ARCHAIA: S/T CD
Revealing their allegiances right from the start (the album is on the 'Soliel Zeuhl' label), this is a Magma-influenced album, AND it hails from 1977. Anyone knowing Magma from the mid-'70's will get on with this album. However, that said, and typical of the inventive French, they still magae to make the music sound fresh and different rather than just a clone job. In this case the main events are a throbbing, pounding electric bass that somehow sounds almost electronic in parts, while the guitar takes the lion's share of the leads but with a sort of fuzz style sound that makes it growl and howl rather than your normal biting guitar attack. Allied to some swirling, almost Heldon-like synth leads and backdrops, the music is quite organic. But the main thing is the drums - or lack of them, actually. Yes, it's a virtually drumerless album and THAT makes it special. The production and playing are excellent, the vocals, in the Kobaian style both lyrically and in terms of sound, construction, harmonies and arrangement, are what you'd expect, and indeed deserve. Overall, this album improves with play - get over the initial surprise first, then give it a couple more plays and you'll find an extraordinary album unfolding, one that has stood the test of time and will continue to do so.
DUN: Eros CD
From the late '70's comes a long-forgotten album of instrumental French fusion. Using th estandard line-up, which in French terms at the time, meant steaming guitar work, lightning guitar work, wild synths and ultra-strength pounding electric bass, this has got an added ingredient in the form of flute work that blends in perfectly with the band in general, all set to produce new and original compositions, from relaxed to frenetic, but always riveting, with slight traces of Magma, Turning Point, Ozrics and beyond. Overall, it's real gem of an album for fusion fans who are yet to come to terms with anything after about '81, right now.
ESKATON: Ardeur CD
If you go back in the mists of time, around the end of the seventies, Magma were showing distinct signs of catching a more commercial bent, wanting to get their music heard by a wider audience, the results most evident on the 'Live At The Bobino' album, greeted with assorted degrees of criticism by an audience that wanted to see them back to their "old ways". Cue Eskaton. A sextet with two female vocalists who'd previously released a two-track seven-inch single that was received well (of which both are featured here as bonus tracks) and a cassette-only album, they recorded and released their debut vinyl album around that time, and suddenly the spirit, feel and flavour, not to mention the substance of classic Magma was swirling immaculately around our heads.
Now issued on CD for the first time, it sounds just fantastic with its stunning bass playing, classic Zeuhl-music arrangements, some fantastic piano work, a set of incredibly strong and consistent compositions, solid and driving drum work in the Vander traditions, and the "coup-de-grace" - the dual female vocalists, soaring like angels above the surging Magma-styled music, providing manna from heaven for every Magma fan in existence. Hearing the album today, it is absolutely timeless, a work of such enduring quality and substance, it's the sort of album that will sound just as fantastic ten years from now. The two vocalists are simply awesome, while the band play a blinder, on one of the finest Zeuhl-style debut albums ever made. For any Magma and associated music fan, this is an essential purchase, one you simply cannot fail to thrill to, and an album you will play and play and play.
ESKATON: Fiction CD
After the awesome sounds of the debut vinyl album, 'Ardeur', their second album appeared on the scene with the rawness replaced by an altogether smoother sound, something that made the Magma fans at the time, see this as a lesser album. Well, now it's been released on CD as a remastered production, the track list has been changed to give a much more dynamic flow to the music and, with the addition of five tracks and twenty-six minutes of previously unreleased tracks, now comes across as every bit as essential listening to any Magma fan. The opening six and a half minute instrumental, 'FX' immediately showcases the instrumental prowesses of the band as a compositional and playing force with which to be reckoned, the pounding electric bass thundering under the lead keys and synths work while crunchy drums power it all forward and the guitar chording completes the picture. Following this, it's onto the four minutes of 'Les Deux Trucs' and here we're solidly into classic mid-late seventies Magma territory with the trademark growling electric bass, electric piano chords that ring out, drums that are so solid, while a combination of dual female and lead male vocals provide the icing on the cake, as the lead guitar scythes its way through as main instrumental soloist over what is a full, powerful and dynamic sound. Just short of five minutes long, 'Automute', previously sounding a touch weak, now comes alive with a vengeance, as the remaster reveals a sound that is crystal clear and SO powerful, as the high-flying female vocals from Paule Kleynnaert & Amara Tahir propel the song above a backing that is simply sensational as the rhythm section fires up and the synths and keys and guitar provide a triple threat attack that will have the hairs standing on the back of your neck - heaven with a difference for Magma fans. From there on in, the main album reveals track after track that, while heavily Magma influenced, has elements of an almost 'Canterbury' nature to the music with plenty of soaring lead work from electric piano, synths and electric guitar, all the while with the rhythm section flying underneath and providing the rock solid foundations the music exudes. What I had forgotten about this album was just how much instrumental space there was devoted to the band, with the vocalists working a treat in flying Magma fashion but used, to a degree, more sparingly for maximum effect. Of the five previously unreleased tracks, the four minute 'Le Musicien' from a year later than the main album, features some fantastic electric bass and guitar work over crisp sounding rhythms and magical harmony vocals, that trademark mid-paced Magma-esque rhythm pushing it forward. The final four tracks, taken from an album recorded in '85 but never issued, are all excellent and give the female vocalists a lot more presence, which comes as a most welcome addition to the earlier more instrumental main album. With keys, synths and guitars leading the way, a tremendous production throughout and heavenly vocals, this is a must for fans of Magma and similarly styled bands.
