Telex -

Telex was a Belgian electro/art-pop trio that released the 1979 album Looking for Saint-Tropez on Vogue/RKM, followed by the 1980 international release Neurovision. Two tracks from the former were appended to the latter for a U.S. issue on Sire. In 1981, the trio enlisted the lyrical services of Sparks for the Ariola release Sex. Two further albums appeared on WEA and Atlantic between 1984 and 1988.

During the early 1970s, keyboardist Marc Moulin cut three albums with jazz-rockers Placebo. Mid-decade, he released a solo album, Sam’ Suffy, and guested on albums by Cos and Aksak Maboul. Vocalist Michel Moers hailed from the chamber-folk collective Nuit Câline à la Villa Mon Rêve. Electronics programmer Dan Lacksman had a lengthy resume of production credits and recorded several “moog hits” albums circa 1973/74.

Members: Marc Moulin (keyboards), Michel Moers (vocals), Dan Lacksman (synthesizer)

Background

Dan Lacksman purchased an EMS VCS3 in 1970, becoming one of the first musicians in Belgium to own a synthesizer. He worked as a freelance studio engineer, moving between Brussels sessions as a synth programmer and specialist after the pan-European success of Gershon Kingsley’s “Popcorn” drove demand for electronic textures across European pop productions. A track he recorded under his own name, “Coconut,” became a regional hit in Spain; its earnings funded the purchase of a Moog Modular Model III. He continued recording under several credits — Dan Lacksman, Electronic System, Electronic Butterflies, Electronic Hit Computer — through the mid-1970s. By 1977, his Electronic System recordings had moved to an all-synthesizer approach, with every sound on the 1977 LP Disco Machine, including drums, generated on the Moog.

Marc Moulin was a jazz musician and radio broadcaster based in Brussels. His presenting work gave him broad exposure to incoming releases across genres; he also held a Minimoog, which he used for solos and bass lines. Moulin had run a small independent project under the label name Kamikaze, for which various Brussels musicians and singers recorded. Michel Moers, an architect by profession with a background in rock, folk, and jazz, was among the performers who passed through those sessions.

Moulin proposed the trio to Lacksman, framing it as a chance to combine their separate skills into something continental — electronic, without guitars, speaking to their own Brussels environment rather than to American rock or blues. Moers took the role of vocalist and co-composer, Moulin the keyboard player and composer, and Lacksman the sound engineer and synthesis specialist. The three self-described introverts had no interest in live performance and no ambition for public visibility; they intended to operate entirely from the studio.

For the first session, held at Lacksman’s Brussels studio, Moulin and Moers suggested covering “Twist à Saint-Tropez,” the 1961 French-language rock and roll number by Les Chats Sauvages — a decision made from memory, without consulting the original recording. The trio assembled the track in a single day, using the Moog Modular, the Polymoog, the Sennheiser VSM 201 Vocoder, and a handmade sequencer with no start button. Lacksman cut a rough mix to cassette the same evening, and Moulin brought the tape to Roland Kluger of RKM Records. Kluger signed the group the following day. Telex released “Twist à Saint-Tropez” as a single in August 1978, backed with the original composition “Le Fond de l’Air Est Rouge.”

Looking for Saint-Tropez

Telex released their debut album, Looking for Saint-Tropez, in 1979 on RKM, with international licensing to Sire in the United States and Disques Vogue in France.

The album builds its architecture entirely from electronic instruments — Moog Modular, Polymoog, Sennheiser VSM 201 Vocoder, Roland System-100 sequencer, and MXR Flanger.

“Moskow Diskow” opens the album, built around a four-on-the-floor bass drum pattern, a Moog-generated sequencer bass line, and a hi-hat rhythm engineered to suggest a steam train in motion — an MXR Flanger applied to a synthesized pulse to produce the acceleration effect. Moulin developed the bass line by hand at the keyboard. The lyrics play on the clichés of disco culture, American affectations for French phrasing, and the graphic-design fashion for Russian Constructivism.

