Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Best Off '2006

Tracks list

 2016 restock; originally released in 2006. Ze Records presents a compilation
of some of the best work from Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Having already established
herself as Paris punk muse as a correspondent for Rock News, in 1978 Lizzy
Mercier Descloux moved permanently to New York City and took a huge empty loft
in Soho with friends Patti Smith and Michel Esteban, who would later go on to
found Ze Records. They used the space as a workshop to play guitar, produce art
and music. Under this incredibly influential umbrella, Lizzy and DJ Banes
started a pretty obscure and nervous combo called Rosa Yemen. Drawing from the
fertile grounds of punk, new wave and avant garde from the likes of Arto
Lindsay, Lydia Lunch, James Chance/White and the rest of the new Ze Records
signings, Lizzy eventually produced her own infamous first full-length Press
Color (1979), which sounded like nothing that came before it, with angular
guitar raves, feminine punk scrawls, and African-influenced dance beats, all
liberated by Lizzys yelps. Her versions of Fire and Mission Impossible would
soon fill the dance floors in Tokyo, London, Paris and Berlin, signalling the
transition from the grit of punk to the cheekiness of New Wave. Lizzy continued
to expand her palette by recording in the Bahamas, South America and South
Africa, recruiting musicians who would bring their diverse worldbeat influences
to develop soul/funk/dance/no wave crossbreed records of inimitable originality.
For her second record, Mambo Nassau (1981), Lizzy would work with Steve Stanley
(who would also work with Grace Jones, and the Tom Tom Club) and employ the
talents of Wally Badarou (Herbie Hancock, Level 42, Black Uhuru) as well as no
wave founding father Arto Lindsay. After much acclaim for her next record
Gazelles (1984) which won Album of the Year award in Paris, she then went on to
record One From the Soul, in which she collaborated with Brazilian musicians and
jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. After one more somewhat unsuccessful release, and
some appearances in films, Lizzy moved to the West Indies, devoting herself to
her painting, though she would record one last, unreleased album in 1995. Best
Off is a compilation of the most riveting of Lizzys work, showcasing worldbeat,
discordant punk, celebratory no wave, boisterous Latin-infused funk, to comprise
a joyful, frenetic celebration of this pioneering, unforgettable artist. 
:: TRACKLIST ::

1 Fire 5:11
2 Torso Corso 1:49
3 Mission Impossible 2.0 2:18
4 Hard-Boiled Babe 4:22
5 Five Troubles Mambo 2:12
6 Sun Is Shining 2:19
7 Le Baisers DAmants 3:50
8 Its You Sort Of 2:15
9 Penelope 3:27
10 Wakwazulu Kwezizulu Rock 2:59
11 Mais Ou Sont Passées Les Gazelles? 3:11
12 Abyssinia 3:02
13 Fog Horn Blues 4:05
14 One For The Soul 3:48
15 My Funny Valentine 3:52
16 Gypsy Flame 3:05
17 The Long Goodbye 5:21
18 Calypso Moguls Tender Dub 4:52
19 Taller 4:20
20 Bayadere 3:43
21 Rouge Gorge 3:08

Tracks 1 to 4 from the album Press Color
Tracks 5 to 8 from the album Mambo Nassau
Tracks 9 to 12 from the album Zulu Rock
Tracks 13 to 15 from the album One For The Soul
Tracks 16 to 18 from the album Suspense
Tracks 19 to 21 from the Lost Album

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