That one of the great Spiritual Jazz albums of the era could be found in duplicate New Orleans thrift store in the 1980s goes a long way in illustrating the lack of acclaim this special and overlooked album maintained, even in a city where the Batiste name is musical royalty. The Southern University albums Alvin Batiste offered the world were novelies, not worthy of serious consideration, a moment captured, but not necessarily worthy of being collected or preserved by anyone not immediately involved in its creation.
That changes now. With the release of the two Southern University albums, Now-Again continues a conversation begun with the late Kashmere Stage Band director Conrad O. Johnson and the issue of his high school students’ music as 'Texas Thunder Soul', and the continued belief that beautiful music created by youth – even under the most adverse circumstances – can always inspire us.
A really incredible spiritual jazz treasure from the New Orleans scene – one that features a student group led by legendary Nola musician Alvin Batiste, but delivered in a style that's much more like some of the hipper jazz collectives in cities like Detroit, Chicago, or Philly at the time! The tracks are long and flowing – filled with rhythm progressions that run deep, often with some modal energy – and almost all tracks have these really great vocals from Eddie Perkins, a soulful singer with a style that's in the territory of Andy Bey or Joe Lee Wilson – which, as you can imagine, makes for a really great addition to the music! Other players include Batiste on clarinet, James McElroy on soprano, Ernest Nation on trumpet, Alphonso Rodriguez on guitar, Richard Hunter on percussion, and a young Charlie Singleton on bass – and this rare set was only originally given away as a souvenir for the group's trip to West Africa in 1973.
“Incredible, multi-layered late night listening of the highest order... Without its few contemporary style-nods, you would bever guess ['Harvest of Dreams'] was originally released in 1982. One of the decade's best albums, filled with a mysterious charm that grows with each listen.”
– Byron Coley [album sticker notes]
“Maybe you don't know it yet, but (IF you buy these Bobb Trimble albums) you have just been handed the key to a secret realm, an alternate rock n' roll universe of dark despair, fragile hope, and gossamer beauty, a haunting personal soundworld that will always stay with you, within you...”
– Aquarius Records mailorder
“There is no album I own that has as much emotional complexity and depth as 'Harvest of Dreams'”
– Aaron Milenski, The Lama Reviews
“One of the most bewitching and genuinely outside broadcasts in modern private press history, the twin set of LPs cut by New England resident Bobb Trimble in the early 80s remain unclassifiable in terms of virtually anything else going on in or outside of the decade in which they were cut... Trimble was a visionary and arranger on a scale with Skip Spence, Brian Wilson and Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan... Highly recommended”
– David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue
“[Harvest of Dreams is] rated by most as the best psych LP of the 1980s. One of those obscurities (like D.R. Hooker) that blows even non-collectors away... The total impact is like walking around in one of Bobb's dreams. Melancholic, moving but also hopeful - an essential experience.”
– Patrick Lundborg, The Acid Archives of Underground Sounds 1965-1982
“['Harvest of Dreams' is] hard to describe in so few words, but no less an unparalled classic of the psychedelic canon”
– Other Music, Top 25 Reissues of 2007
For all but the most dedicated psychedelic pop obscurantists, the first general introduction to Bobb Trimble's sometimes unsettling world was a mid-'90s compilation CD called Jupiter Transmission, which included nearly all of Trimble's second LP, 1982's Harvest of Dreams, and about half of his first, 1980's Iron Curtain Innocence. This would seem to be sufficient, but most of the online overviews of Trimble's brief and obscure career (including a lengthy, detailed, and sensitive review of Harvest of Dreams by veteran psych collector Aaron Milenski) point out that the compilation CD changes the flow of Harvest of Dreams in subtle but important ways by deleting two songs and editing others. An unauthorized British CD mastered from vinyl was released in 2005, restoring the missing material, but the far superior 2007 reissue from the estimable indie Secretly Canadian is the essential document, both for its remastered (from the original tapes) sound and improved packaging and for the simple fact that Trimble authorized this release and receives royalties from its sales. In some ways, Harvest of Dreams sounds rather like a philosophical precursor to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Both albums are dominated by the singer/songwriter's cryptic but clearly deeply personal lyrics, which resist easy explication but often startle with the disquieting intensity of their imagery. Trimble has a more objectively pretty voice than Jeff Mangum (a breathy high tenor with occasional echoes of both Sparks' Russell Mael and, no kidding, Joni Mitchell), but he's equally fond of obscuring his vocals with layers of echo, reverb, and other effects. Rather than the horns and strings that enrich In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, the songs on Harvest of Dreams are overlaid with found sounds and extraneous noises: video game soundtracks, telephone busy signals, snatches of conversation between the bandmembers, and other everyday sonic detritus further smudge the songs, which at root are based on Trimble's psych-folk guitar and plaintive vocals.
Finally, both albums are somewhat perversely sequenced to some inscrutable structure: side one of Harvest of Dreams (subtitled Dimension One: Truth) is bracketed by "Premonitions -- The Fantasy" and "Premonitions Boy -- The Reality," which turn out to be very slightly different remixes of exactly the same recording, and also features a track called "The World I Left Behind," just over two minutes' worth of dead silence preceding the sonic onslaught of the mildly terrifying "Armour of the Shroud." The cacophony overlaid onto this psychedelic rocker has led some armchair psychiatrists in the obscuro-pop underground to suggest that Trimble was schizophrenic, a rather facile reading unsupported by facts. Similarly, in today's age of hyper-awareness of sexual predators, the fact that Trimble's on-stage backing band at this point in his career was a group of barely adolescent boys called the Kidds, a short-lived group broken up by suspicious parents, has led to some dark and unsubstantiated mutterings. The centerpiece of side two (Dimension Two: Harmony) is "Oh Baby," a 90-second blast of bratty punk metal written and performed by the Kidds without Trimble preceded by a lengthy burst of backwards tapes featuring the band; in the context of the rest of the side's more languid psychedelia, it's the most bracingly weird moment on an undeniably bizarre album. What keeps Harvest of Dreams from being merely a psychologically interesting curio of an eccentric singer/songwriter is that Trimble is undeniably talented. Although not as melodically gifted as either Mangum or other obvious points of comparison like R. Stevie Moore or Andy Partridge's pastoral-English-countryside mode, Trimble's songs work well within his limitations. In either incarnation, "Premonitions" is a genuinely catchy folk-rock tune, and both the playful "Take Me Home Vienna" and the much darker "Paralyzed" are tuneful in a way that the contemporary "weird folk" underground never quite manages. Harvest of Dreams is the sort of album that becomes more interesting when the listener delves into its back story, but, crucially, that knowledge is not a prerequisite for enjoyment.
