(LIBERTÉS ?)

While casual fans tend to associate CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES with its first five albums (the first as CATHERINE RIBEIRO + 2 BIS), the group did carry on well past 1972's "Paix" and released five more albums before disbanding in 1981. A major reason for many overlooking these later releases is simply because of their relative obscurity until recent times when at long last the entire nine album canon was released as the box set "Intégrale des albums originaux 1969-1980 - 9 CD" in 2015. While the quality admittedly tapered off towards the end with "Le Déboussole" adopting the solo career chanson style that RIBEIRO had launched simultaneously in the late 1970s, many albums that followed "Paix" up to the group's sixth overall release (LIBERTÉS?) were equally as bold, daring, creative and psychedelically infused.

Undergoing yet another major lineup change, only RIBEIRO, Patrice Moullet and organist / pianist Daniel Morton return from the previous album "Le Rat Débile Et L'Homme Des Champs" with only bassist Henri Texier and percussionist Caroll Reyn joining the team. Noticeably absent is the virtuoso violin performances of Jean-Jacques Leurion and the album has a much more stripped down feel than previous release with more emphasis placed on heavier bass grooves and percussive drive making (LIBERTÉS?) the most rocking chapter of the CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES canon. Similarly the album is structured to previous albums with several shorter tracks leading up to a side swallowing multi-suite epic, which in this case is the near 23 minute sprawler "Poème Non Épique - Concerto Alpin En 6 Mouvements (Suite)."

The album will come off as fairly familiar at least in terms of format. "Une Infinie Tendresse" starts (LIBERTÉS?) with a pounding bass groove and psychedelic spaced out keyboard runs while RIBEIRO passionately delivers her feisty vocal prowess lamenting about the usual social injustices and environmental woes of the modern world replete with Moullet's exquisite lyre playing skills and the usual assortment of homemade percussion giving the band its own distinct sound which remained intact and uncopied throughout the band's existence. The six-minute opener is followed by the short "Prélude Medieval" which offers a (mostly) instrumentally updated psychedelic touch of medieval musical majesty with RIBEIRO offering wordless vocals as extra instrumentation. The track leads into "Parle Moi D'Un Homme Heureux" which is the most sing-songy of the lot with RIBEIRO displaying her unique singing skills in context of a melodic more mainstream psychedelic rocker.

"Qui A Parlé De Fin" starts off with some unaccompanied whistling followed by spoken word poetry by RIBEIRO (en français) also without any musical backing. In fact the entire track is simply a poetry session in near whispered form which will be comprehensible to only French speakers. The highlight of the album is the closing B-side "Poème Non-Epique N° III (Concerto Alpin En 3 Mouvements Et Un Tombé)" which follows the previous playbook of multiple suites that build up into RIBEIRO's frenetic screaming sessions as if she's performing some evil casting ceremony that finds her final bursts of anguish dissipating into the universe. The track like the majority of the album featured a more traditional progressive rock feel than the folk-infused settings of yore. The album concludes with the usual tirade and climatic release of energy before drifting off.

One of the lesser known albums by CATHERINE RIBEIRO + ALPES is one that shouldn't be missed for those who are enamored with the band's past glories. I consider (LIBERTÉS?) to be the last great album of their band's epic period with enough of the cosmic consecutiveness of previous efforts fortified into a new rendition of the band's lineup which once again pays off handsomely. As always the main barrier to enjoying one of France's most unique 70s psychedelic outfits is that RIBEIRO's poetic insight is exclusively in the French language but lyrics aside the music on this one is every bit as innovative as what came before. Perhaps the band sounds a bit like it's running on steam at this point and the albums that follow continued to slightly dip in quality with each subsequent release but even those are well worth checking out, at least i find them worthy.