Paris 1942 – Paris 1942 2xCD

Preorder. Set for Oct. 31st, 2025. Ships when in stock.

Compiled by Richard Bishop from dozens of tapes, this CD version combines all of self-titled 2xLP and Birds In Their Cages tracks.

“Difficult as it may be to imagine, there was a time when Sun City Girls did not exist. Prior to the Bishop brothers teaming up with drummer/shaman Charlie Gocher to form SCG’s classic trio lineup, there were various ad-hoc assemblages of local Phoenix-area freaks and weirdos – groups which existed only long enough to play a single gig, open mic or house party before disbanding without a trace. Hatched from this milieu was Paris 1942, a short-lived band formed by guitarist Jesse Srogoncik that included Alan Bishop, Richard Bishop and former Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker.

“Paris 1942 would play only four shows in as many months, but between April and August of 1982, the band would gather several times a week in Tucker’s living room, where the group feverishly wrote and rehearsed with a kind of quotidian discipline. While P42 didn’t release anything during their brief tenure, a 7″ EP and LP (both self-titled) surreptitiously surfaced on the Majora label in the mid to late ’90s. Until now, those two titles – as well as an appearance on Placebo’s Amuck comp in late ’82 – would be the only documented evidence that this improbable, serendipitous and magnificent band ever existed.

“While those expecting P42‘s music to sound like a tantalizing combination of Sun City Girls’ iconoclastic hoodoo havoc and the Velvets’ primal drug-chug certainly won’t be disappointed, Paris 1942 more often than not transcends even these nearly impossible expectations. Srogoncik’s songs, in particular, are a revelation, displaying as much in common with the exuberant raunch of The Gun Club and the chapbook punk of Peter Laughner as they do any of the more obvious touchstones.

“The group’s foresight to document and capture this meeting of musical minds – a meeting as unlikely as it was short-lived – provides a missing link between the Velvets and the Voidoids, between the Dead Boys and the Dead C, between ESP-Disk’ and DNA. Far more than a historical curiosity, Paris 1942 provides a fresh perspective on an embryonic and sadly vanishing US underground. It is music that blinks at the past and anticipates a thousand possible futures.”

– James Toth (excerpt from the liner notes)

Track Listing:

1. Paris 1942
2. Hex
3. Headhunter
4. Radar
5. Damon
6. Ancient Time Foretold
7. Animale
8. Move Out of Wichita
9. Catherine
10. Life Is A Killer
11. Conversation with My Girlfriend
12. Voodoo Blues
13. Pontius Pilate
14. Lions Paw
15. Boy From The North Country
16. Fossil in My Pants
17. What I Think I Mean
18. Lisa’s Whip
19. Southwind
20. Bo Diddley
21. New Good Time
22. Folsom Prison Blues
23. Berlin Mood
24. Gloria
25. Want To
26. Heroin
27. She Cracked
28. Let’s Hop Trains
29. Revolution Blues
30. KSTM Radio Ad
31. White Light/White Heat