There are so many reasons why so many people really wouldn't like this album. The first is Bobb's voice. I'm a big fan of Geddy Lee of Rush, who is often accused of sounding like a woman, but this guy REALLY sounds like a woman when he sings. Then there's the music, which is weird as hell; distant, bizarre and on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from anything that could be considered even remotely commercial.
None of that stops ME from loving the fuck out of this album, but many will not, so unless you are already inclined towards otherworldly ephemeral oddness, you might want to try before you buy.
So what is this album? It's the very, very rare psychedelic album from the late 60's made in the early 80's, although this album would have been super weird and out there in the late 60's as well - it just would have been slightly more understood back then. In the early 80's? Well, it's not a surprise this album didn't make Bobb Trimble a megastar, even if perhaps it should have in a just world where musical genius off the beaten track was actually recognized.
Oh yeah - it's totally beautiful, mesmerizing, hypnotizing, fragile and beautiful beyond comprehension. An absolute masterpiece. It sounds like nothing else you have ever heard.
This Side: Bobb Trimble With The Violent Reactions 1980
01. Glass Menagerie Fantasies 5:48
02. Night At The Asylum 4:50
03. When The Raven Calls 6:25
04. Your Little Pawn 3:50
That Side: Bobb Trimble Soliloquize 1978
05. One Mile From Heaven (Short Version) 4:07
06. Killed By The Hands Of An Unknown Rock Starr 5:29
07. Through My Eyes (Hopeless As Hell D.O.A.) 4:57
08. One Mile From Heaven (Long Version) 5:42
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Don Christie
Drums – Paul Martin
Vocals, Guitar, Percussion – Bobb Trimble
“Maybe you don't know it yet, but (IF you buy these Bobb Trimble albums) you have just been handed the key to a secret realm, an alternate rock n' roll universe of dark despair, fragile hope, and gossamer beauty, a haunting personal soundworld that will always stay with you, within you...”
– Aquarius Records mailorder
“One of the most bewitching and genuinely outside broadcasts in modern private press history, the twin set of LPs cut by New England resident Bobb Trimble in the early 80s remain unclassifiable in terms of virtually anything else going on in or outside of the decade in which they were cut... Trimble was a visionary and arranger on a scale with Skip Spence, Brian Wilson and Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan... Highly recommended”
– David Keenan, Volcanic Tongue
"A delicate, unsettling dip into a boiling pool of subconscious imagery and otherworldly pixie vocalism. The best tracks cause ripples in the time/space continuum. Bobb Trimble's first album appeared like a ghost that had slipped through reality's curtain. Impossible to place inside any rational context, the music and voices seem to have been created inside your head and indeed, maybe they were."
– Byron Coley [album sticker notes]
“['Iron Curtain Innocence' and 'Harvest of Dreams' are] easily among the most intriguing rediscoveries of the decade, and necessary listening for anyone fascinated by the brink of human emotions, and subsequently accustomed to meeting music on the musician’s oftentimes peculiar terms”
– Doug Mosurock, Dusted Reviews
The dirty secret behind the vast majority of Lost! Unheard! Masterpieces! is that the back story is almost always far more interesting than the music itself. Certainly that would appear to be the case with Bobb Trimble, an almost unknown singer/songwriter from blue-collar Worcester, MA, whose two albums' worth of surreal acid folk could not have been more out of step with their new wave times. Iron Curtain Innocence was originally released in a tiny vinyl pressing of between 300 and 500 copies and featured a disquieting cover image of the moon-faced Trimble sitting in front of a Sears Portrait Studio-style class photo backdrop, blankly holding both a guitar and a submachine gun, and everything about the album has an air of "that boy ain't right." Another major part of the Trimble legend -- that his live backing group, the Kidds, had an average age somewhere south of adolescence and was broken up by suspicious parents who didn't like this weird guy hanging around their children -- gives rise to darker mutterings and unsupported conjectures that have little to do with the music, and that's what it really boils down to: obscurantist cult records almost never have anything to do with the music, which almost invariably turns out to be considerably less interesting when listened to on its own merits.
Almost, that is. Because as it turns out, Iron Curtain Innocence turns out to be a really good piece of lo-fi psychedelia. In particular, the outstanding first three tracks, "Glass Menagerie Fantasies," "Night at the Asylum," and "When the Raven Calls," are an increasingly disturbing trilogy blending the druggy atmosphere of Pink Floyd's first few post-Syd Barrett albums, the gentle acoustic side of late-era Beatles, and some lo-fi synthesizers and tape loops, culminating in the disquieting climax of the epic "When the Raven Calls." Though the rest of the brief album doesn't quite live up to its outstanding first half, "Killed at the Hands of an Unknown Rock Starr" features some fine space rock guitar noodling and one of the helium-pitched Trimble's most assertive lead vocals, and "Through My Eyes (Hopeless as Hell: D.O.A.)" makes good use of backwards tapes and hand percussion.
