The Locals Young Lovers

This album is quite unique in that it features a German band with distinct and definite Frank Zappa tendencies.  I would go so far as to say it's definitely one of a kind except my knowledge is certainly not comprehensive enough to express such confidence.  Nonetheless it's for that reason that I wanted to document this-- that, and the remarkable cover painting which in my opinion deserves to be in an art gallery, particularly with the humour of the misspelling of the graffiti on the wall, and the nude drawing tacked in the corner.  The biggest and most tragic loss, for me at least, in the change from LPs to CDs was the loss of great cover art.

Due to its size the record cover almost forced artists to be visually creative while due to its small area, the CD achieves the opposite effect, unfortunately.  Another way in which we can say that this period was the golden age of albums, though I feel relatively alone in mentioning the importance of this issue, I think.  But no one can disagree that the above is heart-achingly beautiful-- after all they are young lovers, as Prevert said in his poem which I will be featuring in an upcoming post "Les enfants qui s'aiment: "

"The young lovers kiss, standing up, against the door of the night.
And the passerbys who pass, point them out with their fingers--
but the young lovers are there for no one.
It's only their shadow that trembles in the night,
exciting the anger of passerbys,
their anger, their disdain, their laughter and their jealousy;
but the young who love each other are there for no one
they are elsewhere, much farther than the night,
much higher than the day, 
in the blinding clarity of their first love..."

Here is a very Zappa-esque track called Wet Napkin-- not only musically similar, but similar, obviously, in nomenclature:





And here is the title track itself:




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