the violence of amateurs
| Format | CD |
| Country | USA |
| Recorded | 1996-99 |
| Issued | 1999 |
| Label | Pretentious Dinosaur |
| Cat no. | PD CD004 |
| Playing time | 65:59 |
| Reviewer | Rikard A Toftesund |
| FRENCH TV the violence of amateurs |
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This fun band comes from Lousville (Kentucky) and has existed since 1983, all this time under the leadership of bassist Mike Sary. The music of French TV is somewhat related to the classic Canterbury-style of groups such as Matching Mole and Gilgamesh, but refers first and foremost to earlier American intrepretations of the same influences, such as Grits, However and perhaps especially to The Muffins. Mike Sary and company fits therefore nicely into a category together with names like A Triggering Myth, Ut Gret, Radio Piece III and Volare (whose drummer Brian Donohue guests on three of the six tracks).
I have always liked French TV, and The Violence gives me a firm confirmation as to why; this is undoubtly their best record so far. Their long jazz-harmonic-dripping instrumental escapades literally overflows with playfulness and color. The choice of sound and tone are firmly nailed, the production, with its clear use of space, is perfectly suited to the "mood", and gives the correct impulse of quirkiness and measured eccentricity.
All the band’s other issues contain moving moments; French TV (‘85) and After A Lengthy Silence (‘87) are somewhat hampered by ill-fitted "sound filtering", while Virtue In Futility (‘94) and Intenstinal Fortitude (‘95) show remarkable development as to the will to experiment and vary. Yoo-Hoo (‘97) is a good live album showing that Sary & Co’s songs are well suited to the stage.
The Violence of Amateurs, on the other hand, is the first of the group’s initiatives that seriously "caught me off guard". Whether it is because of the knock-on effect of the music, or just the fact that this record is a much more consistent effort than the rest, I am unsure of. The pieces are far more ambitious and well-written than French TV’s previous releases, and technically they sound better than ever, the album grows on each hearing.
There are a couple of odd elements. One is the avant-guitar legend Eugene Chadbourne’s participation on the opening track The Kokonino Stomp (banjo!). The other is the almost 22 minute long cover version of Zamla Mammaz Manna’s The Fate which neither breaks new ground (in relation to the original) nor shows the drums/electric guitar/bass/keyboards setup (which is varied from album to album) from a particularly exciting side, free improvasition or not.
But here is an additional 44 minutes of consistently great music, and this clearly legitimates a purchase for those who enjoy well-crafted Canterbury-prog. And don’t miss Sary’s liner notes, a black, funny history of a fictious future situation where French TV has become superstars due to a market boom for prog in general (the group’s CD booklets are otherwise notorious for their polemic intrepretations about waste and hypocrisy within the American defence industry and government).
© 2001 Tarkus Magazine