05. Face à l'extravagante montée des ascenseurs, nous resterons fidèles à notre calme détermination
06. Percutant reportage au Pays des Fées
Ferdinand Richard / bass, voice
Guigou Chenevier / drums, voice
Francis Grand / saxophones, voice
Recorded live at the Rock In Opposition Festival, at the New London Theatre on March 12th, 1978 by Norman Jon Kissoon
Live recording from the March '78 Rock in Opposition Festival in London. This is the trio lineup of Ferdinand, Guigou and Francis Grand, which was the band as found on their second album Les Trois Fou. Apart from Guigou's drum feature, Sololo Brigida, which appeared on Batelages, the material is also from Les Trois Fou. This lineup played more concerts than any other, and represents the band at their most radical and dada, exhibiting a crazed energy that beats the punks at their own game. Ferdinand gives droll intros to each piece, and his unique chordal bass playing and roaring, joyful singing is strongly evident. Guigou's drumming is endlessly inventive in the ground he carved out between John French's polyrhythms and Robert Wyatt's warm, jazzy melodicism. Grand only appeared on one album, but his mastery of saxes and flutes makes this a particularly potent lineup. Chris Cutler notes that with so much going on it's difficult to remember there are only three of them. I agree. Their collision between French Chanson and the Magic Band was unique in 1978, and remains so to this day.
The French ensemble ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN has been described as one of Europe's most important group of artists exploring the RIO and avant-garde segment of progressive rock, and in the 12 years they've existed they released a total of 6 albums, all productions that are generally regarded as influential and well-worth seeking out. "A Prague" is an archival live recording, given its first official release by Musea Records' Gazul imprint in the fall of 2010.
Existing fans of Etron Fou Leloublan should find this production to be one well worth acquiring. The live audio capture is as good as one can expect under the circumstances they were made; the performance is on a par with what you would expect from this band, and I do believe that this is the only official live recording released by this version of the band to boot. RIO fans with a general taste for live performances might also want to take note of this CD, in particular if they have yet to explore the discography of this fine French ensemble.
It's really interesting how all of the bands that started the RIO movement in 1978 managed to fade away by the middle of the '80s. Actually Henry Cow broke up as early as 1978 but I sort of consider Art Bears to be a natural continuation of that band since it was comprised of Chris Cutler, Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause. Unfortunately they still were the first RIO band to end their collaboration by 1981. Stormy Six broke up in 1983, Samla Mammas Manna or rather Lars Hollmer's new band incarnation, before switching to solo mode, von Zamla split up in 1984, while Daniel Denis slight loss of inspiration, notable on Heatwave, resulted in Univers Zero disbanding around 1987.
By August 1985, Etron Fou Leloublan were still going strong and, without a replacement in the saxophone department, recorded Face Aux Eléments Dechainés as a (power)trio. The trio that comprised of the long time collaborators Ferdinand Richard/Guigou Chenevier and Jo Thirion, who has already previously recorded two albums with the band, managed to uphold the general spirit of Etron Fou Leloublan even if the loss of a soloist does make its presences known on a few occasions. Luckily Fred Frith managed to add a few colorful touches to the album which are especially notable on Blanc, another composition that was previously featured on the band's live album En Public Aux États-Unis d'Amérique.
Overall this album is much better produced than anything that the band had release up to this point and becomes especially notable on the album's opening track Lavés À La Machine by the clear attention to detail. The slow progression of this opener might surprise most of band's followers and it's not until the vocal introduction that we actually beginning to realize that we're listening to an album by Etron Fou Leloublan! This is definitely not the case with the rest of this release and Tous Le Poussent quickly returns us to the right frame of mind, even though I cannot help but wonder how the band would have adapted the chamber music influences if they continued pushing in that direction for the remainder of Face Aux Eléments Dechainés.
Although, for some weird reason, this release has been my least played album from Etron Fou Leloublan, it definitely deserves my seal of approval for being a great conclusion to the legacy of an excellent RIO band. Etron Fou Leloublan broke up in 1986 and it's very unlikely that we'll get to hear of a reunion of this otherwise very obscure collective that doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page in French!
EFL studio album number 4 saw the arrival of saxophonist number 4 into the camp - on this occasion Bruno Meillier joined the core trio of Ferdinand Richard, Guigou Chenevier and Jo Thirion. As on their previous outing shorter pieces were the the order of the day, although this time there was a greater emphasis on instrumentals and the vocals were generally more low key.
The album opens with a classic piece of EFL lunacy in Phare Plafond, which features a splendid vocal by Jo Thirion. From here on the album combines the familiar EFL elements - Beefheart rhythms, free jazz stylings, surreal lyrics - with some new developments. Guigou Chenevier plays more sax this time around, usually duetting with Meillier, and in places the drums are completely absent. EFL always had admirably democratic working practices; they were never merely Richard and Chenevier plus hired hands, and this meant that each new member of the ever shifting line up added something of their own. On this album as always all 4 participants make significant contributions to the writing, arrangements and performances, and the result is as joyful a noise as ever with a more obvious jazz element than Les Poumons Gonfles. Jo Thirion's contributions on both keyboards and vocals are more assured, with the organ occasionally muscling past the sax to dominate the arrangements. Chenevier and Richard are as tight and unpredictable as ever, while Bruno Millier may be the most accomplished saxophonist they worked with. There isn't a weak track on the album, but the standout is the 6 minute L'enfance de Guigou, which is the most ambitious piece on the album and also one of EFL's best.
One of the twin peaks of EFL's career, Les Sillons de la Terre is perhaps a slightly darker piece of work than their previous release but their offbeat sense of humour remained intact and the playing was even tighter than ever. Like Les Poumons.. this will appeal to fans of SMM, The Muffins, early Soft Machine and Aksak Maboul.
ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN is one of original RIO bands, and on this album you can hear quite characteristic French RIO sound. What means music there is sax-led alternative avant French urban music, based on free-jazz, chanson, French pop tradition, chamber music and soft and melodic French version of what would be tagged as punk in UK or States.
