Disc One is new songs recorded in Spain featuring charter member bassist/composer Mike Sary, guitarist Kasumi Yoneda (also from the Japanese band TEE), long-time drummer Jeff Gard, plus members of the French band Mentat Routage (who also make up French TV's line-up when touring Europe). The second disc is a collection of somewhat-obscure rock covers from the late 60s-early 70s. The line-up on this includes Sary, Yoneda, Gard, plus keyboardist Patrick Strawser (best known for his work in the 90's band Volare). Blending elements of progressive rock, fusion, cartoon music, and Rock-in-Opposition, the music of French TV can be simultaneously hilarious and highly challenging, making it one of the most original American prog rock outfits and also one of the longest lived, having created 16 albums, toured Europe and the US a few times, along with many major festivals since their formation in 1983!

The band's current trajectory roughly began five albums ago with their 2016 release Ambassadors Of Good Health And Clean Living, when Mike was joined by guitarist Katsumi Yoneda. Pat Strawser signed up with their following CD, Operation: MOCKINGBIRD and brought more ‘clarity’ to Mike's slightly-less-than-coherent arrangements, as well as bringing in his own pieces. Now, over 40 years later, they are still here and better than ever! Mike Sary stubbornly refuses to give up and continues to drag the band into the next millennium.

“Now that I'm well into “bucket list territory” age-wise, this new French TV album knocks a couple items off that collection of chores.

CD1: Throughout the 70s as a starry-eyed bass acolyte I would pour over lp liner notes and try to picture what it was like to hole up in some remote farmhouse in the country and crank out a masterpiece like my heroes. 50 years later, my cohorts and I finally took the plunge and ensconced ourselves in a small village in beautiful Northern Spain for two weeks in July 2024. In that not-so-distant future when I'm in a hospital bed surrounded by overworked nurses and machines that go PING! I'm certain I'll be dreaming about that music-and-merriment-filled half-month as they fluff my pillow.

CD2: Yet more nostalgia: also been wanting to record a covers record for quite some time and devised the following criteria: 1) deep cut rock music from my sweet spot, the aforementioned late 60s-early 70s, 2) bands/musicians who haven't been active (or breathing) for a few decades, and 3) tunes with instrumental sections that could be argued as to be “progressive” in nature, in most cases songs that were a little outside the more well-known pop tunes those artists were known for. I look at these recordings as performing a public service, as the notion that the cultural evaporation of these gems from me younger days is an inevitability I find disturbing, and hopefully this delays it slightly. My suggestion for an optimal listening experience would be listening to this around 10:30 at night on a transistor radio (preferably with the album introduced by a DJ named  Doctor Danger) while in bed on a school night.” --- Mike Sary

           Songs featuredon disc two include deep cuts from Iron Butterfly, Kinks, Mountain, Spirit, Procol Harum, Traffic, Steppenwolf, The Guess Who, James Gang and more!

The Spanish Caper press release

French TV's newest CD, "A Ghastly State Of Affairs" is their 15th in their long history. It is also their first album not to be self-released. Headed up by charter member bassist/composer Mike Sary, he is joined again by guitarist Kasumi Yoneda (also from the Japanese band TEE), keyboardist Patrick Strawser (best known for his work in the 90's band Volare), and now by the original drummer from FTV's first three abums, Fenner Castner. The new album displays their ingenious knack for tricky arrangements, blazing solos, surprising left-turns, and their ability to tell a well-crafted yarn musically without words. Blending elements of progressive rock, fusion, cartoon music, and Rock-in-Opposition, the music of his group can be simultaneously hilarious and highly challenging, making it one of the most original American prog rock outfits and also one of the longest lived, having created 14 albums, toured Europe and the US a few times, and played many festivals.

French TV began in Louisville, KY as an offshoot of an early '80's art-rock band Festung Amerika. Bassist Mike Sary and keyboardist/drummer Steve Roberts (currently with R.I.O. band Ut Gret) recruited guitarist Artie Bratton and drummer Fenner Castner, and the first album was released in 1984. Steve left the band to concentrate on his mail order CD business ZNR Records and his growing family, so Mike shepherded the band through many different members, tours, phases, and recordings through the present day.

The band's current trajectory roughly began four albums ago with their 2016 release "Ambassadors Of Good Health And Clean Living", when Mike was joined by guitarist Katsumi Yoneda. Pat Strawser signed up with their following CD, "Operation: MOCKINGBIRD" and brought more of a "clarity" to Mike's slightly-less-than-coherent arrangements, as well as bringing in his own pieces (encouraged by the band!).

"A Ghastly State Of Affairs" opens with Patrick's 18-minute opus "Every Morning, I Wake Up And Take My Hat Off To All The Beauty In The World" and could be considered FTV's finest moment, with a haunting main theme, various sub-themes, powerful solos (especially the ones featuring the flute of Katsumi's TEE bandmate Kenji Imai), movements that build and build only to have the floor disappear from under you, and an ending that will find you reaching for a cigarette (even if you don't smoke). Track two, "Baby, You Fill Me With Inertia", spotlights former member/occasional contributor Warren Dale's intricate 4-part horn charts. 2 songs, "Drunkard's Train To Westchester" and "My Boys Awake At Night "Cuz They Nocturnal" include some blazing violin from another FTV alumni, Ludo Fabre of the French band Mentat Routage.

Recommmended if you like: Happy The Man, National Health, Bruford, Brand X, Planeta Imaginario

A Ghastly State Of Affairs press release