CORDON BLEU

3.5 stars. I might prefer this one slightly to their second album "Divergence" but the debut is my favourite by far. The singing on this and "Divergence" drops my ratings in both cases, just not a fan of his voice at all while the debut just had vocals on one track but at least he could sing in a style I liked. There's two great tracks on here though, both all instrumental and both the longest songs on here hence my 3.5 rating. This was released in 1975 and is a Jazz/Rock affair.

"Chappaqua" is one of those two excellent numbers clocking in at 10 1/2 minutes. My hopes were high after my first listen to this one that's for sure. Relaxing organ then sax before it kicks in around a minute including bass and drums. Such a beautiful sound here. It turns jazzy around 2 1/2 minutes and a little more intense. It relaxes again with that sax after 3 1/2 minutes but the drums are busy this time. Nice keyboard sound as well. A change before 5 1/2 minutes as it becomes more intense again. Great sound. The sax is back around 7 1/2 minutes but not for long. The bass and drums really impress. More sax before 10 minutes in this energetic closing section.

"Third Line Part 1" opens with bass and cymbals in this relaxing piece before keys and sax join in. Mellow is the word. It blends into "Third Line Part 2" where the vocals join in and I don't like them. It's ballad-like here although it will build some with drums and organ but it's still very relaxed. The vocals stop before 2 minutes and the sound becomes a little more intense and the tempo picks up. Vocals are back before 4 minutes.

"A Song For You" makes me a little sick to my stomach every time I hear it. A ballad that sounds like it's done with the Reo Speedwagon singer. Yikes! "Whirlgig" is the other track I really like clocking in at around 9 minutes. A mellow start with cymbals, sax and not much more. It kicks in around 1 1/2 minutes, very jazzy but settles back just as fast. Funky bass and a beat as the sax kicks in and synths after 2 minutes. I like this. It settles back again as the tempo continues to shift until that steady jazzy groove arrives. Another calm after 7 minutes before kicking back in late.

"Last Detail Part 1" opens with sax, bass and drums, keyboards too. This is good. Organ just after a minute. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes unfortunately. "Last Detail Part 2" has the vocals returning quickly and while I like the instrumental parts I'm not into the rest.

"Black Pearl Part 1" has spacey synths with bass, piano and drums then it kicks into gear quickly to an uptempo sound. Organ too then it calms right down with sax. Nice. It blends into "Black Pearl Part 2" as the sax comes in with some power. Vocals replace the sax quickly. Again I like the instrumental parts best. More powerful sax but again it's brief. I'm not a big fan of the sax to end it.

So much excellent music but not a 4 star album in my opinion.