POSTAEOLIAN TRAIN ROBBERY

COS from Belgium play a blend of Canterbry / Zeuhl that made me think of both MAGMA and ZAO. Before they were known as COS they were called CLASSROOM and played in concerts with MAGMA. Daniel Schell the band leader became friends with Daniel Denis (UNIVERS ZERO) and after they changed their name to COS they also played with ZAO. The singer of COS is Pascale Son, a trained singer who also plays guitar and aboe. This lady can sing folks. And her inspiration on this album seems to be Mauricia Platon who sang on ZAO's debut "Z=7L". So her vocals and style might not be for everyone. I kept thinking of MAGMA's female singers and of course Mauricia Platon with her wordless vocal acrobatics. The music by the way is fantastic !

"Postaeolian Train Robbery" opens with piano and drums then this guy comes in and announces the band members one by one. When he's done the music turns more serious. This is an instrumental track and a great opener. "Cocalnut" opens with faint sounds before it kicks in around a minute. Pascale bursts out singing reminding me of MAGMA then screams. The bass, piano and drums are excellent. Pascale then does her Mauricia impression and she blows me away with those vocal gymnastics. Guitar 4 minutes in. Amazing performance. "Amafam" opens with drums as piano joins in. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes. Nice chunky bass here too. This all sounds so good. Flute helps out as well. I like the piano melodies after 3 minutes with bass and drums. Vocals return before 6 1/2 minutes. "Populi" is catchy with vocals. The bass impresses but check out the vocals ! Guitar before 1 1/2 minutes followed by tasteful piano as bass and drums continue. Check out the piano, bass, drums and vocals late as the tempo picks up. "Halucal" opens with bass flute, then piano, bass and cymbals join in. It's all so incredible.

"Coloc" opens with piano as cymbals then guitar joins in. Vocals before 2 1/2 minutes. Great guitar performance 4 minutes in. Outstanding section. Vocals come and go. It's all very intricate after 7 minutes. The four bonus tracks are important because they are CLASSROOM recorded tracks. They never released an album under this band name so it gives us a glimpse into their earlier sound. You definetly know it's the same band, not too different from the COS debut really, more jazzy. Pascale sings in French on the vocal tracks here. "La Partie D'echecs" features Pascale singing at a fast pace as electric piano then what sounds like upright bass comes in. The drumming and sound is quite jazzy. "Sur Deux" is an instrumental with more prominant bass along with guitar and vibes standing out. "Achilie" opens with reserved vocals, bass, vibes and cymbals. It's laid back but picks up before a minute. Another jazzy tune. A calm with drums and vocals before 4 minutes. Kicks back in after 6 minutes. Intricate stuff including the guitar. "L'admirable Amas Cellulaire Orange" is the short final tune with vibes, vocals and bass leading.

The five stars are for the "Postaeolian Train Robbery" album, although the CLASSROOM tracks are very good too.