TRAVELLING

Another band that was relegated to the obscurity bins, TRAVELLING's sole album VOICI LA NUITE TOMBEÉ (Here Is Nightfall) was released in 1973 and was France's answer to Robert Wyatt's tenure with Soft Machine which provides the Canterbury template upon which the album's six tracks revolve around. Revolving around Hasselmann's piano leads, the music varies from frenetic piano jams and cyclical loops to crazy psychedelic freakouts but mostly rooted in Canterbury flavored mood setting piano rolls which more often than not are exclusively instrumental. When vocals do occur they are straight out of the Robert Wyatt playbook and if you didn't know better may even mistake this album for some sort of lost Wyatt experiment.

The highlight of the album is the side A swallowing title track which at 18 minutes takes a journey through many styles of not only Canterbury tales but jazz-rock, progressive rock and even Krautish psychedelic freak outs. The album is generally laid back and never really rocks out. The keyboardist is completely dominant as the bass and drums simply play follow the leader which makes this album feel fairly lopsided much in the vein of Emerson, Lake and Palmera however influences from Soft Machine, Supersister, Egg even France's most famous Canterbury replicators, Moving Gelatine Plates can be heard all throughout the album's run. While the warm tones of the fuzzy bass and period piece organ sounds are competent what TRAVELLING fails to accomplish is a true sense of originality.

The second side is dominated by piano-led jazz trio sounds steeped in Canterbury sensibilities but somehow fail to impress beyond the competence of emulating their favorite English underground influences. While quite varied in terms of changing things up over the course of the album's run, the music sort of lollygags along at a somnambulant pace and never really reaches its potential. If you compare TRAVELLING to fellow countrymen Moving Gelatine Plates, they just don't compete as they lack the fiery passion to craft explosive new dynamics that incorporate any personal creative spin on the already been there done that Wyatt years of Soft Machine. Some seem to find this one a great listening experience but i'm a bit underwhelmed by the whole affair. Good album for Canterbury fans who want to dig deeper but i can't say this is one i'll be returning to soon.

The titular suite opens with up nicely with bass and gentle organ, everything is very promising. It's got a slight gothic pigmentation, especially when the fuzz organ breaks loose, unleashing a slow but ominous cacophony, supported by bass/piano/drums. Angular transition check. The song then gets jazzy with a smattering of piano chords in a higher register over a deep organ drain. Then one is greeted by singing au Francaise in a familiar Canterburian style. A sublime little organ solo over the same rhythm/piano chords kicks the lead away from the vocals. Singing returns for a moment to allow fuzzed out organ to take one by surprise as it howls. Different vocals come in which are quite beautiful. The distorted organ returns to play call/repeat with the singing. A stripped down interlude introduces faster bass and actual jazz piano. This fades out to ruin the song with ambient avant- garde sounds, sad. I think this part is unnecessary as the song had already gone to a chill section, what was needed was some high energy balls to the wall climaxing, not the complete evisceration of the song. Anyways after a few minutes the jazz section returns but with an organ solo, rather then piano. For a while the song goes through some fast changes of short little interludes. Finally it arrives at a piano conclusion, driven by a fast rhythmic backing. There is a tiny bit of scatting which lead to a reprisal of earlier vocal parts. Piano ends the song from here. This song loses my interest halfway through which is a shame as it's pretty good until then. The suite as a whole flows well but the quality just plummets for me after the piano drum bass section begins at around 9~ minutes.

Flamenco starts side two with piano chords plus bass plus drums plus scatting reminiscent of Robert Wyatt with a Romance language accent. Organ takes over halfway through, driving the song to its conclusion.

Side two is actually just two (maybe one) suite like side one but it's arbitrarily divided into different songs. Anyways Passo opens with fast piano arpeggios that go nonstop which is pretty good, lots of energy.

Soleil begins with piano chords and alternates between lead lines, arpeggios and block chords. It definitely is "brighter" then the Passo. (Some of Soleil is played on Organ)

Tout Compte Fait opens with wonderful piano strums and sparse but engaging bass work. The last has a somewhat definitive ending and there is some space in between Soleil and Tout Compte Fait so I don't think this song is connected to the previous three. Anyways this song is very calm peaceful music.

