aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser
#085: Les Rita Mitsouko – ‘C’est Comme Ça’ (Virgin Records ’86)
Dear friends,
if you’re lucky, this one will turn out to be rather a brief piece, because I don’t know all too much about today’s band, I must confess. Well, I know about their beginnings, but nothing about what they did after 1986.
Probably I should investigate further here, I mean, based on the strength of their first works, it could well be worthwhile to do so, I reckon.
But today we go back to the mid 80s (again). Les Rita Mitsouko (Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin) came together in 1979, had two singles in 1982, but did not release their first album before 1984. They were still called Rita Mitsouko back then, but apparently people thought that it was a lady called Rita Mitsouko doing the singing bits, so they decided to add the ‘Les’ to their name. It was Rita because Catherine was very fond of Rita Hayworth, the actor, and ‘Mitsuko’ is a Japanese first name, which roughly means ‘mystique’.
So thinking about this all, I guess I better should have filed them under ‘L’ in the singles box (I always thought the ‘Les’ just meant ‘The’), but now that’s too late, obviously. Ah well, every day is a school day …
Anyway, if you don’t know their debut album, you will surely know one of the singles from it, ‘Marcia Baïla’ – this tune was their breakthrough, I think it’s fair to say. They moved to Cologne to have it produced by Conny Plank, him of Neu! – fame and this may or may not be one reason why they were quickly seen as t.h.e. Avantgarde cult band of the time.
Still, as ace as ‘Marcia Baïla’ is, it’s nothing compared to my favourite of theirs, ‘C’est Comme Ça’ from their second album from 1986, ‘The No Comprendo’. The whole album, produced by Tony Visconti, is neat, but this single is simply great! Obviously there are a lot of records from this era which haven’t aged particularly well. ‘C’est Comme Ça’, at least to these ears, sounds as fresh as ever – and the same goes for the absolutely fantastic video which accompanied it back then. Do yourself a real favour, watch it at immense volume at the earliest opportunity (and while you’re at it, watch the one for ‘Marcia Baïla’ too, it’s great as well)!!
mp3: Les Rita Mitsouko – C’est Comme Ça
Les Rita Mitsouko went on and worked with Sparks, Iggy Pop, Killing Joke, just to name a few. But then, sadly, Fred Chichin suddenly died of cancer in 2007, just 53 years of age. Unbeknownst to me, Catherine Ringer had continued with music, her latest album seems to be from 2020.
As I said at the start, perhaps I should try to explore the band’s back catalogue – or hers.
Enjoy,
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I also came to Les Rita Mitsouko via the tremendous “C’est Comme Ça” which like many things in the mid-80s had an MTV vector of infection. Specifically their “International Hour” was an ear-expanding show I never missed. That was where the seeds of my late 80s Francophile phase were scattered and planted. The Mondino video and song were infectious. And US Virgin actually released “The No Comprendo” album Stateside. On LP only, but I quickly bought the first album and that one on CD from catalogs. I kept up with Les Rita Mitsouko, buying their subsequent CD, “Marc Et Robert” in my fave local store as an import. And then the “Re” remix album from a catalog again in 1990. Then the band seemed to fall off the face of the earth for me with no mentions reaching my eyes until about six or seven years later. On the internet. But I’ve never heard the 1993-2007 albums but remain hopeful. It was a tragedy when Fred died suddenly and I have Catherine’s solo albums also on the infinite want list.
What a fun song! You’re going to have to acquire some more singles to keep this series going, Dirk.
New to me- and a total joy. Thank you.