FunkFreak75 A French Jazz-Rock Fusion band whose collective sound is very close to that of BRUFORD--and not just due to the stylistic and sonic similarities to the drummer who happens to lead that band.

Line-up / Musicians: - Marius Lorenzini / electric & acoustic guitars, vocals - Ann Ballester / acoustic & electric pianos, synthesizers (ARP Odyssey & Omni, Oberheim polyphonic), vocals - Josquin Turenne des Prés / bass, guitar, vocals - Alain Gouillard / drums

1. "Vedra" (6:35) very impressive musicianship over creatively fresh multi-tempo music. Everybody raves about this drummer's talent but is anybody listening to the bass player? Who does he think he is? Percy Jones? Nice bluesy motif in the third minute that sounds quite Canterburian despite its more-skilled guitar player. I also love the switch in guitar sounds that Marius Lorenzini uses for his next solo: very cool! Overall, the song is somewhat melodic despite its choppy, staccato structure and frequent and quickly-shifting motifs but so full of life and wonder! (9/10)

2. "À la source du rêve" (7:45) opening with a sound palette that is more befitting the Second Wave of (with the use of electronic percussives and "pretty" chord choices). I very much like the different, slower pace to this one: it allows for more space between the instrumentalists. The real song starts at the 1:35 mark when a BRUFORD-like near-disco-funk weave leads the way for keyboard master Ann Ballester to lay down a pretty cool synth solo. Acoustic guitar is next--here sounding a lot like Jean-Luc Ponty's recent guitarist, Daryl Stuermer. Drummer Alain Gouillard's drums sound like Bill Bruford's--not just his style but everything about those toms! A good song with a very impressive sound palette and mighty impressive individual performances from each one of the quartet. (13.75/15)

3. "So Deep Inside" (5:45) bass and guitar interplay in the instrumental passage after the vocals is incredible how similar they are to Holdsworth-era BRUFORD's Canterbury-tinged sound--a feeling that is only reinforced with the unexpected appearance of Ann Ballester's singing voice. The rhythmatists playing beneath Ann's voice and, later, her piano solos, are tight but perhaps a bit too stiff, but the instrumental passages that follow are incredible! And the bridges are so RTF-like (even YES-like)! I love the ARP solo in the fifth minute with the flattened out rhythm support. Cool finish to a rather mind-boggling song. (9/10)

4. "Le temps d'un solo" (5:43) piano and acoustic guitar fly through some very complex lightning fast arpeggio runs like some famous Belgian duo to open this before everyone clicks into their electric selves, carrying forward the riffs that started it for some seconds before settling back into a piano-based jazz-rock motif over which Marius Lorenzini solos with a distorted wah-effect giving his axe a kind of muted-trumpet squawking sound. Nice bridge leaves us back in the same motif for yet another extended solo of guitar squawk. The three other band members stay pretty tightly-committed to the supportive weave beneath (despite Alain's irresistible urges to flourish and embellish). I'm amazed at the way the whole band can create a horn-section like effect for the bridges. Very impressive. (9.25/10)

5. "La ville en béton" (5:00) guitarist Marius Lorenzini is back using yet another muted-trumpet sound for his guitar (one sounding very much like some of the "old-time jazz" sounds Jeff "Skunk" Baxter used on Steely Dan's early albums.) Ann opens with some ARP play but then backs way off to help supply the rhythmic support to Marius' multiple-sound-choice guitar solos. Man! This bass-and-drums duo are so tight! Their solid performances must give the soloists quite a little confidence to dare to do pretty much anything they well please. Male singing voice! What? Yet another unexpected occasion. (Singing in French, of course.) Looks like that remarkable rhythm section offers all kinds of risk-taking confidence! (Is this what Demtrio Stratos felt with AREA?) Amazing song! (9.5/10)

