Disco Sunday #30: Trans-X “Living on Video”
Two addictive synth-fromage melody lines intertwining across a Stacey Q meets Bobby Orlando hi-NRG bounce. A female singer trades curt vaguely French phrases with an incomprehensibly vocodered male vox and a second female voice, and the only English word I can make out is a frequently repeated “Stop!”
And that is the sum total of the psychoacoustic fragment of this song stuck on repeat in my head for years and years before I accidentally unlocked its secrets in one of those serendipitous Youtube moments one day:
Video: “Living on Video” – Trans-X
Eureka! It’s 1981’s “Living on Video” by the Canadian hi-NRG outfit Trans-X aka Pascal Languirand. And it’s not my fault my sleuthing was for naught, the cards were stacked against me: turns out the singer is a dude, not a chick; it’s in English (albeit heavily accented, and with foreigner-songwriters-only things like rhyming “action” with “button”) AND French; and it’s pretty much their only hit.
But what a hit it was! Trans-X’s official site claims it’s the most covered 12″ of all time, and while I couldn’t track down evidence to corroborate this claim Amazon sure has a lot of crappy ripoffs, remixes and remakes. But damn, the originals are all you need to bring back that “suburban European club circa 1982″ feelin’:
MP3: “Living on Video (Original 12″ Version)” – Trans-X
The French language version is funny because it’s the exact same music but the lead vocal is sung an octave higher with a Stefani-esque swoop at the end of every line. If anything you would think it’d be the opposite: give the French the subdued, Gainsbourg-like approach and load on the melodic histrionics for the pop-crazy English. But no.
MP3: “Living on Video (Original French Version, aka Vivre Sur Video)” – Trans-X
Trans-X is back in action and touring the world and elsewhere this year. Check out the links below for the infos.
Official Trans-X Website
Trans-X ‘Space
Buy Trans-X Music at Amazon
xx,
Baron von Luxxury is My Fake Name
P.S. Johnatron is DJing 2nite with our homiez in Short Shortzz for Eli’s bday bash tonight at Beauty Bar here in San FranDisco…I’ll be there but I do not wear short pantzzzzzz.
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