Notes from France & 10000 Maniacs

[Justin Bur <justin@iro.umontreal.ca>]

For people with European televisions and laserdisc players:
The Whole Story in PAL format seen at the Virgin Megastore
Paris for 204 FF (about US $34).  30 cm CD video; 55 min;
PolyGram 080 504-1.  Note that French TV format is SECAM,
but a lot of British material is available in PAL in France.
Quite hopeless for North America, of course.

New single from the Sugarcubes: Regina (seen in Karlsruhe,
W. Germany).  On German Rough Trade, licensed from One Little
Indian.  The 8 cm CD single also contains Hot Meat (a self-
parody of Coldsweat), Hey, and Regina again in Icelandic.
Sugarcubes are in concert at the Olympia in Paris on
30 October.  I'll be back in Montreal by then.

The Fnac (major French record-book-stereo-everything chain)
promises that the new Kate Bush single will be out by the
end of the week.  A whole four days' delay to cross the
Channel!  grrr!  In the meantime, I'm listening to Blind
Man's Zoo, the recent album by 10000 Maniacs (from Boston
or somewhere in that part of the USA, I think).  Most of
the songs are very pleasant just to listen to the music,
but the lyrics are always very strong.  And the words are
well chosen, so that particularly attractive phrases keep
sticking in my mind.  At least with the European CD, the
booklet contains translations of the lyrics into German,
French, Italian, and Spanish.  I hope that at least the
French translation is provided on the Canadian edition.
10000 Maniacs are at the Bataclan in Paris on 16 October.

justin