Les Fleurs de Pavot (1968)

Way cool French pop psych album with some great songs. This band spent some time in the Hashbury, and the c.d. reissue contains a few good photos of them actually there, so you know they are not messing about!!!

Originally released in 1968, the now impossible to find self titled album by Les Fleurs De Pavot is considered as the first psychedelic/hippie record from France. A veil of mystery surrounded the real origins of the band at the time... according to their press release, they were formed by a couple of hippies, Groovy Pat from London and Jesus from San Francisco who met at some Soft Machine shows in Paris... the reality was more unglamorous: Les Fleurs De Pavot were in fact a twist band called Bourgeois De Calais, transformed into exploitation acid-eater hippies by their manager JP Rawson. The album was produced by the genius tandem of Jean Claude Vannier (famous for his involvement on Gainsbourg's Melody Nelson album) & Bernard Estardy (Nino Ferrer's organist / sound engineer). An explosive mix of psychedelic pop, yeyé music & bizarre studio experimentation featuring 12 superb tracks full of fuzz guitars, groovy vocals and swirling organ with very explicit drug related lyrics. Music ranges from mod psych dancefloor smashers like 'A Degager' to the final six minute lysergic freak-out 'Le Rateau De La Meduse' and even one cool bossa track."