The Mute label launched a
Telex reissue campaign in April 2021 with this sampling from the Belgian electro-pop trio's catalog and archive. It's non-definitive, starting and finishing with previously unreleased (if characteristically fun and frivolous) versions of
Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" and
the Beatles' "Dear Prudence," and excluding some high points, such as the fantastic "Brainwash." Just as
Telex delighted in monkeying with pop history, they have never been precious about their own past, game to remix themselves and have their work remixed by other producers. That ideology continues on
This Is Telex, with surviving members
Dan Lacksman and
Michael Moers (the brilliant
Marc Moulin died in 2008) supplying a new mix of each selection. The tracks, however, are often simply leaner than the originals, the changes likely imperceptible to listeners revisiting the material for the first time in a while. Spanning the group's first single to their last album, from a bopping update of early French rock & roll tune "Twist à Saint-Tropez" to a low-throbbing take on
Sparks' "The Number One Song in Heaven," it makes for an appealing introduction that spurs greater curiosity instead of satisfying it (i.e., its intent). The mix of originals and remakes is fairly balanced. "Moskow Diskow," essentially a merry and supercharged spin on
Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express," is in its rightful prominent place. Also included is the group's next U.S. club chart placement, "Euro-vision" (their 1980 entry in the like-named contest), the daffy "L'amour Toujours," and a comically rigid "Dance to the Music" that swaps out the celebratory spirit of
Sly & the Family Stone's original version for ulterior menace. Although "Brainwash" is missed, among the included are two other tart tunes off Sex, a 1981 album for which
Sparks' Mael brothers supplied all the lyrics. For
Telex, there is no better home than Mute.
Daniel Miller launched the label in 1978, the year
Telex debuted, and established it with projects such as his own
Silicon Teens, another mischievous act of pop-revisionist futurism. ~ Andy Kellman