L'autore, Ian Thompson, fino a sette-otto anni fa poco o nulla sapeva della scena rockettara francese post sessantottesca, quella controculturale e più anticonformista, alternativa e innovatrice. Poi però ha preso a studiarla, con impegno. E con buon esito, come dimostra in Synths, Sax & Situationists - The French Musical Underground 1968-1978, bel tomo di cinquecento pagine pubblicato a Melbourne da Roundtable Books dove ora cita con competenza Lard Free, Fille Qui Mousse, Gong, Clearlight, Moving Gelatine Plates, Magma, Jac Berrocal, Étron Fou Leloublan, Un Drame Musical Instantané, Philippe Besombes e Heldon tra i molti altri, partendo dal maggio studentesco, dallo sviluppo della stampa indipendente e dalle vicende legate alla circolazione di materiali discografici autoprodotti. E dal festival di Amougies.
Dice Thompson: "Until April 2017 all I really knew of French music pre-Daft Punk was a list of half-remembered bands and soloists: Métal Urbain, Cerrone, Jean-Michel Jarre, Magma, Malicorne, Heldon, Gwendal... I did know and love Gong! But were they even French? I’d been to Paris quite a few times in the 10 years before Covid, but had rarely stepped into a French record shop. Strange for a musician and musicophile - but true. It was into Crocodisc on Rue des Écoles that I made my first serious foray. I was on a mission to find the French picture-sleeve 45 of See Emily Play, and in my search I stumbled across a whole rack of LPs labeled “Prog Français”. That was a new one on me - I vaguely knew of Magma and Heldon, but here was a whole section packed with French progressive and underground rock. It didn’t take me long to discover that the French underground music scene of the ’70s was incredibly fertile, producing brilliant music in almost every genre. After reading everything I could find written on the topic (obvious mostly in French), translating a multitude of articles (from Rock & Folk, Actuel, Pop 2000, etc), and interviewing more than 40 musicians from the scene, Synths, Sax & Situationists is finally ready."
https://french-underground.com
https://thee-roundtable.com/synths-sax-situationists