6. "La fille du ruisseau" (6:45) this one sounds like it could have come straight off of RETURN TO FOREVER's final studio album, Musicmagic--at least, that is, until the muted-trumpet guitar and ARP synth start dueling in the fourth minute. Group vocals enter over STEELY DAN-like Fender Rhodes chords singing in French. They certainly add a certain disarming charm to the music--(just as the female b vox singers do on Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho). The on-going to the finish duel between Ann's ARP and Marius' rock guitar is awesome. A strong song if a little less intense than the previous ones. (13.5/15)

7. "Alone, Completely Unknown" (6:55) a mutli-part song in which I hear definite tinges of Canterbury as well as RTF and/or Brand X starts out with a whimsical Chick Corea intro before falling into a whimsical male v. female vocal exchange (conversation?) singing in English! Impressive and fun bordering on both funny and cute! The "conversation" between the guitars and synths seem to be mirroring that of Ann and Marius. Around the four-minute mark we are taken into a different kind of dreamy rabbit hole with a new slower, more spacious motif over which Ann solos on her Oberheim synth both prolifically and abundantly. The supporting motif reminds me of something from the 21st Century band NIL: very mixed in meters--which allows Alain a little more room to show off on la batterie. Cool song--especially since I love the music of both the Canterbury Scene and Nil. (13.75/15)

Total Time 44:28

I love the fact that the French were that rare breed who were secure enough in their sexuality that they could live with a female among their ranks (albeit a very gifted female--in the form of keyboardist Ann Ballester); no other country I can think of (certainly not the English or Italians) seemed to be able to think of a female instrumentalist being equal to the task of being a principal unless it is as a vocalist or perhaps flutist. At the same time, I'm a little bewildered at the fact that this band obviously felt the need or urge to have vocals as integral parts of the bulk of their songs. And to sing in English--something that seems so rare for (and degrading to) the French! Perhaps it was the Bruford-Annette Peacock or Gayle Moran effect. Even more impressive is the individually unique sound and sytle this band is able to project despite being obviously influenced by many Anglo and American projects: they sound like but they are not such-and-such band.

A/five stars; a minor masterpiece of sophisticated and multi-dimensional Jazz-Rock Fusion from a power house quartet of electrified virtuosi.

FunkFreak75 French Jazz-Rock Fusers' third and final album presents a slightly altered lineup despite the essential core of guitarist Marius Lorenzini, keyboard wizard Ann Ballester, and drummer Alain Gouillard. All of the new members enlisted by producer Laurent Thibault are of equally high caliber with pedigrees including memberships in such bands as Magma and Gong. I also love to see how the French let women get involved to such high degree: they deserve it! They earn it!

Line-up / Musicians: - Marius Lorenzini / guitar, synth, vocals - Ann Ballester / keyboards, synth, vocals - Alain Gouillard / drums (1-6) - Francois Grillot (MAGMA) / bass (1-6) - Mireille Bauer (GONG) / vibraphone, marimba, percussion

1. "Aurore" (5:42) cool two-part song with Mireille Bauer's vibraphone given one of the primary/prominent roles in the weave. I very much like the tone and style of play from guitarist Marius Larenzini and I find this weave with its multiple melodies competing and yet complementing with one another quite enjoyable. (9.125/10)

2. "Camara" (9:25) a similar style to the previous song despite the long intro and presence of French choral vocals. They create a great little weave here with very catchy melodies and swinging rhythm track. Do I hear a little similarity to Belgian band COS here? At the 3:20 mark the band shifts up a gear with a little Latin percussion added to the swing in order to guide and inspire the two synth soloists to strive upwards. At 4:28 we're back to the lighter, smoother COS-like vocal motif, perhaps slowed down a bit, now using some dramatic stop-and-start techniques to punctuate pauses and shifts. Very cool! And boy! can these musicians play! I am SO impressed! Though there is a definite Third Wave smoothness to the engineering and sound palette, the band is definitely carving out their path through the exciting funk of this still-fairly-new seb-genre of music (i.e. Jazz-Rock Fusion). Have I mentioned how impressive drummer Alain Gouillard and bassist François Grillot are on the bottom end? I love the harmonized duet between Mireille Bauer on the vibraphone and Ann Ballester on the electric piano during the closing minute. (19/20)