Musicianship is very precise, sound is excellent, and all album is full of energy. Songs are almost all well structured what gives to listener quite interesting effect: it looks like you listen well crafted jazzy pop-songs and free-form avant based music at the same time. Vocals are mostly half-spoken, in a punk/chanson tradition, so this element is possibly most controversial part of all music. Instrumental part is often quite close to avant prog though.
Bernard Mathieu / soprano & tenor saxophones, backing vocals
Ferdinand Richard / bass guitar, vocals
Jo Thirion / Farfisa organ, piano, trumpet, backing vocals
Fred Frith / violin, guitar (6,10)
In which les 3 fous became 4 with the arrival of keyboard player Jo Thirion, and for the first and only time they had the same sax player for 2 consecutive albums. In addition to the expanded line up, EFL's fourth full length release saw the emphasis shift to relatively short, focused songs and in many ways saw them realise the abundant potential that they displayed on their early albums.
The fundamentals of EFL remained in place, despite the changes. Guigou Chenevier and Ferdinand Richard continued to play their Beefheart style rhythms and declaim their bizarre, surreal lyrics and narratives, which saxophonist Bernard Mathieu roamed around in the spirit of free jazz players everywhere. Jo Thirion added something of a new wave sensibility with her Farfisa playing, alternating between skeletal chords and spidery right hand runs which played off against the sax or vocal melodies. Whether the additional instrument was necessary is debatable, as EFL had always been good at getting the most from their minimal resources, but as a quartet their manic energy was channeled without being compromised. The second half of the album contains two outstanding tracks; Chrisitine revisits a piece from their previous live album and features Guigou Chenevier joining Bernard Mathieu in a tenor sax duet for the song's lengthy coda, while Those Distant Waters features their first English lyrics, delivered a la Inspector Clouseau and as surreal as ever. The sound is further complemented by occasional piano, trumpet and backing vocals by Jo Thirion, and producer Fred Frith adds violin and guitar to a couple of tracks (EFL played on Fred Frith's Speechless album at around the same time).
EFL's early output was sometimes frustrating, with raw inspiration jostling with indulgent noodling, or surreal routines that may have worked well on stage but didn't stand up to repeated listening on a studio release. Les Poumons Gonfles captures the best elements of their early work and manages to inject some discipline into the proceedings without spoiling the fun. This album will appeal to anybody who enjoys the lighter RIO of Sammla Mammas Manna and Fred Frith's Gravity and Speechless albums, or the jazz tinged absurdities of The Muffins and early Soft Machine. Highly recommended.
Well, "Les Poumons Gonfles" has to be one of the best of the honest to goodness RIO albums. The album is very fast paced and active, with instruments of rock, jazz, and French folk all coming out quick and playful, and drums pounding away with fury. The record is just plain a fun listen. "Nicolas" is the best track, and it's our rambunctious opener, showing off the band's lighter side, and the second best, "Those Distant Waters", is one of the two drum workouts and a chilling cut about seafaring. Beyond the obvious enjoyment, LPG features some wonderful strangeness and complexity from our Francais friends, with the aforementioned instruments many, and constantly rotated to allow for many different sounds. And thanks to the band's skill, this all works excellently. An avant romp done to perfection, I would recommend this masterpiece to anybody and everybody. And perhaps this is the best introduction to avant-prog.
Recorded live at Squat club, Trnity college, Hartford, Conn., USA, Nov 79
For some bands a live album is a kind of stopgap between studio releases, but EFL presented almost entirely new material along with their new line up. Only one track from their first two albums is featured, Le Fleuve Et Le Manteau, and Christine was the only track would emerge on their next album. There's also an indication of the move to shorter pieces that would characterise their next few releases, and although the surreal narratives still run through the songs they're less prominent, perhaps as a concession to their mostly English speaking audience on these dates. There are no great surprises in store, however, and the wild Beefheart inspired rhythms and free jazz excursions are still in place. There are some highly effective moments throughout the album; the second half of Christine sees Chenevier leaving the drum kit to play tenor sax alongside Mathieu, while Rose slows the pace down with a surprisingly straightforward vocal and minimal percussion. An Afternoon At The Zoo is a percussion only workout that is full of odd twists and turns, and Atarte is a brief snippet of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata rearranged for sax, bass and drums. The CD reissue has two later tracks, one a 1985 studio reinterpretation of a Boris Vian song and a live recording from 1986, both featuring keyboard player Jo Thirion and the first also featuring Fred Frith.
This album demonstrates just how much EFL could do with their stripped down line up, and in particular it showcases the phenomenal rhythm section of Richard and Chenevier. The quantity of material unavailable elsewhere and the sheer energy of these performances make this a real treat for an established fan, but the sound quality and the occasionally grating vocals may be heavy going for a newcomer.
Third album chronologically for EFL, with yet another wind player change, this time Bernard Mathieu. This is probably EFL at its rawest and barest, but we are in 79 and France is a high ground for rawness of punk as "n'importe quoi" (anything goes) but the group doesn't even use their show to promote or play older material, as in this Live collection, with only Fleuve & Manteau (actually quite close to the studio version with a superb sax hovering like Trane) belonging to one of their previous album, and Christine will be reworked in a future album.
That very Christine, built on short repetitive riff, whose storyline is used to for some other song characters in later songs during the concert. Indeed Christine's son JC gets a mention in the following track Ida Trop Tard, but I wouldn't call this album conceptual or thematic, but probably a bit of "n'importe quoi". Et Puis starts as declamation from Mathieyu that obviously had a cvold at the time, before starting very Gonglike with the same Mathieu then blowing Malherbe-like. Great stuff. Rose is from a different mood, as they aim more for music hall music, with Guigou Chevenier dreaming of Chevalier. Some tracks are definitely more difficult but still impressive, like the Zoo track with its all percussive solo attack. A small classical theme to announce to end a set of the concert (sounds like Fur Eloise) etc. .and a great improv to finish the vinyl.
