Artist: Alain Kan
Album: Heureusement En France, On Ne Se Drogue Pas
Label: Disques Motors
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZsA-cCWPXU&list=RDsZsA-cCWPXU&start_radio=1
Style: French chanson, rock
Alain Michel Zisa is a French artist who is almost as cult as he is unknown. Too ahead of his time for some, too marginal for others, he speaks openly about his homosexuality and drug use, which at the time led to him being simply censored by the media system. Adding to his legend, he literally disappeared in 1990 after being seen for the last time on a subway platform; he was declared dead ten years later without anyone ever being able to explain what had happened to him.
Having never known his father, he took his stepfather’s name and became Christophe’s brother-in-law when Christophe married his half-sister Véronique. He began his career in the early 1960s with a few singles and maxi singles, covers of Anglo-Saxon hits in a pop style, which did not have much impact. On Dani’s advice, he joined the Alcarzar revue, playing an androgynous character named Amédée Jr. There, he met established artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and Barbara. During this period, one of his songs was censored for the first time: “Mon p’tit photographe,” written for Dani.
Gradually, his “cabaret song” style evolved into a glam rock sound heavily inspired by the British pop of the time, particularly David Bowie, whom he claims to have spent a few days with during a trip to England and whose songs he often covered. His first album, Et Gary Cooper s’éloigna dans le désert… (And Gary Cooper Walked Away Into the Desert…), was released in 1975 and featured former Magma member Laurent Thibault. The album had little impact, being too far removed from mainstream pop and too subversive in its lyrics. Alain Kan nevertheless repeated the experiment the following year with Heureusement En France, On Ne Se Drogue Pas, which remained in the same glam spirit but with longer tracks, incorporating hints of psychedelic sounds or at least leaving more room for the possibilities offered by the studio, as in the music of Jacques Higelin during the same period. In fact, it is Jacques Higelin who comes to mind when listening to the track “Dracula.” Alain Kan demonstrates his great interpretive abilities, moving from harmonious, light singing to a voice full of anger or an almost unreal way of speaking when he covers Édith Piaf’s “Les Blouses Blanches.” Although not necessarily intended for a wide audience, the tracks with lyrics focused on illicit substances earned the record censorship, resulting in very limited distribution. For the next album, he took a step closer to the emerging punk movement and, whether out of pure naivety or deliberate provocation, the artist went even further in his excesses. Wanting to mock it, he included excerpts from a speech by Adolf Hitler. Of course, the censors were unforgiving: the record was pulped.
Today, his first three albums—mentioned in this review—can be listened to on streaming sites for the Motors label, and Heureusement En France, On Ne Se Drogue Pas is relatively easy to find on vinyl. We can therefore immerse ourselves in a time of transition, alongside a wholehearted and inspired artist, a figure of the French underground, close to Daniel Darc and Fred Chichin of Les Rita Mitsouko.