Paris Violence - Premiers Combats en Rhénanie

Islika Produktions

 

Although 2019 will celebrate the 25th anniversary of French outfit Paris Violence, these ‘Oi!-wave’ veterans have only performed live one single time. Germany’s Back On The Streets Festival had the honors back in 2015 – on the 24th of July to be more precise – and this concert was obviously recorded live. Mixed and mastered by Nonna (of the band 1984), a portion of this unique event has now been released on CD through the band’s own Islika Produktions!

 

But despite living in 2018, I am still afraid that a live CD will sound like a poor bootleg. Ridiculous of course, because just like every other release I thought this of, the sound quality of “Premiers Combats en Rhénanie” is raw (it’s Oi! performed live after all), yet top notch!

 

Earlier I mentioned that a portion of the concert is released through this CD, only assuming Paris Violence’s set lasted longer than the seven songs available on “Premiers Combats en Rhénanie”. Despite being short, the track list features a nice variety of songs from the Parisians’ extensive discography, though all were originally released in the late 90’s and early 00’s. From golden oldies like “Made In Paris” and “Mort À Crédit” (late 90’s) to “Budapest 56” (‘99/’00), “Douche Froide” (’01), “Ungern-Sternberg” (’01) and last – but certainly not least – “Les Dieux S’Ennuient” and “En Disgrace” from 2003’s LP “En Attendant L’Apocalypse”, you’ll find it all on this CD that lasts over 27 minutes nonetheless!

 

Unfortunately the sound quality of the last two songs ( “Ungern-Sternberg” and “Made In Paris”) is poor. At first I thought I read on the sleeve that they were recorded without an audience (during a sound check or whatever), but apparently my French is a bit rusty (to say the least), because it turned out they were recorded by the audience. Other than that “Premiers Combats en Rhénanie” sounds great, the eight-page booklet is filled with an incredible amount of photos and you know Paris Violence and Islika Produktions – it’s limited to just 100 copies! Nice!