The rawness of the recording is not as bad as some would have you believe, though as both Chevenier and Richard sing sometimes very close to Peter Hammill's register and the overall sound of the album might approach VDG's Vital live album., this mixed with a brutal rhythm section ala Velvet Underground meeting Beefheart's Trout Mask. The Cd reissue has two bonus tracks dating from the mid-80's, that might have their own interest but they stand out like a sore thumb on this live album, the latter of which feature HC's Fred Frith. Don't get me wrong both tracks are fine, but they should've found refuge on 80's EFL albums.
While I wouldn't recommend the novice to start discovering EFL with this live album, it's certainly a very interesting album that holds its own in their entire discography.
EFL's sophomore album is a much more assured piece of work than their debut. Founder member Chris Chanet had departed, to be replaced by Francis Grand on saxes, flute, harmonica and melodica. This line up lasted for a busy 18 months starting in September 1976, and the album was recorded in November 1977, with the revised line up augmented with guest guitarist Verto. All of this made for a significant progression from the raw energy of Batelages; the surreal lyrics and Beefheart inspired rhythms remained, but overall there was a greater sense of focus and clarity in evidence.
The album opens with the sounds of street, barking dogs and assorted car and motorbike engines, leading into a 6 minute instrumental that is a classic piece of 70s RIO, with guitarist Verto and Francis Grand chasing each other over a complex rhythm that demonstrates just how powerful the interplay between Ferdiand Richard and Guigou Chenevier had become. The remainder of the first half is equally strong, with the occasional vocals shared between Richard and Chenevier. These songs are full of the twists and turns and stops and starts that are associated with RIO, and if the vocals aren't that powerful they mostly avoid the wilful eccentricity of the debut album. The second half of the album is dominated by La Desastreux Voyage du Piteux Python, a sudden throwback to the style of Batelages complete with surreal lyrics declaimed by a manic Guigou Chenevier and some extremely non virtuoso harmonica. This was probably extremely effective in concert, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly once you've heard it more than a couple of times, and at 10 minutes it more than outstays its welcome. The two shorter pieces which bring the album to a close are much stronger, with Henry Cow, Beefheart and early Zappa influences well to the forefront.
Les 3 Fous is a crucial piece in 70s RIO jigsaw; like Sammla Mammas Manna's Maltid it sees the musicians working towards a fully fledged RIO style, and doing so mostly with good humour and a lot of charm. It can't be called a masterpiece, but if you skip the 10 minutes of La Desasterux Voyage du Piteux Python you're left with half an hour's worth of extremely high quality RIO madness. Cautiously recommended.
Second album, from this whacked-out group released in 78 and Grand replacing Chanet on wind instruments, and guest guitarist Verttyo to lend a hand. If indeed EFL was one of the original signataires of the RIO chart, musically-speaking, they sounded often the least progressive of them, sometimes closer to punk and they were definitely one of their more vocal groups in the RIO pigeonhole together with Stormy Six. But although still-raw-sounding, Les Trois Fous (full title means the three madmen winandloose in the land), it's easily a proggier album than debut Batelages.
Opening on the almost Gong-esque Face à L'Extravagante Montée where you where you'd swear that Malherbe and Hillage have gone one step further, the album continues Fleuve & Manteau; where the spoken dual vocals over a wild Velvet Underground-like pattern with a sax running wild. After hilariously short Reportage, Recherche is a slow-developing hardcore fuzzed-out sax piece. The flipside is occupied mainly by a harmonica-led VU-like rhythms with RIO staccatos, and it's more reminiscent if Batelages, where the vocals go overboard The weird and whacked out vocals continue in Pouriissement des Organes (some excellent interplay in its second part) and in the closing Bilande weird thing.
By listening to this and other albums of EFL, it's easy to see where 90's sax-led trios got their inspirations and influences from. Indeed Morphine and Volapuk owe a lot to EFL's early works. A good album, especially in its first half, one that would've received a better rating if its longest track had lasted half its length and replaced by something else.
ETRON FOU LE BOUBLAN literally means “Crazy shit, The White Wolf” in French and what a suitable zany moniker for one of the bands to emerge in the 70s that would be a part of the Rock In Opposition (RIO) collective initiated by the equally alienating Henry Cow. This band emerged from the Grenoble area near the French Alps in 1973 but didn’t get around to releasing their debut BATELAGES (French for “fares”) for four more years. The band was initiated by sax player Chris Chanet but become more of the playing ground of the other founding member Ferdinand Richard who was one of the more experimental sound seeking members who would steer the group towards the ultimate avant-garde setup and mentor of the metronomic where he employed his famous double stops, crazy chord changes and onomatopoeic sound effects.
While the term Rock In Opposition has become somewhat synonymous with avant-prog, in the beginning it solely referred to the bands that played in the Rock In Opposition performances. In general these groups all had a few things in common despite the stylistic differences. They were all very experimental with traces of classical, jazz or chamber rock and excelled in creating bizarre music with great complexity. ETRON FOU LE BOUBLAN met all these criteria but stylistically was an anomaly even within this avant-garde movement.
First and foremost ETRON FOU LE BOUBLAN exhibit a healthy sense of avant-prog with excruciatingly weird angular rhythms and melodies however it is fortified with a vigorous infusion of not only jazz-fusion but a snotty sort of art punk as heard in the nasty guitar delivery and emphatic vocal attacks. I’m also hearing a distinct relationship perhaps due to similar geography with the vocal style of Catherine Ribeiro in the lyrics in how Richard belts them out in the same sort of contemplative yet forceful manner (not to mention the folk melodies underpinning certain segments). The music on the album consists of only five tracks with the first one going all out hitting the eighteen minute mark and transversing many different styles and moods whether it be the art punk rebellion, the jazzy bass driven parts or the frantic vocal outbursts. The reeds also give it sort of a klezmer type of feel at times as well. While all the lyrics are delivered in French, it’s rather the emphasis on the lyrics that conveys more of the mood than the lyrics themselves (in case vous ne parlez pas français).
