Everybody Was In The French Resistance…NOW!
Fixin’ The Charts, Volume One
Cooking Vinyl; 2010
Guest Contributor: Jen Broadwell
How many projects does one man need? Eddie Argos’ plethora of English indie rock collaborations includes Art Brut, The Art Goblins, and Glam Chops, with a talk-sing technique affixed to a South London accent being common in all three. Glam Chops pokes fun at 70’s glam rock by writing songs like “Baby Jesus Was The First Glam Rocker” and spoofing a revival. The Art Goblins are more offensive in their raw demo EP, Fuck the MSP, to the point that some fans of Argos’ other material may not be satisfied. Art Brut, the most successful and critically appreciated of the three, has released four full-length albums and a bootleg EP titled Brutlegs.
In his newest effort, Argos takes his sarcastic approach a bit further. Everybody Was In The French Resistance mixes the nonsense wit of Art Brut with a reaction to famous pop tunes. Now, rather than writing stories like “The Passenger” that parallel Seinfeldian nothingness, Argos makes light of popular culture by playing off referential subjects within established songs as part of a project he’s calling Fixin’ The Charts, Volume One.
In “Billie’s Genes,” Argos is the offspring of Michael Jackson and Billie Jean; i.e. Billie‘s genes. The song begins with a variation of the original lead and also adopts the repeated phrase, “My mother always told me.” In this case, however, those lyrics are followed by “I was a surprise, not a mistake. She never regretted the chance she had to take.”
Kanye West advises the “gold digger” to stand by her companion while he truly strives to meet her needs. On the other hand, Argos plays a gold-digging musician who clings to the long shot of becoming famous as he indolently avoids employment in his song “Coal Digger.” His songwriting alibi goes like this, “I know it looks a lot like I’ve just been lying in bed. I’ve been working really hard writing songs in my head.” He repeats Kanye’s lyrics “This week I mop floors / Next week I make fries” emphatically as an accomplishment to be recognized and hopes his “sugar mamma” will notice the ambitious look in his eye.
When Bob Dylan said “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” did he really mean it? Was it alright that she wasted his time, that she never talked to him, or never called out his name? Furthermore, because he was treated this way, did he really wish she would not think twice about his leaving? Or, did he secretly want her to “think and then think again” as Argos would have it in his brooding “Think Twice (It’s Not Alright).” A sweet and slowly precise piano ripple lead us through his plea. After all, “The good times were good, even the bad were okay.”
Who would want to go back to a women who is unable to resist another man while he is away? Certainly not Argos – aka Jimmy Mack. He heard what Martha Reeves (and the Vendellas) had to say and he decided that “if that’s your attitude, I’m never coming back. Ever!” Argos believes that absence should make the heart grow fonder. Instead, it made Reeves want to wander. She tells Jimmy, “This boy keep’s a comin’ ’round. He’s tryin’ to wear my resistance down.” Argos questions, “Who’s this guy hanging around? Being persistent, wearing you down?” Then he begs, “Come on now, more resistance. True love lasts long distance.”
With song after song, Argos muddles the impressed message of its classic counterpart giving us something funny to relate it to. Moreover, this album features a regular gaggle of horns and less guitar heavy noise all around, which I found to be a refreshing divergence from Argos’ other products. Bob Dylan taught many people that you don’t need to be able to sing in order to be a singer. I think Argos realized that, since Dylan had a bad voice (but was a great poet), he could have a bad voice as long as he was a good comedian. And to my ears, he’s certainly made it work.
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Jen Broadwell is a music blogger from Houston, TX who runs the site Music Artiste. She enjoys attending local show and writing scene reviews and interviews. She also enjoys indie festivals and national indie shows and often posts her thoughts on such events, along with new music videos. Since her hobby doesn’t pay the bills, she works for the University of Houston in Development.