3. "Ma vie dégénère" (2:58) almost a standard rock song with more choral vocals in the fore. Not nearly as exciting as the previous songs (and not nearly as complex or jazzy). (8.4/10)

4. "Daisy" (7:04) again I'm hearing a much more modern kind of music--something more avant-garde than what the 1970s is usually like--though some of the jazzier Canterbury bands also come to mind during certain sections of this song. Opening with electric guitar and vibraphone arpeggiating a two chord sequence over and over, I am quite reminded of 2023's OIAPOK (almost exactly!) And this is 45 years before Pierre "Cheese" (Wawrzyniak) and company ever released an album! Lots of funky panning, both forward and back and then side to side, very quickly. I'm still quite blown away by the ballsy music and engineering. Could this have really been 1978? Also, the funk coming from both the bass play and the syncopation of the rhythm section as a whole in the middle section, is quite remarkable. Nice Steely Dan quality and familiarity to the keyboard and guitar parts. Wow! (14.25/15)

5. "Jungle's Jingle" (6:32) another odd, off-kilter song that has a very quirky Canterbury sound palette and a twist-and-turning bent to it not unlike Pierre Wawrzyniak's CAMEMBERT project of the 2010s. At 1:15 there is a little pause bridge for a reset before the band drops back into the hypnotically circular motif of the opening section. Odd synth and guitar sounds join the weave to present before 2:18 when a new motif is established, one that is still "circular" but now containing some MAGAM or SETNA-like menace in the feel of the weave. Again the lead instruments (guitar and synths) are put through some very strange futuristic sound-blender or something for several of the solos though vibraphone and piano or still within the realms of normalcy. I love the gutsy experimentalism these guys (and gals) are expressing! (9.25/10)

6. "Confluence" (4:46) a slow and very deliberate mathematical construction opens this one for the first 83 seconds before the band merges onto the autoroute while assuming a piano-led high cruising speed. The somewhat Latin-tinged weave is peppered with piano, synths, marimba and timbales performing the lead melody injections until a whole band chorus joins in spewing forth a wildly crazed African-sounding Babel-speak at 3:03--which starts out within the musical weave but gradually drives the instruments from the soundscape for a full 30 seconds of crazy a cappella time before everything comes to a full stop, leaving us with a sudden and surprising space with no sound! Crazy! Then, at 4:04, the hard-driving motif returns with a new Zeuhlish insistence (especially from the bass, drums, and guitar). This could quite easily have been something I might have heard on CAMEMEBERT's two albums from the 2010s, Schnorgl Attahk and Negative Toe. but nothing I would ever have expected to have heard in 1978! I am stunned! (9.75/10)

Total Time 36:27

I am still stunned--even now after my fifth or sixth listen to this astonishing album! How?! . . . What?! . . . Where the heck did these cats come from? Where the heck did they get their ideas? I mean, there's only so much you can get from listening to Parliament, James Brown, Mandrill, Osibisa, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and/or Frank Zappa! How much of this ingenuity can be attributed to producer Laurent Thibault's genius?

A/five stars; a masterpiece of refreshingly original Canterbury- and Zeuhl-infused Jazz-Rock Fusion. I definitely consider this an essential addition to any so-called prog lover's music collection.

Sean Trane I’ve known ES for decades, having been given a copy of this album back in those days, and while I was still a bit too young to appreciate JR/F, I kept on regular but rare rotation, wondering why ES was not at least as well known as RTF, EH, WR, and MO as well as SM, or BrX…. Of course the superstar status of the members of those previously-mentioned groups, looking at ES, none of them reached the heel as far as fame was concerned. Clearly all four musicians were more than excellent at their trades,the most impressive being bassist Josquin Turenne induced a slight Zeuhl twist that is completely absent in other JR/F groups. Graced with a superb and intriguing artwork, Aliquante was ES’ second album (that was news to me still in the late 90’s, though) and it was to be the second last (I was aware but had also never heard the album), so I remained with a largely misinformed opinion of this group for decades. BTW, Ballester and Lorenzini were romantically involved.

