Mary Goes Round – Sunset

Following on from 70 Suns In The Sky, Mary Goes Round reissued their debut mini album Sunset with a selection of bonus tracks on CD. Due to popular demand…well a couple of requests, here is an edited history of the band with some edited reviews translated from French music magazines of the time.

The first appearance of Jérôme Avril (guitar/vocals) and Cécile Balladino (keyboards) together on stage was in 1986 at the Rex Club in Paris. Taking their first steps as Red Light (the band was special guest for Sonic Youth), this can be considered as the very début of Mary Goes Round. Playing a key role in the creation of the band, Maurice (bass guitar) and Gilbert Correy (drums) originally introduced Jérôme to Cécile. This gig was the only event for the band at this time as they had no real prospects until they were given the opportunity to have a song released on the compilation Unreleased [Volume 1] in 1987. For this occasion, The Shelter was recorded and the name Mary Goes Round was finally chosen. This version of The Shelter is the only studio recording MGR ever did with a drummer. Nothing really important happened after that until MGR was asked to participate in the Unreleased [Volume 2] compilation one year later. MRG recorded The Nightmare this time with a drum machine to replace Gilbert who was still in the band but absent. After this second compilation, MGR decided to produce their own album without Gilbert who by this time had definitely left the band. MGR recorded a five song demo that led the band to a distribution deal with New Rose, the infamous independent French label record. Eventually, the mini-album Sunset, was released in 1989.

Already noticed on the Présage label’s Unreleased [Vol 1+2] compilations, Mary Goes Round confirmed their talent with a mini-album that is timeless and arouses curiosity. The content largely rewards the listener with quality, described by popular sayings as an ugly defect. The disc opens with a devastating title to The Sisters of Mercy, 'Mary Sleeps Alone' and continues in the same mode to finish in two pictorial beats, one of which, very short, gives its title to the album. Mary Goes Round combines energy and emotional power, racy melodies, synthetic keys, brilliant guitars (a clear but distorted, heroic or crystalline sound, which is found from song to song like a signature). The group has its roots in pop music from the seventies and rewraps these psychedelic colours with the spleen of the eighties. Others before them followed the same path, it sounds familiar but if the compositions hang from the first listen, it is still more by their own potential than by such or such simplistic reference.

Mary Goes Round - 70 Suns In The Sky

Mary Goes Round are French and like the Cure. They probably spend hours gazing into misted mirrors, staring at their spots, pondering wistfully the meaning of life, Dostoyevsky, and wondering whether the girl next door really is in love with that brute she hangs out with. They own records by long-forgotten misery combos like Crispy Ambulance, Modern English, Minny Pops, and rue the day New Order ever stopped playing that atmospheric majesty Oxfam suit stuff. Just like the rest of us, in fact! Yes, there's no doubting the lasting appeal of Miserable Bastards In Rock and Mary Goes Round's debut is a moody and mystical blighter that just reeks of Simon Gallup basslines, Eldritch interviews and that Long Mac Feeling. That said, it boasts as fine a grasp of the art of pop as any French singer has since 'Ca Plane Pour Moi'. Songs like 'Mary's Garden' and 'Useless Days' (title!) are full of swirling keyboards, forelock-tugging riffs and ominous drum sounds, while 'Any Mary I See' is The Cure of 'Pornography' days, but hell, they sound good enough. There's nothing here that hasn't been heard before, but plenty to please those of us still in awe of Smith's 'Primary'.