La Varieté

Artist: Weekend
Label: Vinyl Japan
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 5021969127329
ASIN: B00004XN3H

Release Date: 2001-01-16

La Varieté

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

End of the Affair
Weekend Stroll
Summerdays
Carnival Headache
Drum Beat for Baby
Life in the Day of..., Pt. 1
Life in the Day of..., Pt. 2
Sleepy Theory
Woman's Eyes
Weekend Off
Red Planes
Nostalgia
Drumbeat [*]
Red Planes [*]
Nostalgia [*]
Summerdays [*][Instrumental]

Album Description

2000 reissue of the 1982 debut album for UK indie act featuring Alison Stratton and Spike of Young Marble Giants. A jazzier follow-up to their 1980 release 'Colossal Youth'. Includes four bonus tracks taken from 'The 81 Demos', 'Drumbeat', 'Red Planes', 'Nostalgia' and 'Summerdays' (Instrumental). Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Every day's a Weekend with this All Time Classic!.......2006-09-30

If someone had the good sense to invite me onto Desert Island Discs, I'd have to include this bouquet of pure gorgeousness in my personal top ten records of all time. La Varieté is utterly timeless, completely brilliant and fully accessible. It is a record that anyone can appreciate. But its accessibility is not achieved at the price of compromise, because la Varieté is, in every respect, transcendent.

"View From Her Room" and others are on the Weekend's collective "Archive".......2005-07-03

The previous Rough Trade singles and live LP "Live At Ronnie Scotts" are compiled on one CD called "Archive". If you own the original CD release, the live set is the only thing new.

Otherwise I can't add anything the other reviews haven't said already. Check out the Swamp Children for like-minded sound.

Young Pioneers.......2003-12-01

An odd album by a short-lived group whose ambitions were totally out of synch with the prevailing aesthetic of the early 80's, La Variete has nonetheless proven to be surprisingly seminal, directly or indirectly influencing the work of Saint Etienne, the Cardigans, Ivy, the Sundays, Cinnamon, Club 8, Le Mans, Belle and Sebastian, and almost the entire Shelflife Records roster. La Variete is the touchstone of the genre that has come (rather unfairly) to be called "twee."

What Weekend and their later followers share is a love of 60's jet-set music, a continuum that ranges from bossa to film scores, calypso, Swinging London, French pop, and cocktail jazz. That Weekend can't approach the musical skills of Jobim or Francoise Hardy is of little consequence, as their lovingly amateurish approach is for the most part very winning. The settings here are wistful, delicate, and moody, and the songwriting witty but sincere. The instrumentation is organic, and the arrangements and production values dry, cool, and detail-oriented--quite the opposite of the Steve Lillywhite-driven school of production that was in the ascendant when this was recorded.

La Variete is intimate, beautiful, slightly melancholy record; it makes me think of streetlights in Paris shining through bare trees on a rainy evening. Or something like that. Buy it.

Another Grail unearthed.......2002-11-13

The missing link between Astrud Gilberto and the Supreme Beings Of Leisure, Weekend arrived just a tad too early (1981) to cash in on the "lounge" revival that eventually followed in thier wake. I had searched for years for anything (vinyl or CD) by this band, with no luck until this release. All I had to go on was a mix tape I've had since 1981 (recorded off a Bay Area college radio station) that contained one Weekend song that has become one of my all-time favorites (I never had caught the title, unfortunately). I'm assuming now that that song must be "The View From Her Room", the "missing" tune on this reissue mentioned by another reviewer. That dissapointment aside, I'm happy to report that the selections that made it to this disc all merit your attention if you enjoy the samba/jazz/pop hybrid style. Imagine a more organic-sounding Swing Out Sister without the lush orchestrations and that nails the Weekend sound. Obscure but worthwhile.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Chill Factor ~ Richard Elliot

Maroons ~ Geri Allen

The Concord Jazz Heritage Series ~ Charlie Byrd

Fiabe ~ Stefano Battaglia

What Am I Here For? ~ Susan Krebs

Elegance V.1: Relax in the Mood ~ Various Artists

Folklore of the Andes 2 ~ Various Artists

Live@rtsi ~ Francesco Guccini

Anefas Trankil ~ Akli D

Good Dreams ~ Roosters