It basically boils down to the fact that ETRON FOU LE BOUBLAN share the same sort of anarchic visionary revolution that the punk scene was unleashing upon the world the very same year instead of giving the prog world a big middle finger, ETRON FOU LE BOUBLAN was redirecting this social angst to suit the needs of the current trend. Call it a form proggy punk snobbery if you will, but this musical expression certainly served a purpose as to bridge the two disparate musical worlds for those who felt torn between the love the old in terms of musical complexity and escapism and with the urgency of taking a political stance while being grounded in the here and now in the new emerging world surrounding them.
While the band would first play live in 1973 with Magma (simply as ETRON FOU), they would go through some personnel changes before arriving as a trio on this debut which would succeed in getting them invited by Henry Cow to join the very first Rock In Opposition festival in March 1978 at which time Francis Grand would have replaced Chanet on saxophone. They would play on future RIO festivals and would also work with Fred Frith throughout the 80s but it was this debut BATELAGES that would get them the invitation into the RIO club where they displayed their strange new mix of avant-prog sensibilities infused with a modern punk rock attitude. While Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna and Univers Zero would continue on to gain international recognition, ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN is one of the original six (along with Stormy Six) that wouldn’t retain as much recognition over the years.
Perhaps it’s because they were in a bizarre cross current of two disparate musical movements but nevertheless, they forged a rather unique sounding album that sounds exactly like what one would expect if you hybridized a fully fledged early 70s experimental prog album (albeit quite French) with a late 70s art punk band. Perhaps not as enjoyable as the best the RIO movement had to offer on heavy rotation but nevertheless this a veritable treat for anyone who is craving something utterly unique and a historical artifact that sounds like no other. This one is chock full of energetic disregard for musical norms without resorting to purely atonal noise or angular riff attacks (well most of the time!) Lots of regional folk melodies nestled in the mix as well and the album is well paced with different moods, textures and genre shifts that make it a truly smooth flow that warrants more respect as a founding RIO entity. I love it myself!
Etron Fou Leloublan were the most eccentric of the decidedly odd bands in the original RIO movement. For some years they functioned as a trio with rhythm section Ferdinand Richard (bass, guitar, voice) and Guigou Chenevier (drums, sax, voice) and a rotating cast of saxophonists/lead vocalists. In their early years the frontman was Chris 'Eulalie Ruynaut' Chanet, a talented comedian as well as a musician. This was the line up that started their career opening for Magma and recorded Batelages, their debut album, generally considered to be their least accessible.
It opens innocuously enough, Ferdinand Richard playing some fairly tasteful fingerpicked guitar while Guigou strokes the cymbals - then the drums strike up a Beefheart style beat, Richard strums a frantic proto punk rhythm and Eulalie starts declaiming the lengthy narrative that winds its way through the opening 18 minute epic L'Amulette et le Petit Rabin. After about 5 minutes Richard switches to bass, Chanet starts blowing some very free tenor sax and the ensuing instrumental passage sounds like it was recorded with the three musicians were in seperate rooms, quite possibly on seperate continents. In fact, it all works rather well - Richard and Chenevier formed an unorthodox but highly skilled rhythm section which doubtless inspired Ruins, with Chanet's freeform voice and sax meandering over the top of it all. The piece switches between vocal and instrumental interludes and will either enchant or infuriate. The second half of the album is more instrumental but equally bizarre - it starts with a drums/percussion piece, followed by 22 seconds of Yvett' Blouse. Madame Richard/Larika opened side 2 of the vinyl original and is a lengthy piece which is probably the most recognisably RIO style piece on the album, with the sax played through effects pedals at some points. Histoire de Graine closes the proceedings, with vocals by Richard and very much in the style of the opening track.
Batealges is a very raw piece of work, but the talent of the three performers is obvious and there are some excellent passages of free jazz/rock lunacy if you're prepared to persevere with it. Captain Beefheart is the most obvious reference point, although if you can imagine Henry Cow getting very drunk and jamming with a stand up comedian that will also give you some idea of what to expect. Understanding French isn't necessary, and may even be an advantage as the vocals become just another instrument. Following this album Chanet left, later to join Urban Sax, and EFL would acquire a new frontman for the next stage in their career. As uneven as it is there's plenty of inspiration in evidence, and lovers of the truly surreal and bizarre will enjoy it. If you're not already a fan either of the band or RIO in general, start with one of their later albums; otherwise jump right in, but don't say that you weren't warned!
Excellent RIO-music; (at least) par with Henry Cow's best offerings. Imagine the bastard child of theatrical art rock and punk music and this is what you get. Aggression, coupled with precision and lunacy. Excellent, but quite far from accessible. The "L'amulette et le Petit Rabbin"-suite is one of french music's true highlights.
Guitar, Vocals – Jan Reynders, Leen Leendertse (tracks: 7, 8)
Guitar – Kees De Blois
This album contains 6 songs which were recorded in 1973, plus 3 demos and 4 live cuts,all from 1971
Anyone who is familiar with Cosmic Dealer or World In Sound Records, Germany will know that this is an absolute killer release. Consisting of 9 studio recordings, 3 of which are included on "Crystallization" and 4 live tracks from a Dutch television appearance in 1971, this is the companion to the new, 21 January 2013, release of a deluxe 2 cd edition of "Crystallization" on Pseudonym Records, Netherlands. "Child of Tomorrow" is included on the 1993 reissue of "Crystallization" as well as the upcoming 2013 2 cd deluxe edition of the same title. "Sinners Confession" and "You're So Good" are duplicated as well, but that still leaves 10 tracks only available on this release. The sound quality is up to World In Sounds usual standards too! Wolf never puts out an inferior product. The disc is pricy, so look around, check Amazon.co.uk and other suppliers to get the best deal you can, but don't miss out on this incredible piece, available on cd or LP + Live EP. You can't go wrong either way. The 4 live tracks with total run time of about 24 minutes are absolutely essential. Cosmic Dealer have reunited and are playing gigs as I write this review. Ad Vos and Angelo Santoro have been members throughout and vocalist Frans Poots is with the reunited band as well. It is not a case of one member getting together with four or five new people and calling themselves Cosmic Dealer! No, this is a truly reunited Cosmic Dealer playing their classic songs and sounding just as good in 2013 as they did in 1971 when they recorded Crystallization. The live recordings here are from 1971, while the studio tracks are mostly from 1973 although 1 is from 1971. The band has a Facebook page and are very open to interacting with fans and fellow musicians. No huge egos here. Just huge musical talent. This disc has a run time of 67 minutes and includes a 12 page booklet. The 2 cd "Crystallization" has liner notes by Ugly Things owner/publisher Mike Stax, the notes here are by World In Sound owner Wolfgang and the booklet is full of gorgeous photos and has full track annotations. Like all World In Sound releases this is a limited edition release, so grab it now or forever live with regret.