Shema starts where Tout Compte Fait left off and adds some drums, bass, organ drone and vocals (low in the mix deep scatting) to give the suite some meat. This track ends fading out, it's good.

Overall I find the songwriting to not be particularly great, I love the sound they were going for but the music is not outstanding enough. Solid debut, kind of a shame they didn't release 1-3 more albums to really develop into Travelling rather then a generic Canterbury Scene artist. Also there is actually not very much organ on this album rather there is ALOT of acoustic piano. Canterbury Sound Score 5/5.

Then he ruins that by trying to sing like Robert Wyatt, and singularly failing to do so; this is most apparent when he breaks out the "Aaaaah aaaaaah aaaaaaaaaahs", trying to mimic Wyatt's much-celebrated use of his voice as a musical instrument. It's transparently clear that Hasselmann simply isn't as good a singer as Wyatt is. Travelling had plenty of potential, but they really needed to establish their own territory rather than playing constant homage to the Softs; on the Machine's home turf, they simply couldn't compete. It's a shame that they didn't seem to survive long enough to do this, but I still wouldn't recommend this album unless you are particularly keen on Soft Machine clones.

"Voici La Nuit Tombee" is an 18 minute ride that I have taken over and over again this past week. It opens with cymbals and bass before the organ quickly joins the fray, and it sounds fantastic. A full sound before a minute that includes piano, fuzz organ, bass and drums. Organ and piano then create a piece of heaven before the vocals come in. The light drums, organ and vocals are other worldly. Did I mention I love this song ? Piano joins in. Vocals stop as fuzz organ returns. I could listen to this all day. Vocals are back after 6 minutes. The fuzz organ comes and goes. The piano takes the lead with bass and light drums 8 minutes in. This section is very jazzy. A spacey, experimental, eerie passage arrives before 10 1/2 minutes that changes 2 minutes later as an uptempo organ, light drums and bass melody arrives. Fuzz organ after 14 minutes. A change a minute later as piano again takes the lead. Vocals are back 17 minutes in. Amazing song !

"Flamenco" features more bass, drums and piano. The vocal melodies a minute in are outstanding and a nice touch. Perhaps a nod to Mr.Wyatt. Some fuzz bass after that with organ. Piano starts to take over.This song blends into the next one "Passo". The uptempo piano melodies continue but bass and drums help out here. This song then blends into "Soleil" as piano melodies continue to dominate. Before 2 minutes we get some fuzz organ joining the piano melodies. "Tout Compte Fait" opens with slower paced piano as the organ provides a nice background. This song blends into the final track "Shema".This sounds better than the previous song because bass, light drums and vocal melodies are added.

This is another French band that has impressed me to pieces. I had heard about them on the ProgEars site and am so thankful I did. A must have for Jazz and Canterbury fans.

Un-like most KB-lead trio, Travelling does not even attempt to sound or even make the slightest attempt at ELP, preferring a much more pleasant sound rather Canterbury- esque. In this regard, we might think of another trio with a three-letter name: Egg, but Travelling is more than that also, as they sing in French. But the use of a Fuzz- organ and the jazz-inflicted piano playing (sometimes resembling Keith Tippet's style but much more melodic) cannot help but bring you to the verdict that this French music trio is definitely looking across La Manche (The Channel) at the first mid-size city in Kent. The first side of the vinyl is dominated by the sidelong title track and is a pure joy to hear with Hasselman's voice somewhat not that far away from Wyatt and constant time-changes contrasting with the numerous switches from the Hammond to the piano.

Flamenco, the first track on the second side is not Spanish-tinged but somehow is a brilliant Kent adaptation with a Wyatt-like scatting reminding you of Andalusia with Nelson not just stopping at Trafalgar. Passo with its ever-present piano and Soleil with its fuzzed-out Hammond are textbook case of how a KB trio can sound other than an Emerson-clone band, both superb. Tout Compte Fait (all considered) is a reflective piece where Hasselman joins both the keyboards in solo. While Shema is a slight return to the title track with Haqsselman scatting again to our purest of delight.

While not essential to the average proghead, this might just indispensable to the Canterbury nuthead, so it plainly deserves its fourth star, but this is the type of album most would want to have simply because of the class of Hasselman.