SUBREPTICEMENT

3.5 stars is the perfect rating for me and I can't hit 4 stars because I just don't enjoy this enough. Still this 5 piece from France put out a pretty good Jazz Rock album back in 1979, their only release. We have a female keyboardist(yay) and the guitarist and bass player composed all the music on this all instrumental album. We also get sax and that would include tenor, soprano and alto. I'm not big on that scratchy guitar style but he does change that style on some songs. The bass is upfront and well done, excellent drumming too. These guys were players but I feel there's something minor on every tune that I'm just not into. So no, I'm not all in but glad to have spent some time with this one.

The closer is almost 16 minutes long and without question the song you want to hear from this album. There's very little that I'm not into on this one except for that smooth sounding sax very late. The title track is actually on a Psychedelic compilation recording put out by Purple Records. Not sure how that ended up on a Psychedelic record but oh well, and it's probably my least favourite track. The other song that I do like is "Dinosaures". I'm not into the way too fast paced intro and ending but the rest is gravy. All in all a well done Jazz record that just doesn't suit my tastes too well.

A French band that would soon become a popular Disco band.

1. "Pieds D'Anchois" (3:42) amazing clarity and definition to all instruments in this tight Headhunters-like song. Rich keyboard play, simple funk, and solid solos from Michel Olivieri's sax and Marcel Merino's piercing electric guitar help elevate this somewhat simple yet-tightly executed construct to nice heights. The instrumental sound palette is so close to that of contemporary rock music of the time. (9/10)

2. "Dinosaures" (5:37) another rather simplistic jazzy rock song that could very well have come from a jam by one of STEELY DAN's practice lineups (that is, containing nowhere the polish and glitz of one of The Dan's final renderings). Nice melodies. I like the way the bass is rendered up close. I also like the enthusiastic vamp at the end. (8.875/10)

3. "Le chateau de l'elephant" (4:22) opens with some rock electric guitar arpeggio that gradually speeds up as other instruments join in with their own four-chord sequence woven in with the guitar. Then, in the second minute the whole band switches gear and produces a Jay Beckenstein/Spiro Gyra-like weave with soprano sax, Fender Rhodes, and rhythm guitar mixed way up front each contributing to the harmonically-sophisticated weave in support of the sax's lead. Light and pretty but overall there's just something missing. (8.75/10)

4. "Drame sous les palmiers" (6:55) guitar, bass, keys, and drums slowly congeal to put together a smooth jazz kind of weave with quirky sounds being produced by the sax, electric guitar and electric piano. The rhythm section is almost disco (while the rest of the band support a kind of rendition of the melody of the Sister Sledge song, "He's the Greatest Dancer"--a Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers [CJHIC] composition that wouldn't come out for another three years). (13.125/15)

5. "Subrepticement" (3:48) more melodic music woven together with mathematically-woven instrumental support. Nothing new or special here; more like a practice jam or an étude meant to pull the band together into a serious focus. (8.6667/10)

6. "Boucle d'or" (15:50) not your average epic or mesmeric since it straddles the rock, jazz, R&B, and disco lines--all at the same time! It feels as if a bunch of uncredited guests are present help expand the horn section but it could be multiple tracks dedicated to Michel's saxes doubled up with some of Marcel's guitar and Patricia Hue's keyboard sounds. (In this latter case it would be a rather ingenious coup to pull off). For the first half of the song there are two main motifs seem to alternate throughout but then there is an extended pond of stagnation in which the instruments continue playing sporadic outputs while they all struggle to find a new direction. Eventually the drum and bass player seem to figure "a way out" and the rest of the instruments follow, creating a spacious funk groove that could be emulating something from one of the Mwandishi albums--even, more specifically, the Bennie Maupin or Julien Priester solo albums from that era. Nice rolling bass, tension-building Bill Bruford-like drumming, dancing Fender Rhodes and searing guitar soloing fifteenth and sixteenth minutes before things thin out for an interesting sax-and-rhythm guitar chord conversation to take us out. The second half of this song definitely present the best and most interesting music of the album. (27.5/30)

Total Time 40:17

That last 15-minute epic left a very good impression on me, which skews my otherwise-tepid rating and impression and rating of this album as a whole. The compositions are definitely creatively complex and interesting; it's the fullness of each song that feels somewhat lacking to me.

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent collection of Jazz-Rock Fusion songs with the album as a whole tending toward Smooth Jazz. Recommended. At least for the experience.