up with riffs that are aurally pleasing. The singing I thought was a joke, but now I’m finding pleasures in that world as well. Les Blousons Noirs only do covers. Half of them are American based, such as Chuck Berry, and the others are from French rock n’ roll recordings by Johnny Halliday or Eddy Mitchell. There is even a tune by Martial Solal, the great jazz pianist as well as the composer of the soundtrack to Godard’s Breathless.

Les Blousons Noirs will forever be a question mark, and like Fantomas, they came and then disappeared into the night.