First cat.nr. on backcover and spine, second on label.
Eddy Ouwens is credited correctly on the label, but erroneously as ''Eddy Owens'' on the backcover.
Believe it! While Crystallization is an extremely rare 70's rock album, the songwriting is really excellent. "Daybreak" begins this album on a not so exciting note vocally, but soon the pace picks up with flutes and it gives the music a kind of "Captain Beyond meets Jethro Tull" vibe. "If There Is Nothing Behind the Hills" has a song title that sounds like a perfect sequel to the horror classic The Hills Have Eyes. This song is really eerie and psychedelic in an early Pink Floyd kind of way. Again, just like in the previous song, the pace suddenly picks up when it morphs into "Child of the Golden Sun" and rocks in a Santana-like kind of way while the lead singer resembles Roger Chapman from Family fame. Despite all the similarities, this stuff is very solid.
"Swingin' Joe Brown" is not only another excellent song, but a startling early Jethro Tull similarity due to the flutes, electric guitar and even the mysterious rhythm all make me think of Jethro Tull's "Cat's Squirrel" from their This Was album. But guess what? That moment is over all too soon as the song quickly shifts into surf rock-style awesomeness. Love the diversity during the transition. So far I see these guys love utilizing progressive rock tendencies while maintaining a more straight forward approach which is unique.
"I Had a Friend" is an *amazing* song with a familiar chord progression. Yes the sincere vocals sound like a ton of other bands of the time such as the Hollies to name one example, but truthfully these similarities eventually disappear as I focus on the great songwriting over time. These constant comparisons I'm making are more like an expression of initial shock. Eventually I won't compare this stuff to other bands anymore, just so you know. The title song is next. WOW and does it ever sound familiar! Reminds me of too many songs to count. The flutes are very delicate and touching, the constant repeat of the word "crystallization" is memorable and not annoying due to how soothing it sounds, and the guitar playing is appealing spooky like a ship sailing off through the fog and never returning. The flutes give off the same vibes. Great stuff! These guys certainly had the talent for carefully changing the tone of a song on a dime without it feeling forced or unnatural in any way.
Oddly, "The Scene" has vocals that remind me of Tom Jones, however a major difference is that Tom would never rock out as much as THIS song does! Not only does it rock, but the guitar riff is absolutely *amazing* and dare I say, ahead of its time? Seriously Judas Priest used to write guitar riffs like the one here and they get all the credit in the world for taking heavy metal in a different direction. "The Fly" has a distinct "Moondance" (Van Morrison classic) type of catchy rhythm and atmosphere. It contains quite the memorable vocal melody too. I have nothing but good things to say about this band!
"One Night With You" reminds me of the lead singer of Slade quite a bit. It's a ballad though, not the type Slade would ever do. Of course I'm only describing the intro- the guitar riff and heavy rhythm comes in and takes over as the song morphs into "Find Your Way". VERY catchy guitar riff. ZZ Top would be impressed! "Flying in the Winter" (yes, fly me right out of this impossible to deal with cold climate! Thanks a lot climate change for making winter worse!) The verse melody accurately captures the loneliness and depression that I feel every winter. But it's June so no need to dwell on that, right? I agree with the lyrics "Sometimes I just don't know what to do" either. The truth is winter's so awful we *can't* do anything. None of us can. Unless we all move to Florida but then it'd become too cramped down there so yeah, we just persevere it. Anyway I love this song and it's probably the one song that makes the biggest impact on me obviously given my little rant, lol.
"Head in the Clouds" begins with some VERY heavy guitar soloing before the song goes in a, believe it or not, Beatles-like experimental direction. Listen to those vocals with the strings and flutes... I think this is due to the vocals reminding me of "Ahhhhh, look at all the lonely people" from "Eleanor Rigby". Just a little bit. This is one really bizarre song though. Sort of reminds me of a continuation of "The Scene". The only unusual part is that this song does not place my head in the clouds. It places me in a construction zone maybe, or somewhere with lots of fast-moving action. "Illusions" finishes the song on a lullaby-like note with tasty guitar playing.
I absolutely enjoy how *full* this album sounds in terms of the arrangements and diverse styles. Then throw in some really solid songwriting with strong vocal melodies and you have yourself a winning album. Yes more people should be aware of this album.
Crystallization is a real good hard rock heavy psych album with nice guitar work. There is some so-so flute and the singer doesn't do much for me at all.
There is a second compact disc full of out-takes, demos, and different arrangements that, although not up to the sound quality of the original, is a good listen as well. All in all this is a nice package of hard rock heavy psych from 1971, the best year for music ever.
- Daniel Schell / Chapman Stick, keyboards, vocals
- Alain Pierre / keyboards, sounds, producer
- Nicolas Fiszman / bass, backing vocals
- Philippe Allaert / drums, trumpet, backing vocals
With:
- Emile Schram / trumpet (21)
Many years after releasing their first two great albums, the excellent French label Musea is now releasing another Cos album, but in their later career, with this very Spanish-tinged Pasiones (subtitled New Fanstasmos Aus Brussel - Esperanto for New Fantasies From Brussels). From the Early days, only Schell remains but he is well surrounded by other well-known Belgian musician and a superb (and beautiful) Spanish falsetto singer Ilona Chale sometimes sounding like Nina Hagen and Nicolas Fiszman - who played bass on the only album this writer have produced, so far - providing a very African touch. Cos was always fairly successful in Northern Spain (Pais Vasco and Catalunia), so it was little wonder that soon or later, their passions would erupt and they did in a quite stunning way.
