LES 3 FOUS PERDEGAGNENT - AU PAYS DES...

This one is a bit better than rough and agressive debut. Still containing some unbearable tracks (like 10-minutes long insanity of "Le désastreux voyage de piteux Python" - just listen to it!!!), but "Le fleuve et le manteau" has a MELODY this time, not only loose avant experimentalism! Opening track is somewhat CRIMSONique and quite enjoyable too. Due to some overdubs and the whole sense of much better constructed music, "Les 3 fous Perdegagnent - Au pays des..." is more listenable for a newbie like me than EFL's debut. Again I apologise for reviewing this when NOT being a RIO/Avant stuff fan, but if you can do better - go ahead!

3.5 stars

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.

With the release of Les Trois Fous Perdegagnent, Etron Fou Leloublan cut down their compositions in shorter clusters, which is something that they would continue doing, and showed a definite improvement in their songwriting!

Even though it's only been a year since Batelages, the trio had already made a change in the lineup and the addition of Francis Grand did add a more prominent team player to the band's sound, especially in the Alto & Tenor sax regions. The opening composition is beautifully titled Face À L'extravagante Montée Des Ascenceurs, Nous Resterons Fidèles À Notre Calme Détermination and is quite a stunning example of the consistency that I was missing on the band's debut release. This performance is slick, energetic and quite extravagant in its style while still maintaining a clear sense of direction. The followup Le Fleuve Et Le Manteau basically carries on the tradition of the album opener while adding new layers to the overall sound.

The first side closes on Recherche Pour Un Journal, Des Lunettes, Une Pipe Et Un Bérêt that features fairly little percussion by Etron Fou Leloublan's standards up to this point while incorporating a very thick layered sound of the brass arrangements. Side two opens with the 11-minute long Le Désastreux Voyage De Piteux Python which features a much looser style, reminding me of the material featured on Batelages. P.O.I. incorporates a likewise style of its predecessor, but this time the smooth flow of the composition makes it all seem fairly pleasant to my ears. Things get especially exciting towards the last 2 minutes where the constant bass hamming riff mixed with chaotic drum and sax work really makes it a spectacle to behold!

Etron Fou Leloublan had definitely moved up a notch with this release and things would actually get even better with the next release! Still, this album is quite a juicy steak that will take quite some time to devour with the end results exceeding beyond the initial anticipations.

***** star songs: Face À L'extravagante Montée Des Ascenceurs, Nous Resterons Fidèles À Notre Calme Détermination (6:13)

**** star songs: Le Fleuve Et Le Manteau (7:49) Percutant Reportage Au Pays Des Fées (0:36) Recherche Pour Un Journal, Des Lunettes, Une Pipe Et Un Bérêt (5:54) Le Désastreux Voyage De Piteux Python (10:41) P.O.I. - Pourissement Des Organes Intérieurs (6:56)

*** star songs: Nave De Bilande (3:00)