Play blessures

Play blessures
Studio album by Alain Bashung
Released	1982
Recorded	Studio Vénus, Longueville Studio 92, Boulogne
Genre	French rock, Post-punk, Coldwave, New Wave
Label	Philips Records, Barclay Records, Universal Music Group
Producer	Alain Bashung, Michel Olivier
Alain Bashung chronology
Pizza (1981) Play blessures (1982) Figure imposée (1983)

Play blessures (Play harms) is the fourth album by French rocker Alain Bashung, issued in 1982 on Philips Records.

Production

After the success of "Gaby oh Gaby" and "Vertige de l'amour" ("Love vertigo"), Bashung wanted to benefit from his sudden glory and financial success, since he waited for it for about fifteen years, by making musical experiments, far from the lightness of the two hits that made him famous. For his new album, Bashung chose to not work with his lyricist Boris Bergman. With his newfound favourite musicians, the KGDD (Manfred Kovacic, Olivier Guindon, Franz Delage and Philippe Draï), with whom he just recorded the soundtrack to Fernando Arrabal's movie, Le Cimetière des voitures, he went to the studio and recorded a new album, improvising the lyrics in a pseudo-English. This album, in contrast with the rather bleak sound he achieved, was recorded in a happy and quite light mood, with no other goal than exploring new musical landscapes. After recording the album, he learned that Serge Gainsbourg, for whom he had too much respect to ask him for a collaboration, wanted to work with him. Gainsbourg suggested to Bashung to share songwriting credits with him, an honor he never conceded before.

Thanks to him, Bashung chose to break away from the reputation he had built, making a very dark album, in the lyrics as much as in the music, with a post-punk influence. The song "J'croise aux Hébrides" ("I'm cruisin' in the Hebrides") has the following lyrics: "J'dédie cette angoisse à un chanteur disparu, mort de soif dans le désert de Gaby, respectez une minute de silence, faites comme si j'n'étais pas arrivé..." ("I dedicate this anguish to a singer who disappeared, who died of thirst in Gaby's desert, respect a minute of silence, act like I never came..."). On "Volontaire" ("Volunteer"), he sings about autodestruction: "N'essayez pas d'm'éteindre, j'm'incendie volontaire..." ("Don't try to extinguish me, I create an arson of myself"). Nevertheless, the album has some light moments with "C'est comment qu'on freine ?" ("How do we slow down?") or "Trompé d'érection" ("Mistaking the erection", the part "d'érection" sounding like "direction" in French).

The coldness and spareness of the arrangements, the dark and hard to understand lyrics, often vague, made this album hardly accessible for the public, who just discovered Bashung. Some critics, said of the album that it was an attempt at commercial suicide, and the album didn't sell well. However, although the critics were at first as baffled as the public, the album is now seen as one of his greatest artistic statements.

Originally, the album should have been titled "Apocalypso" (keeping up with the front cover of the tom-tom player surrounded by flames), but it was renamed "Play blessures" (from a lyric on the song "Lavabo" ("Washbasin")) because the American band The Motels recorded an album with the same title at the same time.

The 28th of March 2011 a show written by Pierre Mikaïloff and Arnaud Viviant premiered at the Théâtre Marigny of Paris, [Re]Play Blessures, which counted the birth of the album. Irène Jacob was the narrator, while the singers on the scene were: Alain Chamfort who sang "Chasseur d’ivoire" ("Ivory hunter"), Boris Bergman who sang "Junge Männer", Axel Bauer who sang "C’est comment qu’on freine ?", Barbara Carlotti who sang "Lavabo", Irène Jacob and Florent Marchet who sang "Volontaire", and Joseph d'Anvers who sang "J’envisage" ("I envision"). The musical direction was made by Frédéric Lo, with the band RoCoCo.

Reception

Critical reception

The critical reception was rather negative at first. Except Libération, the press was somewhat hostile to this album, Bashung being called on one occasion the "Johnny Hallyday of New Wave".

However, the album quickly gained cult status, being now seen as one of French rock's greatest album. In 1995, French magazine Rock & Folk chose it as one of the greatest from the period 1965-1995 and, in 1999, it was included again in their revised list of the greatest albums of the period 1963-1999. In 1993, French magazine Télérama chose it as one of the greatest albums of all time. Volume magazine included it in 2008 in their list of "albums that changed the world".

In 2010, the album was included in the book Philippe Manœuvre présente : Rock français, de Johnny à BB Brunes, 123 albums essentiels.^[1]

Track listing

Bonus Tracks (CD reissue)

The three tracks on the CD reissue of the album are all from the Le Cimetière des voitures soundtrack.

Singles

• 1981 : C'est comment qu'on freine ? / Trompé d'érection (France : 45)

Personnel

• Alain Bashung - vocals, guitar.
• Ollie Guindon - guitar.
• Philippe Draï - drums, percussions, harmonica, drum machine.
• Manfred Kovacic ("le prince de Clichy") - synths, piano, sax.
• François Delage, bass guitar.
• Roland Panza, guitar on "Junge Männer" and "J'envisage".

References