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4CD BOX
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RER ZNRBOX1
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"Both original ZNR releases Barricades III and Traite de Mechanique Populaire plus two extra CDs covering all the extra released and a great deal of unreleased material from the band's short career. With a definitive book of memories, histories, reflections, photographs, documents, interviews and other memorabilia from the group's brief but extraordinary career and contemporary commentaries by alumni Joseph Racaille and Patrick Portella. Although the band had a very short life and hardly ever performed live, its three main protagonists all went on to rewarding and unusual careers: Hector Zazou: His groundbreaking 1983 album Noir et is widely recognized as one of the earliest and most impressive experiments in fusing African and electronic music. Worked with, amongst others Björk, Suzanne Vega, John Cale, Värttina, Jane Siberry, and Siouxsie Sioux. Joseph Racaille: Now writes for theatre, dance, television and film -- and is an arranger for inc. Kate St John (95-97) Arthur H (90-97) Dick Annegarn (97-2008) Bashung (97-99) &c., as well as being a member of a number of performing groups. He composed music for the Olympic ceremonies, and has written operas, orchestral works, compositions for choir and songs for various groups and singers. Patrick Portella: associate composer with the G.M.E.M. prolific in theatre, the Plastic Arts, sound design and installation work." Includes 60-page booklet.
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CD
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RER ZNR2
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Originally released in 1978. "The second and last release by this most exquisite and eccentric of groups, who hardly touched the world of working bands, and whose existence was tenuous, flickering, mythological -- and yet who managed, to find its way to legendary status -- rather like Duchamp's fountain, by leaving an indelible trace in recorded form of their verifiable existence. If Captain Beefheart had been Erik Satie..."
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LP
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SV 071LP
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"ZNR was the French duo of Hector Zazou and Joseph Racaille (hence, Zazou 'n' Racaille) active in the mid to late '70s. Their 1976 debut, Barricade 3, is an anti-pop masterpiece that truly defies categorization; it makes perfect sense that ZNR appears on the infamous Nurse With Wound list. Featuring an array of seemingly dichotomous instruments (piano, synthesizers, woodwinds, electric guitar, and more) as well as genuinely bizarre vocals, the album is composed of fifteen odd experiments using a loose framework of analog electronics, avant-garde rock, jazz influences, and post-structuralist études. As The Shadow Ring's Graham Lambkin writes, 'The debut ZNR LP has long remained one of my all-time faves. A collision of eccentric Satie-esque miniatures, strange keyboard / synth explorations and the occasional song, delivered in a mixture of French and Spanish tongues. I always think of the creepy, over-ripe vocals on "Seynete" as one of the LP's most memorable moments, but there are many.' Despite its schizophrenic mystique, Barricade 3 is very witty and surprisingly accessible with hints of Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, and Perrey-Kingsley. This long out-of-print vinyl reissue reproduces the original gatefold design including illustration by Don Van Vliet."
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CD
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RER ZNR 1
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Featuring: Hector Zazou & Joseph Racaille. With: Patrick Portella, Andre Jaume, David Reuff, Harvey Neneux. "This disk features Hector Zazou, arguably the most bizarre of French contemporary musicians, playing predominantly electric piano and chromelodion (the tube-version precursor to the modern synthesizer), and partner Joseph Racaille on acoustic piano. Both share songwriting duties and vocals, the latter of which at times are so overdriven and messed-up that they create an ironic disparity to the seemingly Satie-like atmosphere. While the overall feel is delicate, it is nonetheless difficult to characterize this music as 'chamber rock' of any sort because the tension and energy are more immediate and overwhelming, spawned by an almost naive sense of quiet destruction of forms. This disk is highly idiosyncratic, immaculately realised and performed, and an absolute landmark in terms of stylistic thought. Barricades 3 has stood up to the test of time better than almost anything else. It remains as startling and mystifying as the day it was first released on vinyl in 1977."
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