ONE SHOT: Vendredi 13 CD
Unlucky for some......Friday 13th, that is............but not for the punters who buy this, because this is one phenomenal fusion music album that just evokes the whole spirit of what made, and to an extent still makes, French jazz-rock such a force to be reckoned with. From what is/was (never easy to keep up) the core of the current Magma band, this is a six-track, sixty-three minute album with some of the fienst electric bass work outside of a Magma album and certainly some of the best on any fusion album you care to name. A quartet of keyboards, electric guitar, electric bass and drums, the feel of the opener is pure instrumental Weidorje, with electric piano, red hot guitar, solid drums and that massive electric bass work, all positively cruising through the opening six minute composition. With the composer credits almost evenly split between Fender Rhodes/synth man Emmanuel Borghi and bassist Philippe Bussonnet, this is one essential album for all fusion/Magma and associated fans out there.
POTEMKINE: Triton / Nicholas II CD
Not only the two albums but each CD has bonus tracks that, together, make up all of the first album, "Foetus", plus two further bonus tracks from an early and incredibly rare single. Musically, it's French jazz-rock from the seventies, but no normal jazz-rock, for this trio of musicians, expanded into a quartet by the third album, deliver a brew that incorporates classic Cannterbury in Hatfield/Mole vein, Magma-esque bass work, and relaxed Mahavishnu into the instrumental compositions that you'll hear. The mastering process has resulted in a crystal clear sound as though it was current rather than twenty-five years old. It's all a treat for fusion fans who like tricky time changes, plenty happening on one hand and more relaxed on the other, as keyboards, bass, guitars and drums do their stuff. The "Nicholas" album is the fuller-sounding, more Canterbury-esque one, but with having more of the "Foetus" tracks, also has more violin work from the guy who left after that album. But overall, two fine fusion albums, full of melody, great playing, expression and dynamics, very English sounding in many ways, and, as ever, recommended.
FRANCOIS THOLLOT: Contact CD
Essentially a French trio of electric guitar-electric bass-drums in the 'Zeuhl' tradition of things and the whole thing reminded me of listening to an instrumental Weidorje with some searing electric guitar work stylethroughout, typically Paganotti-style rumbling bass and upfront leads, deliberate, solid, forceful, crunching drums, rippling and lilting electric piano, all working as one. Every track is a sizzler and once you put it on, you don't want to take it off until the end, the best comparison being instrumental Weidorje.
FRANCOIS THOLLOT: Ceux D'en Face CD
The world of French fusion never stands still and just as you might have entertained the thought that even the French scene had done it all, along comes a guy playing music in the realms of One Shot, Art Zoyd, etc - the old Zeuhl influences showing through strongly - with the remarkable thing being that all the instruments (electric bass, drums, electric guitar and piano) are played by Thollot himself, while the even more remarkable thing is just how well it all sounds, how cohesive it all is and how this fiery brand of instrumental fusion works a treat. With plenty of Magma-influenced (Top/Paganotti-eras particularly) electric bass work, some scorching guitar work, but the real difference here is the use of piano as co-lead, both in a melodic manner and a somewhat angular way so that somehow it all fits with the guitar bass and drums to create a set of tracks that are at the same time original, unique sounding and yet supercharged fusion as only the French can play it.
