Songs (click on the -icons for a small audio-sample)
1. Elle est là
2. Merde à l'amour
3. Non dis non
4. As-tu déjà aimé?
5. Attaque surprise
6. Je ne sais pa jouer sans cendrier
7. Je n'ai pas peur
8. On s'amuse
9. Télephoner
10. Bonne Anniversaire
11. Poursuite
12. Danser
13. Je ne veux pas
14. Emmanuelle
15. VLF

Lyrics & Music : Els Pynoo / Vive la Fête, except "On s'amuse" : Dean Ween, Claude Coleman, Godeville.

Musicians :
- Els Pynoo : vocals, synths
- Danny Mommens : vocals, bass, guitar, synths, groovebox, violin
- Piet Jorens : drums, synths, vocals
Gasten :
- Jean Wijgers : drums
- Dean Ween & Claude Coleman : bass, guitar, organ, drums
- Godeville : vocals
- Lieve Pynoo : vocals

recorded with Roland-Homestudio. Mixed in El Frente Arte - Ronda (Spain).
artwork : Vive la Fête and Onno.

My opinion

Started as a joke; picked up after the release of their first EP in 1998; summery radio-hit with the minimal "je ne veux pas"; live-act put together when the fashion-world in Paris waved big money at them; dissaccord with the first record label (Kinky Star); founded a new (sub)label with Lowlands (Surprise); the home-recorded material flung onto a CD in 2000: that's in telegraphese the past of Vive La Fête, consisting of Danny Mommens (previously known as Danny Cool Rocket, member of SexMachines and bass-player of dEUS), his girl-friend Els Pynoo (a girl from Kortrijk with a fixation towards the warm South) and (most of the time) Piet Jorens and Aldo Struyf.
According to me, "Vive La Fête" is still a joke, but luckily it's also very "charmant", quite "sexy" and at times pretty "catchy". The french that is used in the lyrics isn't exactly stuff that will impress the "Académie Française", but I don't think anyone will hold that against them (the english or dutch won't really notice, and the french find it part of the appeal). On a musical level, there is also some Gitanes-smoke spiralling out of the songs ("Je N'ai Pas Peur" could've been Gainsbarre), but there's just as much inspiration found in all kinds of "wave" from the eighties (ranging from the airy electropop of The Honeymoon Killers and Lio to dark synth-tapestries à la Remo Remo, from the hopping rhythms of The Cure to heavey Stooges-riffs), with on top of that always the poppy melodies and seductive voice of Els.
The surprise-effect (as the title goes) of the debut cd is gone by now, but instead of that have come a higher degree of sophistication and nice finishing touches. And ... strangely enough ... the combination works. Not that there will be a huge "fête" erupting when you put the cd on (as the groupname promises), but the results are credible, have no real lows and won't give your yawn-muscles a chance.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This Album in the Press

- Peter van Dyck in Knack-Agenda : "... Franstalige knuffelpop met een hoog eightiesgehalte, coldwave meets Serge Gainsbourg, met zo nu en dan een alternatief, schreeuwerig randje ... Het hangt van je smaak af of je nummers als "Non dis non" of "Bonne Anniversaire" grappig dan wel klef vindt. Air maakt hoe dan ook met dezelfde ingrediënten spannender bereidingen".
- cp in Rif-Raf (B-fr) : "Dans la vieille tradition des duos/couples francophones ou du moins francophiles, Vive la Fête propose une variété synthétique, rétro et légèrement naïve, inspirée de la pop des sixties et de l'electro 80'. ... Un must pour vrais amateurs sucreries pop"
- at Lowlands (their distributor) : "Danny Mommens (deus) and Els Pynoo dig into their sweetest memories to come up with wave and french chanson inna 2000 jacket. ... Post-elektro-pop without complexity is what vive la fête serves here in a combination with sex and drugs …".
- hz in Rif-Raf (B-Nl) : "Met "Attaque Surprise" hebben Danny Mommens en Els Pynoo een allersympathiekst plaatje gemaakt ... Vive la Fête steelt als de raven, maar doet dit met buitengewoon veel zwier en stijl en zin voor humor. Els Pynoo zingt overigens op een onwaarschijnlijk geile manier die je ... bij Serge Gainsbourg en zijn madammen doet belanden".
- hs in Ultra : "... the live incarnation of Vive La Fête holds much more promise than what is evident from this record. And I guess I am sick and tired of hearing every Belgian journalist raving about this record and comparing it to the sixties work of Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Dutronc. That is blatantly undeserved. She sings in French, true, but even in her best moments Miss Pynoo still sounds like Lio on Prozac. And the only Gainsbourg influence I discovered can be nothing else than that poor 'nylon' sound of Gainsbarre's worst eighties tracks. Very disappointing record".
- in MAD (Le Soir) : "Nos nouveaux Gains-bourg-Birkin se sont lancés dans une opération à prendre au second degré (les textes sont limités mais bon, imaginez Birkin en néerlandais!), avec des chansons souvent minimalistes, pop dans l'esprit à la Daho, à tendance bubble-gum et parfois «destroy» genre Brigitte Fontaine".

Did you see a good (or bad) review of this album ? Tell me about it !

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on March 10, 2000, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	569	0	569 Bef.	Frontstage
Azur	753	0	753 Bef.
Proxis	527	20 + 30	577 Bef.	Proxis

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

More about this group :

- Vive La Fête-bio in this archive
- Management : Musickness tel 32.3.253.15.88. Fax 32.3.254.01.25.
- Lowlands : Hoornstraat 6 - 2000 Antwerpen. Tel : 32.3.226.70.08. lowlands@innet.be

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