Mad Martian: Space Art

Mad Martian Tribute To
Space Art

*NEW NEWS* Space Art's second album is finally available on CD! Order now through the Forced Exposure web site.

Space Art is Dominique Perrier (keyboards) and Roger Rizzitelli (percussion), two guys from France who were pioneers in the world of electronic music. They recorded three albums that I know of before Dominique went off to do other projects, like playing with Jean Michel Jarre on "Concerts in China". Their activities after the third album are otherwise unknown. The production dates are not listed on any of the albums, but I believe they were recorded during the late seventies. The 8-bit mono excerpts here don't even begin to do the music justice. Space Art is unquestionably the greatest electronic music group that ever existed. The albums can be found more easily than you might think in used record stores, even though they were only available as French imports.

Space Art
IF Records #CA631-67173
Onyx [389k]
Axius [232k]
Space Art's first album was truly amazing. Wondrous haunting melodies that flowed from song to song almost seemed to tell a story.

Trip In The Head Center / Trip In The Center Head
IF Records #CA631-67213
Watch It [263k]
L'obsession d'Archibald [416k]
The second album was just as good as the first, giving us distinct melodies that did not flow from one to the next like the songs on the first album, but told amazing stories within themselves. This album contains my favorite Space Art piece, "L'obsession d'Archibald". It is interesting to note that the album was released with two different titles. One was "Trip In The Head Center" and the other was "Trip In The Center Head". It is unknown if this was accidental or on purpose and which one is more rare. The music is identical on both. This album is now available on CD with the "Center Head" title on the Spalax label. The CD includes two extra tracks.

Play Back
WAVES Records #CA651-67575
Jaures [281k]
Parakeet Island [221k]
Love Machine [433k]
This was a very weird album. Space Art gave us electronic, jazz, disco, and even TV game show tunes this time. Were they experimenting? Who knows. A couple good tunes managed to surface none the less, but the last half of side 2 degrades into disco/jazz fusion with the embarrassment "Welcome To Love". I cringe when that song plays. Another unusual detour is found in "Love Machine", which has actual singing, sort of. This rock tune sounds more like a Kraftwerk spoof than Space Art, but is as catchy as it is silly.

What happened to Space Art? Was the experimental "Play Back" their undoing? Did they put out more stuff and I just don't know about it? Shortly after the release of Play Back, JEM Records, the U.S. distributor for Space Art's albums, went belly up. It is possible more albums were produced but never made it to the U.S. Any faxes I have sent to Carrere, the French distributor for all three albums, have gone unanswered.