France

What is it with the French? You know they actually think Jerry Lewis is funny, right. So I guess they just have that Gallic humor that I don’t always get. Now Rockets, that’s some humor I do get…

France-1972.  

Music producer Claude Lemoine came up with an idea for a single called “Future Woman” for a band called Crystal. The single shot up the Euro-charts, so the band decided to see what fame might have in store for them. They changed their name & became The Rocket Men (or Rocketters in France). They shaved their heads, wore matching "space age" outfits & painted themselves with silver make-up. This wasn’t quite the ticket though, so in 1976 they changed their name to Rockets. They did a dancier, spacier remake of their hit “Future Woman” once again brought them popularity throughout Europe. Their live shows added to their appeal, featuring lasers, lotsa smoke, exploding cannons of fire & a tripped out light show.

That year they released their debut self-titled album. That album brought them to the attention of America's premier disco label, Salsoul. Salsoul signed them onto their offshoot label Tom 'n' Jerry Records for Rockets only American album, On The Road Again. 

This album has some amazing cheese! The Canned Heat cover, “On The Road Again”, lays down a tight blues/funk with a propulsive mix by Tom Moulton. Vocoder lyrics & talk box guitar riffs accentuate the feel of aliens out on a road trip. This stuff gets plenty surreal. The b-side hit “Space Rock”, also mixed by Tom Moulton, is a tripped-out guitar-inflected synth song that’ll get yer ass shaking. 

Rockets consisted of: Christian le Bartz – vocals; Alain Maratrat - guitars & synths; "Little" G. l'Her – bass; Fabrice Quagliotti – syths; Zeus B. Held - vocoder & Alain Groetzinger - drums.

 Rockets - On the Road Again, IPG 170.008, 1978.

Face 1 –

On The Road Again   

Cosmic Race  

Venus Rapsody          

Face 2 –

 Space Rock    

Astrolights

Electro-Voice

Sci Fi Boogie  

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Alain Goraguer is a French jazz pianist born August 20, 1931 in Rosny-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. He has preformed solo, been a sideman of Boris Vian & Serge Gainsbourg, also working as an arranger & composer for cinema. He is perhaps best known for having composed & recorded the soundtrack to the film Fantastic Planet.

Here’s the soundtrack from one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all, La Planète Sauvage or as it was known in the US, Fantastic Planet. Released in France in 1973.

I’m not going to go into detail about the movie. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. If you have, watch it again, it’s always great. The film takes place in the future in which human beings, known as "Oms" (from the French word hommes, meaning men), have been brought to the Draags' home planet, where they are kept as pets with special collars. The Draags are an alien race, humanoid in appearance but a hundred times larger than humans, with blue skin, fan-like earlobes & protruding red eyes.

The music is by Alain Goraguer, who created music for other French films, including several other animated ones including The Dead Times (Les Temps Morts)[1964] & The Snails (Les Escargots) [1965], both by René Laloux & Roland Topor, who are also responsible for La Planète Sauvage. The music features synthesizers, flute, Hohner clavinet, guitar (with lots of wah-wah effects), bass, & drums. The music to La Planète Sauvage is a progressive funky score, like Pink Floyd meets Shaft.

Alain Goraguer - La Planète Sauvage, Pathé Marconi EMI 2C 066-12698, 1973.

decryption code in comments

Side 1 –

Déshominisation II
Déshominisation I
Générique
Le Bracelet
Ten et Tiwa
Maquillage de Tiwa
Course de Ten
Ten et Médor
Ten et Tiwa Dorment
Ten Est Assomé
Abite
Conseil des Draags
Les Hommes - La Grande Co-Existence

Side 2 –

La Femme
Mira et Ten
Mort de Draag
L' Oiseau
La Cité des Hommes Libres
Attaque des Robots
La Longue Marche
Les Fusées
Générique
Strip Tease
Méditation des Enfants
La Vieille Meurt

Enjoy,

NØ