Now having wisely stayed away from ES’s debut (only heard it twice at a friend’s house), it’s clear that Aliquante is from another galaxy than its predecessor. One of the main drawback of the debut is Ann Ballester’s vocals, which coupled with her rather good electric piano playing sounds like a third rate Steely Dan, something that will pursue the group to the end of its career. While all four musicians have clearly improved compared to the debut album, the main difference is that Aliquante is an-almost instrumental album: only two tracks are sung, the rest deploying a very solid and aerial JR/F somewhere between RTF and MO, but never reaching the awesome amount of virtuosity so present in those groups. While Vedra starts clearly on a Caravan-derived line, the track quickly develops a speed where our Canterburians couldn’t have followed. Even if newcomer drummer Gouillard‘s play is very reminiscent of Collins’ in BX, the group is often on RTF grounds without the ultra-funk of later albums (as I said Zeuhl is more applicable), but obviously the execution speed is limited. If they indeed overstretch their limits (the start of Temps D’Un Solo), it immediately sounds bizarre or out of tune.

And once Ballester’s vocals do come in the band, they sound better controlled but could’ve been done without as well, but if you don’t mind Steely Dan, you shouldn’t find much problem on this album. According to Ann, the recording of the album was rushed by their new label RCA, which might explain why it has much less vocals than the other two, but you might want to consider this a blessing. As for her keyboard playing, she’s right up there with her fellow musos, and there is little discussion about her choice of synth sounds, a trap that her much more illustrious compadres (Hancock, Zawinul, Corea) couldn’t avoid.

Whether the two bonus tracks are a useful addition is rather of a personal taste, but they’re both early writing/recording stages of the first two track of the next album Horizon Digital, but they beef up a rather short original album, so if Aliquante is the only album you’re planning on getting, they provide enough added value to the album, if you don’t mind their last album’s much more vocal statement. .Clearly the group’s better album, you’ll probably have to start with this one, while knowing that it’s probably the least representative of their works.

Sean Trane After the almost awesome Aliquante, ES came back the following year with a fairly different album, one that would be recorded in Chateau D’Hérouville and recorded by Laurent Thibault, with a very different line-up. Only the Lorenzini-Ballester couple remains with Gouillard on drums, bassist Turquenne passing through Magma (little wonder) and being replaced by Grillot and the group brings in ex-Gong Mireille Bauer (vibes & perc) as a sort–of guest on the way to Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes. It’s my guess many progheads will prefer this present album over Aliquante, and no doubt the gatefold artwork will work subliminally for Horizon Digital, but you should trust (blindly) me on this one, go for Aliquante

One of the differences you will hear is a more Zappa-esque feel to HD, due to Mireille Bauer’s vibraphones, this as noticeable on the fast tracks (Aurore) than on the slower moments (intro of Camara), giving a more Mother-esque feeling than a Gong-ian tone. Another difference is the much greater presence (and more intrusive) of Ballester’s Steely Dan-esque vocals laced with weaker second-rate Zeuhlian influences. So overall the ES formula is returning to a sung popier format, Ballester’s synths choices not being as successful as previously, and the group is even closing the album with a needless blues track.

If on the strictly vinyl album comparison point, Aliquante is a much better album than HD, once you get to the Cd reissues, Musea actually renders things more difficult, by adding five bonus tracks that were supposed to be ES’s fourth album and recorded in 80. While remaining musically roughly in line with their third album, the group was now only a duo consisting of Lorenzini and Ballester plus guests, and by that time, they had been caught by a lot trends of the times, and tried to be much more song-oriented (as in commercially-oriented songs) with Ballester’s voice returning to the fore, but the back up she got made the whole thing sound like Steely Dan and this time not just vocally, but musically as well. Actually the five tracks of the fourth unreleased album make a rather nice accompaniment to Horizon Digital’s eight, but you will find a degradation of quality and inspiration, the pop thing being furthered even flirting with a reggaeish funk… Better first start with Aliquante and if that pleases you enough to find more about them, come to this one (and its successor as bonus) and then move to the debut if you’re still interested.