Musically, we are very much in the 80's, not that far away from some of the better new wave bands (my fave Talking Heads) but also very close of King Crimson of the moment. Yes, I did say new wave or funky new wave b ut if you love the two afore- mentioned group, you will not be disappointed with this one. African touches, German New Wave sounds, Frippian guitars beds are among the elements that make up this concept album about the Spanish Civil War that would lead to 40 years of Franco dictatorship. This passion for Spain was existing as soon as Cos released their first album in 75 around the death of El Caudillo and they toured the regions rather extensively as Spain was entering an artistic fervour. Already the previous Swiss Chalet album had touched the subject, but now the concept had come to fruition. The story of three Republican soldiers (the good guys in that war) out on a quick leave in Barcelona from the war front reveals many enjoyable moments and reach Cabaret music heights at times.
As so often the case with Musea releases, the disc comes with many bonus tracks, including a short concert in 82 in southern France (the music presented there is very similar to this album and a few tracks are from the Pasiones album), a demo track and from what I gather a non-album single also well in style.
If you love the third Crimson era with Adrian Belew and Talking Heads, this album will make you climb up your living room walls, tear your window curtains in howling and delirious musical orgasms. Only waiting For Musea to release the other yet unreleased albums so I can howl to the moon.
Rather strange; poppy, much more like avant-prog, and some exotic influences here, reminding me of Funk, Brazilian, samba, Zolo, New Wave, Neue Deutsche Welle, Minimal Wave, Soukous, Zouglou... but often you can't tell what the influence is, or is it just unique music, for example "Adios Belleza" has a bit Greek, march and communist national anthem feel, and female-fronted Zeuhl. Arrigo Barnabé is one artist that comes into my mind, but it's quite different. "Paralytic Lovers" is a bit like dark psychedelic German circus cabaret Zeuhl.
12. Babel Dub - Cos Trio Live In Pavillon Hannover (4:30)
13. Chasseur De 3 Heures - With Ballet Live In Elizabethzaal Antwerp (5:00)
14. L'Air De Dolly - Voix Et Piano, Live In BRT (2:33)
Pascale Son / vocals
Daniel Schell / guitars, vocals
Charles Loos / keyboards (6-10), piano (14)
Jen Mutsari / bass (1-5)
Alain Goutier / bass (6-13)
Philippe Allaert / drums
with:
Nicolas Fiszman / guitar (12)
Alain Pierre / sounds, engineer
While Babel was still very much an excellent first period Cos, Swiss Chalet was indeed completely different, and the very clinical and technoïd artwork clearly announces it clearly. Indeed even if released in 79, Swiss Chalet is an 80's record and the group is now a quartet. Not only has Marc Hollander left (to found Aksak Maboul), but Alain Goutier is only present on the B-side of the album, replaced by a reggae bassist, which will leave heavy traces on his A-side of the wax. The group's image was drastically modernised and the former hippy looks given up for very trendy 80's wardrobes and a mini-soap opera presented on the inner sleeve to accompany what is a loose concept throughout the album. Unfortunately Pascale Son's extraordinary scats are not much present, replaced by more conventional singing which actually fit quite well the reggae ambiances.
After the forgettable short intro called Click, the group launches in a way-too lengthy reggae Gigolo tune spread over three languages (Eng-Fre-Ger), and while of no real interest for progheads, their white reggae is close to The Clash (circa London Calling and Sandinista) and much worthier than UB40 and others. While it obvious that these superb musos are trying their best to make this track a sort of progressive reggae, and in some ways, they manage. Kibaki is another reggae tune but it lacks the previous track's originality, even if remaining quite technical. Achtung TV Watchers is a bit different and in some ways reminds of Talking Heads or even the 80's Crimson that was to come on their final album and Love Robots follows suit. The flipside starts on Wagon, another white reggae, where departing bassist Goutier pulls a credible line, seeming quite comfortable with his fretless bass. The next L'Air De Dolly is dominated by Pascale's almost operatic singing, while L'Air De Rien is a rather strange and disturbing semi-reggae with funny French lyrics. Most of the tracks remaining share the same semi-reggae/pop scheme except for the strange instrumental Liebe, which quite darker and much proggier (in some ways sounding like a chanting Univers Zero) and it is easily my fave track on this album.
Swiss Chalet is anything but a bad album, but compared to their others, it is rather an introduction (or a transition album) to their next opus (Passiones) and as Belgian was an active part of the Eurock movement, Cos was singing in many languages and will be developing the Esperanto concept on their further album. Definitely a good pop music product of its time, mixing reggae, Post Punk, New Wave, but not sharing those styles's lack technical or virtuoso qualities. Best avoided by progheads who are looking for purer prog styles, but if you love late 70's and early 80's pop-rock, this album could just rank among your faves in that genre.
Clearly not one of the best COS's albums. Well, this albun was released in the early eighties and they were obviously trying to get into the New Wave era, but this album has nothing to do with the first three albums.
The influence of bands of the New Wave era like Talking Heads, Joy Division, The Cure, The Clash, The Smiths or even Blondie is notorious, but there is nothing left of the classic Canterbury Scene sounds we can appretiate in "Babel".
Some sounds like Post Punk, Reggae at some moments, sometimes it reminds me even to some eighties pop groups like Huey Lewis and The News.
It has nothing to do with the first three albums by COS, but that does not suggest it is a bad album, it's just not in the Progressive Rock/Canterbury Scene line that someone would expect after listening to those albums.
