TONTON MACOUTE

Tonton Macoute is one of those British one-album-bands of the early 70's of which SPRING is my favourite this far, but in a mature musicality these guys are near the top. Line-up: ac. & el. piano, organ, vibes, vocals / bass, guitars / Alto & Tenor saxes, flute, clarinet, vocals / drums, percussion. Easy to guess: it's fusion. Jazz-rock with bluesy tones. At first listening I was very impressed. I was prepared for the not- perfect production, but the music was more accessible and had much more "groove" than I had expected. It served as great background music for a nature programme, and I played the whole album twice at once.

With later listenings I thought that some tracks don't use the full potential to develop in given time (7-8 minutes). That means it serves perfectly indeed for the background but with full concentration it's not that special all the time, if jazz/fusion in general is familiar to you. Nice flute in some tracks. Excellent playing all over, and also vocals are OK, perhaps a bit impersonal. 'Dreams' has a lovely hazy atmosphere. Martin suggests that 'You Make My Jelly Roll' will only appeal to fans of jazz. Probably so - it IS jazz -, but I say how on earth COULD anyone dislike jazz when it's this groovy! It sends your mind dancin' in the gloomy night, feelin' happily blue.

About the digipak sleeve: threefold inner picture is a deppressing scene of a heap of wrecked cars that doesn't suit at all to the music. And the text in the back is irritatingly almost unreadable as the tiny letters are pink on greenish grey. Anyway, recommended for friends of fusion. (3,75)