“Ça Plane Pour Moi,” the Plastic Bertrand punk anthem, arrives stripped of its original abrasion and rebuilt as a deadpan electronic pulse. “Rock Around the Clock” receives a vocoded treatment, the Sennheiser VSM 201 applied to the vocal to produce a robotic choir effect. “Twist à Saint-Tropez” closes the album in the version already established by the 1978 single. Telex wrote the remaining five tracks — “Pakmoväst,” “Café de la Jungle,” “Some Day/Un Jour,” “Something to Say,” and “Victime de la Société” — with ex-Rezillos guitarist Jo Callis contributing to “Some Day/Un Jour.”

A1. “Moskow Discow” (4:13)
A2. “Pakmoväst” (3:38)
A3. “Café de la jungle” (1:07)
A4. “Ca plane pour moi” (5:23) — Deprijck/Lacomblez

B1. “Some Day / Un jour” (1:10) — Callis/Telex
B2. “Something to Say” (5:02)
B3. “Rock Around the Clock” (3:53) — De Knight/Freedman
B4. “Victime de la société” (3:54)
B5. “Twist à Saint Tropez” (3:19) — Salvet/Lafitte/Solal

Telex self-produced the album at Telex Sound Studio in Brussels. Moulin played his keyboard parts live in real time, a necessity in the pre-MIDI era when sequencers offered no tempo display and ran from a single knob with no readout. The rhythm tracks came entirely from the Moog Modular: Lacksman routed an eighth-note audio click to trigger an Envelope Follower module, then combined oscillators, noise gates, and separate envelopes to generate bass drum, snare, and hi-hat sounds.

Telex issued “Moskow Diskow” as a single in June 1979, backed with “Pakmoväst” in France and “Twist à Saint-Tropez” in the UK on Sire. The track reached No. 5 on the Italian FIMI chart and No. 36 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs. “Rock Around the Clock” followed in July 1979 on Sire UK, backed with “Moskow Diskow,” and reached No. 14 on the UK singles chart.

Neurovision

Telex released their second album, Neurovision, in 1980 on RKM and Vogue.

Neurovision advances their all-electronic framework with nine originals and covers of Ann Steel (“My Time”) and Sly & The Family Stone (“Dance to the Music”). Marc Moulin delivers melodic and harmonic weight across a set that moves between taut sequencer-driven passages and more open, spacious arrangements.

Before the album’s release, Telex’s manager entered the group in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, representing Belgium. The group performed “Euro-Vision” at the contest in The Hague with all instrumentation pre-recorded to tape; the Moog Modular, Polymoog, and a second keyboard stood on stage as contest rules required, none of them connected. The group’s stated aim was to finish last. Portugal’s ten-point award lifted them to 17th of 19 with 14 points total.

A1. “We Are All Getting Old” (3:42)
A2. “My Time” (4:21) – originated on the 1979 album by Italian-based American model Ann Steel, written by Giada Di Villa Hermosa and Roberto Cacciapaglia.
A3. “Tour de France” (4:05)
A4. “Eurovision” (2:41)
A5. “Plus de distance (No Distances)” (3:31)

B1. “Dance to the Music” (4:16) – originated on the namesake 1968 second album by Sly & The Family Stone, written by Sylvester Stewart.
B2. “Réalité” (3:34)
B3. “Cliché” (0:44)
B4. “A/B” (3:22)
B5. “En route vers de nouvelles aventures” (3:36)
B6. “Finale” (0:12)

Telex recorded Neurovision at Studio Madeleine in Brussels and produced it themselves. Eddy Flippo and Ever Meulen designed the sleeve.

The US Sire pressing (SRK 6090) expands the tracklist to thirteen tracks, with several titles rendered in English — “Plus de Distance” as “No Distances,” “Réalité” as “Reality,” “En Route vers de Nouvelles Aventures” as “En Route” — and “Twist à Saint-Tropez,” “Moskow Diskow,” and “Finale” appended to the B-side, placing both debut singles alongside the new material.

