EGGS AND ASHES

X-LEGGED SALLY had a pretty good run in the nineties with five studio albums and some live stuff. This is a seven piece band out of Belgium with three horn players and the usual instruments. We do get vocals and plenty of humour. I just have this 1994 release and the followup "The Land Of The Giant Dwarfs" from 1995. We get over 58 minutes of music here and nine tracks, with the closer being a monstrous 17 plus minutes. The music is taken from three different projects they had worked on previous from '91, '93 and '94. Songs from these performances were compiled here with incredible results.

The only name I recognized was Jean-Luc Plouvier who is guesting on keys for one track, but was part of this band for their first two studio albums. Jean-Luc previously played on UNIVERS ZERO's "Ceux Du Dehors" and "Uzed" albums in the 80's. And speaking of guests, we get plenty with a total of nine adding keys, violin, trombone, bass, sax, guitar, trumpet and two vocalists. And the guest guitarist is Michel Delory who also played on UNIVERS ZERO's "Uzed" record. As far as the main band goes, I'm so into the rhythm section. That upfront bass plus a drummer who brings it in spades.

I really have fallen for this one despite the horns being played in a style I'm not that into, as in blasting away much of the time. And that opener stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. Sounds like a German "Oom pa pa" song with vocals. So lame, but that's the point, as it starts to deconstruct towards the end. Nice. The second track "Laut Und Leise" features some raw and abrasive guitar, and I like the heaviness with that rhythm section. Some ripping guitar later on "Midwave" but before that it's all about the horns and it gets quite avant too. "Hate Song" is crazy to start, love the drumming. It turns experimental after 2 minutes.

"Turkish Bath" is catchy with huge bass lines and dissonant horns. Twisted stuff. "Sparadrap" is about the multiple sounds meshed together, quite punchy as well. "Mask" that 17 plus minute closer has it's moments but it's not all gravy. Still, a great way to end the album. It was fun re-acquainting myself with this one over the previous week. Another winner from Belgium!