accidental lover

July 8, 2009

So I was in Paris last week and naturally I had to do a bit of digging.  I found some good shops and some not-so-good ones.  Paris in general is like a town the recession forgot.  4 Euros for a can of Coke?  5 Euros for a coffee?  Okay, I am a tourist but still…

Stuck to the East side and avoided the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, favouring instead to find small little galleries like this one.

Picked up a few cheapish records, but it seems that in Paris the starting price is from 10 Euros to ridiculous.

This track comes off an album I couldn’t listen to in the shop; but the front and back cover told me it ticked all my boxes AND was only 10 Euros – so I had to get it.  Even when the store man told me they didn’t take plastic, it was worth a walk around a block or two to find some cash.

Mint condition? – check

Double pack? – check

Strange lady with strange facial expression on cover? – check

Strange lady wearing a super-tight space suit? – check

With a futuristic Space Dracula collar? – check, check, check!

Titles like Space Police and Cosmic Waves? – check

Instruments like Clavcin, Hammond organ, mini Korg, Moog, Arp Odyssey and Melotron listed on the back? – Done deal, I’m there.

So this seems to be a French synth disco covers album.  Coming in 1978 at the height of disco the unnamed band do a couple of originals and then lots of covers; Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygen’, Space’s ‘Magic Fly’, Vangelis’ ‘Pulstar’ and Frances Lai’s ‘Bilitis’.

This could be a top drawer find, I’m guessing it is pretty rare and the Vangelis and Jarre cover versions sound great.  I was toying with keeping this little beauty under wraps and not sharing it, but what’s the karma if you do things like that.  I was lucky to find it, you might get lucky too.  If you like synths and you like disco you’ll love it.  Just don’t tell me you got it for less than 10 Euros…please!

I will post the Jarre and Vangelis tracks later but today I’m going with Alec Costandinos’ ‘Accidental Lover’ cover version off the album.  The original is a lot more orchestra led and has talking bits.  This version is much more stripped down and better for it.

Alec Costandinos – Accidental Lover (Disco Spatial version)

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