The world was probably not quite ready for the french electro punkgroup Métal Urbain in 1977. Not only were lyrics in French probably ahard sell outside of their native country, but a punk rock band with adrum machine couldn't have been the most popular sound with traditionalpunk rock nor anti-punk crowds (too many guitars for the ThrobbingGristle/Suicide/Cabaret Voltaire fans and too electronic for SexPistols/Wire/Clash fans). However, with gritty, blistering guitars andbrutal confrontational vocals, it's a sound and a formula echoed in the1980s by early Pop Will Eat Itself records, Pussy Galore, andespecially Steve Albini's Big Black. Still, no efforts were made bypeople like Shimmy Disc or similar labels to curate obscure tributealbums making Métal Urbain cool again. In fact, even their secondrelease, the 1977 7" single of "Paris Marquis"/"Clé de Contact," (RoughTrade's catalogue number 001), has ironically yet to appear on any ofthe bazillion Rough Trade "punk"/"post-punk" compilations released inthe last few years. Thankfully neither the group nor Carpark's newsub-label Acute aren't going to let them be completely forgotten. Thegroup reformed last year and played dates in both NYC and Montréal andhopefully plan to play some more this coming year now this collectionhas surfaced, collecting everything the group released before theirsplit along with some unreleased tracks for the first time in NorthAmerica. It's always interesting to find out which band's release wasso strong that it made somebody launch a record label and when I heardof this reissue, I pulled out my record of Les Hommes Mortis Sont Dangereux,an LP +7" collection released posthumously in 1981, to find the USCelluliod release catalogue numbers CEL1 and CEL2! Anybody who owns Les Hommeswill probably note that this disc is almost a complete reissue with thesame cover artwork. Groups like this who chose not to sound like therest of the pack (there's two guitarists, no bass, and a drum machine),while didn't achieve the widespread popularity in their day have aunique ability to sound completely fresh nearly three decades later.Catchy tunes like "Lady Coca Cola" and "Hysterie Connective" areperfect examples of how this band had the ability to be both viciousand infectious at the same time. Even the unused tracks like "LittleGirl of Love" could easily pass for a bitchin' Sigue Sigue Sputnikprototype with its fuzzy rockabilly guitar riff. This is a fantasticreissue that can serve as an example for well thought-out reissueprojects, spanning their entire recorded career on one disc with abooklet of fascinating stories, pictures, and details of each of the 24songs. In 2004, Acute is threatening CD reissues of two post-MétalUrbain projects, Dr. Mix and the Remix and Metal Boys. In the meantime,it's never too late to play catch-up with the original lineup. Read More
