Do you remember the French band Fantastic!?

I remember their 7″ single on Siesta. The “Montgomery Clift EP” (SIESTA 63) form 1997. That one that was named after the American actor…

Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of “moody, sensitive young men”, according to The New York Times. He is best remembered for his roles in Howard Hawks’s Red River (1948), George Stevens’s A Place in the Sun (1951), Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity (1953), Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and John Huston’s The Misfits (1961).

That EP had four songs, “Starfield” and “Tracey Thorn” on the A side and “Colourbox” and “Smile” on the B side. Yes, how cool to dedicate a song to Tracey from the Marine Girls and Everything But the Girl.

We know from that record who were behind this band. That’s always helpful. We know that Nicolas Baudard was on vocals, Vincent Cconnetable on guitar, Mathieu Bournazel on guitar and backing vocals, Matthieu Leyssallee on drums (called on the sleeve as Swedish Beat), Michel Caillard on piano, guitar and backing vocals and Joel Leyssalle on trombone. Also Jérome Hatif played bass on “Colourbox”.

I suppose that the Leysalle were brothers, Mathieu and Joel. Right?

We know that “Starfield” and “Colourbox” were recorded and mixed in March 1996 at Lutecia Gordon Studio. On the scan from Discogs of the back of the sleeve is hard to read who the producer was. Jean François… and can’t figure out his last name. Yea, I don’t own this record sadly.

The other two songs were recorded in December 1996 at T. Yard Studio by Jean Yves… and again can’t figure out the last name.

I click on Discogs on the band members. I see Vincent has been involvevd in a project called Redondance as of late.

Mathieu and Nicolas have been in a band called Purple Submarine Orchestra.

The band released another record in 2000 that is not as well known. It was a CD EP on the French label Les Disques Aquatic. This EP was titled “Sun: What a Wonderful World” (BUL 02). It included 5 songs, “Fragments”, “Sun: What a Wonderful World!”, “Brian Wilson”, “Supernova” and “Beauty Queen”.

This last song was actually the first song I heard by the band. It was included in the 7″ compilation “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” that the Japanese label Motorway (MOTOR 045) released in 2000. On this compilation they shared the A side with Kosmonaut while on the B side we find The Tyde and Brittle Stars.

The band would also appear on two compilations. On the “Expreso – Otra Recopilación de Canciones de Siesta” 10″ from 1997 (SIESTA 60), the band contributed the song “Smile”. Then in 1999 the band had their song “Brian Wilson” on “Sombrero – La Tercera Recopilación de Canciones de Siesta” (SIESTA 80) that was released on CD and vinyl LP.

The song “Fragments” would be released on the Bordeaux based label Les Disques Aquatic in 1999. It was on a CD called “Soiree Cocktail – An International Collection of Bossa Nova Tunes” (BUL 01). This CD would be re-released in 2001 by L’Appareil-Photo Bis (BIS 09).

Lastly the song “Colourbox” was included on “Blanco y Negro Music for Siesta” released in 2002 by the Japanese label Rambling Records (RBCS-2024).

Then a good find, bot EPs by the band can be streamed on Soundcloud.

What else can I find? Well there’s a Purple Submarine Orchestra Facebook page and there the band has shared some good bits of info about their previous band. First thing we learn is that the band was around 1995 to 2000.

We know too that Les Irockuptibles reviewed their 2nd EP. Also our friend Chris reviewed it on his Indiepages. Both would compare it to The Pale Fountains.

Then we find out that the band was originally called Smile. They had a demo tape in 1995 and was reviewed in the Paris based magazine Magic! We know that the demo tape was called “Montgomery Clift” (the artwork for the tape had a photo of the actor) and included “Colourbox”, “Starfield” and “Vegetable My Superdrug”. It seems that afterwards the band find out there was another band called Smile so they changed their name to Fantastic!

The Parisian band plays the “Le Rock Dans Tous Ses Etats” festival. They open for Tahiti 80.

We know too that before being Fantastic! (or Smile), some band members were in a band called Paperhouse. Are there recordings by them? Would be good to find out!

And that’s what I know about this cool sounding combo! I am sure many of my French friends remember them, so yes, any details you want to share would be great!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Fantastic! – Beauty Queen