MY LADY SUN / ZIGGER ZAGGER

The French band ZIG-ZAG was one of the many French bands of the 70s that performed progressive rock shows and recorded a smattering of original material but never found a label to release the album that they work so hard to create. The band was from Nantes and was amongst the progressive rock bands that was inspired by the zeuhl jazz-rock of Magma. The band existed from 1972 until March 1977 when drummer Antoine Chagnon died in a car accident. While the band never saw an album released until the archival release 'Pi'ces Manquantes 1976' found a much needed home on the Vapeur Mauve label, the band did manage to release one obscure single early on in 1972.

While the Magma inspired zeuhl fusion sounds would emerge shortly thereafter, in the beginning ZIG-ZAG was much more inspired by Aphrodite's Child and the single 'My Lady Sun' sounds like a dead ringer for Vangelis and company with a dreamy 60s inspired psychedelic flavor with thick atmospheres and an instant catchy pop hook complete with contemplative vocals and spaced out backing vocals. The track truly could've been slipped onto the first Aphrodite's Child album, 'End Of The World' and nobody would be able to distinguish this band from Vangelis' early creation. While released in 1972, the track is clearly a throwback to the psychedelic peak years of the late 60s. As the title insinuates, the lyrics for this one are in English and written by Boris Bergman who would later with for Alain Bushung.

The B-side is a completely different beast. While it engages in the same slide guitars as 'My Lady Sun,' this one is more upbeat and is based on gypsy folk with a busy violin and is completely instrumental as opposed to the mopey A-side. It oddly reminds me of the future song 'Sultans Of Swing' that would be recorded by Dire Straits several years down the road but i very much doubt that Mark Knopfler and his friends ever would've come across this so i assume the connection is in the Balkan swing grooves that have inspired many Western bands over the decades.

While this would be the only recording to emerge in the 70s, ZIG-ZAG would completely reinvent itself sounding absolutely nothing like these two songs and in the process create some of the most interesting zeuhl sounds of the entire French scene and although the music wouldn't find a proper release until 2014, the band was successful as a live act in not only Nantes but in much of Western France throughout the 70s with much more interesting progressive material to come. Although neither of these tracks are particularly original, they certainly are well performed and nicely produced. These early years was the time when the Anglophobic red flags were being raised and the push for more French language music was underway and while most bands complied, others like ZIG-ZAG went to the more surreal avenues where the vocals were language free and were simply another instrument.

3.5 but rounded down