Genre: garage
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Les Napoleons a Go-Go
Company: Passe Temps
Catalog: PST-17
Year: 1966
Country/State: Montreal, Canada
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: minor ring wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4147
Price: $175.00
Cost: $80.00
Don't ask why, but for some reason we've become fascinated by mid-1960s French-Canadian garage bands. That said, here's a wonderful copy of one of the genres' best and rarest offerings - Montreal's Les Napoleons.
Wish we knew more about thus outfit (see comments at the end of the review). We've found next to nothing on the web and even the LP is of little help - no liner notes and no writing or performance credits. Here's what little we know about these guys. Signed by the small Canadian Passe Temps label, the band debuted with the 1966 single "Fou De Toi" b/w "Tu Es Partis" (Passe Temps catalog number 903). The single sold well with French-Canadian audiences, leading Passe Temps to finance a supporting LP.
Sporting a subtitle that says "music for dancing", 1966's "Les Napoleons a Go Go", offers up an engaging mix of snarling garage rockers and Mersybeat-inspired pop. While isolated ballads such as "Tu es Partie" and "La Vie Sans Toi are okay, the band's at their best on up-tempo rockers such as "Fou de Toi", "Reviens" and "Je M'en Fou". The set's low-fi production feel (again there are no production credits) adds to the overall appeal. Elsewhere their covers of The Beatles' "I Feel Fine" (for some reason mis-translated as "I'm In Love") and "We Can Work It Out" (translated as "Tout S'arrangera") are great. At least to our ears this set's even more interesting for the fact that although all ten tracks are sung in French, the energetic performances more than compensate for the fact the lyrics are largely a mystery. Man, these guys were every bit as good as their Anglo competition ...
"Les Napoleons a Go-Go" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Fou de Toi
2.) Tu es Partie (You are Leaving)
3.) Reviens
4.) La Vie Sans Toi (LIfe without You)
5.) Je Suis en Amour (I'm In Love) (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) -
(side 2)
1.) Attention
2.) Tout S'arrangera (We Can Work It Out) (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) -
3.) Ne M'oublie Pas
4.) Je M'en Fou
5.) Un Jour (Some Day)
For completist, there's also a 1967 post-LP single: "Nous Les Jeunes" b/w "Mon Amour est Plus Fort que Tout" (J. Franco catalog number 4057).
The web continues to amaze me with its ability to bring people together. Check out this correspondence:
"Hello there. My niece gave me the address of your website. Even if she's American and lives in the States, her favorite band is 'The Napoleons'. I saw your article on the band and I also saw the same article on "Lysergia.com". I guess they got it from you [yes they did]. It's true that there wasn't much information on the LP cover because "Rusticana Records" who owned the "Passes Temps" label were more interested in promoting their other albums on the back of the LP cover. But the band members were on the front cover of the LP. On the photo sitting down from left to right you have the rhythm guitarist Jacques Lachapelle and drummer Richard Tardif. Standing up from left to right you have the three De Levo brothers who started the band: lead guitarist Jean Guy De Levo, singer Renald De Levo, and bass guitarist Francois De Levo.
The band started as "The Fendertones' in 1963 and switched names to 'The Venturies' in 1964 when they were doing dances and all kinds of other gigs playing all The Ventures songs they could get their hands on. They started attending amateur contests and local battles of the bands and when they won the battle of the bands contest at Montreal's Le Baron Nightclub in the summer of 1964 they won a recording contract with Rusticana Records as the prize. The band name was changed to 'The Napoleons' and they added a singer and vocals to their performances along with costumes that tied into the Napoleon theme.
As 'The Napoleons' our first nightclub performance came in January 1965 at the Le Baron nightclub (them one of the city's most swinging clubs). We were the very first costumed band and many others followed after that (Cesar et les Romains, Les Gendarmes, Goliath & the Philistines, etc.). From that point on we were booked solid until we disbanded in 1969 to pursue other careers.
On the LP there are five songs that were written by band members: ''Fou de Toi', 'Tu Es Partie', 'Reviens', 'Attention', and ''La Vie Sans Toi'. The band wanted to record in English but could not do so at that time in Quebec. You would've heard something nice then. Ironically, 99% of our performances were in English. Another Montreal band "The Haunted" also won a battle of the bands contest, but the first prize in that event was a recording contract with the Toronto-based Quality Records. They were allowed to record in English and went on to score a hit with '1-2-5'.
As far as our album went. the song 'Fou de Toi' was recorded in Autumn 1965 along with 'Tu Es Partie', 'Reviens', 'La Vie Sans Toi', 'Attention', 'Ne M'oublies Pas', and 'Tout S'arrangera'. "Un Jour', 'Je m'en Fou' and 'Je Suis en Amour' were added in early 1966 to complete a ten song album. The band could have put ten of our own compositions on the LP, but the record company forced us to put a couple of well known English tunes, translated into French, instead of an all original set. That's how the French versions of The Beatles 'I Feel Fine' and 'We Can Work It Out' got on there. There were also two Buddy Holly covers: 'Well All Right' (translated as 'Je m'en Fou') and 'Someday' (which is shown as 'Un Jour'). The final cover was Gerry and the Pacemaker's "Ferry Cross the Mercy" ('Ne M'oublies Pas').
Could you imagine ten songslike 'Fou de Toi' and 'Reviens' with Jean Guy De Levo's snarling guitar ??? 'Foi de Toi' was recorded and released in late 1965 to promote the LP which was due for release in early 1966 and finally came out in May/June 1966 after being completed. Another 45 came out in 1967 on the Jeunesse Franco label. 'Nous les Jeunes' was our first protest song [I think it translates roughly as 'We the Young']. 'Mon Amour est Plus Fort Que Tout' was the flip side.
By the way, our father was band manager. After recording the second 45 we were so tired of being fu*ked by record companies that our father cancelled all recording contracts. As a result that aren't many Napoleons records floating around. The two 45s are extremely rare. 'Fou de Toi' was put on sale, but most of the product run was used to promote the parent LP. I remember my father had boxes of the single in the trunk of his car and gave them away at nightclubs, arenas, etc. The second 45 came out and was only pressed in small quantities. I have the master tape for this last 45 with a couple of different takes.
I think I'll let you go for now and like I said, if you want to know anything about this band, just email me and I'll get back to you. I hope I've shed a little light on our band.
Like you said in your article ... "These guys were just as good as their Anglo competition." You were certainly right and it 40 years later it makes me feel good to see comments like that. We didn't care about the money, we didn't care what other jealous bastards thought about us, we only had one thing in mind: play that rock and roll music like it should be played and enjoy seeing people dancing and having a good time and trying to keep us there for the night."
Renald De Levo
September 2005