Plat du Jour - 1977 - Plat du Jour

Plat du Jour 

1977 

Plat du Jour

01. 5 & 1 (6:35)

02. Autoroute (4:45)

03. Zilbra (4:50)

04. Totem (8:05)

05. L'homme (4:45)

06. Rock 'n' Speed (5:50)

Vincent Denis / vocals, guitar

Jacques Staub / keyboards, percussion

Alain Potier / saxophone, vocals

Rodolphe Moulin / bass, vocals

Oliver Pedron / drums, percussion

With:

François Maze / vocals (4)

François Ovide / percussion (3)

I have read time and again people relegating the lost and obscure records as lost causes - albums left for dead in the wake of popular hard hitting easy to grasp, and perhaps more importantly: lucky and exposed releases. Who knows what makes the world go round - except for money that is? And who knows what makes or breaks an album? The answers aren't that clear-cut as most people will have you know. There is a reason why Magma still are going strong without a trace of commercialism in their bloodline...

Plat du Jour are one of my greatest musical discoveries from the last year or so. Man oh man - I'll tell you, for even the most hard edged prog rock fans - there's bound to be something of interest in this magical release. The funky almost Stevie Wonder rolling rock of the opener 5 Autoroute - spliced up with that distinctive French Zeuhl vibe that oozes through in the rhythm section. The space fusion of the second cut Zilbra, that alternates between psychedelic sneaking - slowly developing sonic sunrise notes - to the maniacal propulsive shapeshifting jazz rock that it suddenly becomes. Or maybe the mad avant tinged Motown madness of Totem that comes next with its crazy French vocals, and an insistent groove to it that will have even the funkiest brother at the party shakin' dat ass on the coffee table. Ahhhh you want soothing beautiful high soaring intimacy with some of the most alluring vocal work known to man? Got you boy! L'Homme is your thing then. The way it breaks into those sandcastles of slow moving guitar figurines on top of the hand drums - makes me curl up my toes and shoot my load out on the rim of the planetary systems. WUUUUHHUUU!!!!! Nah you want the low down tunnelling dirty rat fusion that drills its way down in the hard brown soil with Rock n Speed! The track that takes the streets of Rouen anno 1977 directly into your living room with boisterous beats, tooting sax and the tangible swaying refinement of the ending that closes with a kiss instead of the mayhem that started it. 11 Autoroute finishes off the album with the booming stuttering bass dancing an ethereal waltz with the effervescent synths and docile yet affirmative drumming. It then breaks into the Zeuhlish fusion Motown groove, that all through the album threatens to overtake the moods and tempers of the individual tracks - but it doesn't. The balance is always kept - leaving the listener with an astonishing musical example of eclectic behaviour.

I love everything about this release - the fact that it manages to be funky, psychedelic, Zeuhlish, Motown throbbing, experimental, soothing, avant-guarde in some places - and then not really, because what this album holds in spades, is the will and dexterity to transform even the most convoluted of pieces into something lovable and beautiful. It is literally that good. So come on people - all together now: Re-issue, Re-issue, Re-issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suffice to say, that Plat du Jour tops out at the mesosphere - and then sets off to the moon and beyond. Together with the earthy homage coming from the rhythm section - that deep mole foundation, the interplanetary galaxy fighters of sonic bliss ie synths, vocals, reeds and guitars are headed for the unknown fast whilst deeply anchored in the ground. This music is eclectic beyond anything, which is one of its biggest and most alluring attributes. If you want to listen to it, because lets face it, music is nothing if nobody ever sits down and has a listen to it, then by all means: dive straight down inside their MySpace account and stream this baby for free. It needs your ears and heart badly!

Pretty damn strong record by this rather obscure band. They offer a fantastic mix of complex progressive rock and jazz-rock elements. The instrumental work is first class and they've succeeded with the songwriting. "L'Homme" is the only song that's a bit weaker here but it's decent as well. The rest of the material is high quality. The singer is good too and the fact that I don't understand the lyrics doesn't matter.

There's not much to complain about here. If you enjoy prog rock with jazz elements and top notch instrumental work then this album made for you. Highly recommended for every fan of the genre.