A Ghastly State of Affairs French TV

• 1 Every Morning I Wake Up and Take My Hat Off to all the Beauty in the World 18:34
• 2 Baby, You Fill Me with Inertia 11:15
• 3 Drunkard's Train to Westchester 08:38
• 4 The Mayor of Ding Dong City 06:53
• 5 My Boys Awake at Night 'Cuz They Nocturnal 10:53
• Total Runtime 56:13

Info for A Ghastly State of Affairs

French TV's newest album, 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 numerous albums, toured Europe and the US a few times, and played many festivals.

The group began its life back in 1983 when the group recorded their first album. From that point on, French TV would live on by Sary plus what musicians he would recruit, and who would add to the name of the band a number for each album released ("French TV 3," "French TV 4," etc.), a way to underline its constant state of flux.

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 album, "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!).

Now, 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.

Mike Sary, bass, loops, samples
Katsumi Yoneda, guitars
Patrick Strawser, keyboards
Fenner Castner, drums
Additional musicians:
Kenji Imai, flute
Warren Dale, saxophones
Ludo Fabre, violin

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 48 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 96 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

French TV
Founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1983 - Still active as of 2017

This fun band, led by the bassist Mike Sary has released 7 albums of music for musicians, deftly nodding to prog-masters like NATIONAL HEALTH, SOFT MACHINE, ZAPPA, BRUDFORD, BRAND X, HAPPY THE MAN, and SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA, among others. To describe French TV's music is simple and complicated ... All the band's other issues contain moving moments; a hybrid of Canterbury, RIO, Fusion, and Insanity, not to mention random little snippets of other styles.

"The Violence of Amateurs" is one of the best jazz-rock album of the last ten years. This is something that should easily appeal to fans of Canterbury, Fusion or even the more minded symph fan. On the whole, the music on "The Case Against Art" represents a very innovative manifestation of Classic Symphonic Progressive with the elements of Jazz-Fusion and Prog-Metal.

Booklet for A Ghastly State of Affairs