Sire issued “Euro-Vision” as a single in the UK backed with the French-language version on the B-side; the US release paired it with “Troppical,” reaching number 45 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs. “We Are All Getting Old” followed as a second single, backed with “En Route vers de Nouvelles Aventures” in France and “Troppical” in the UK.

In late 1980, Sire issued the non-album “Soul Waves” as a further Telex single across several territories.

Sex

Telex released their third album, Sex, in 1981 on WEA (France) and PVC (US). In the UK, where the title was judged likely to cause problems with distributors and retailers, the album appeared as Birds and Bees on Interdisc with a partially altered tracklist.

Sex pairs Telex with the American duo Sparks. The connection came through Belgian singer Lio, who worked concurrently with Moulin and Lacksman at Synsound. Lio appeared on a Paris television programme alongside Russell and Ron Mael, who offered to write English lyrics for her next album.

The arrangement brought the Maels to Lacksman’s Brussels studio, but Lio never arrived; finding Telex in the middle of recording, the Maels listened to the sessions and proposed contributing lyrics instead. Ron Mael wrote all lyrics on the album; Michel Moers composed all music.

A1. “Brainwash” (4:28)
A2. “Drama Drama” (3:57)
A3. “Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?” (4:06)
A4. “Long Holiday” (2:12)
A5. “The Man With the Answer” (3:15)

B1. “Carbon Copy” (6:34)
B2. “Exercise Is Good for You” (3:35)
B3. “Dream-O-Mat” (4:13)
B4. “Sigmund Freud’s Party” (2:53)

Telex self-produced the album at Synsound Studios in Brussels from December 1980 through May 1981 and mixed it in August of that year. Russell and Ron Mael remained in Brussels for the duration, taking the tram to Synsound each day, coaching Moers on the vocal delivery, and returning subsequently to record their own albums at the same studio.

“Brainwash” appeared as a 12-inch single in a long special mix backed with “Dummy.” Telex issued “Haven’t We Met Somewhere Before?” as a single in the UK on Interdisc, backed with “Dummy” and “Exercise Is Good for You.” The German market received “Sigmund Freud’s Party” backed with “The Man with the Answer.”

The UK Birds and Bees pressing on Interdisc substitutes “Mata Hari,” “Dummy,” and “L’Amour Toujours” for three tracks from the original and resequences the remainder. “L’Amour Toujours” subsequently appeared as a UK single on Interdisc backed with “Cloches et Sifflets” and “The Man with the Answer.”

The Mael’s collaboration with Telex established a long-term friendship between the two groups and led directly to Lacksman assisting with production on the Sparks albums In Outer Space (1983) and Music That You Can Dance To (1986).

Wonderful World

Telex released their fourth album, Wonderful World, in 1984 on WEA.

By this point Lacksman had acquired a Fairlight CMI, purchased in 1983 following his engineering work on Thomas Dolby’s The Flat Earth, and the instrument’s sampling capability marks a departure from the purely synthesized construction of the first three albums.

“Raised by Snakes” carries the first sampled element in a Telex recording — a guitar chord captured on quarter-inch tape and manually injected into the track on each repetition by way of a zero-lock and return button, a tape-based workaround that preceded the Fairlight’s arrival in the studio by months.

A1. “L’amour toujours” (3:19)
A2. “So Sad” (3:32)
A3. “Raised by Snakes” (3:50)
A4. “It Could Happen to You” (3:07)
A5. “Second Hand” (3:25)

B1. “Tell Me It’s a Dream” (3:15)
B2. “Vertigo” (3:39)
B3. “The Voice” (3:36)
B4. “Radio-Radio” (3:47)
B5. “Wonderful World” (3:53)

Lacksman, Moulin, and Moers produced and arranged the album at with mixing engineer Pascal Huwart. Telex issued “Tell Me It’s a Dream” as a single in the Netherlands and Germany on WEA, backed with “La Conversation,” a non-album Lacksman/Moulin/Moers original.

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