CORTEX (FRANCE) — Troupeau bleu (review)

CORTEX (FRANCE) — Troupeau bleu album cover

Album · 1975 · RnB

5/5 · 2024-12-15
FunkFreak75

French jazz-funk catchy fun female vocalists--in French!--from supernova Mireille Dalbray. Recorded June 15 &16 at Studio Damiens in Paris (in the western suburb of Boulogne) and released by Disques Espérance late in the year (1975), the band was the idea of songwriter-keyboardist Alain Mion, who posted leaflets advertizing for band members on walls, kiosks, and stores all over Paris. The result is pretty magical, if you ask me.

A1. "La rue" (4:23) the album's only track credited (partially) to drummer Alain Gandolfi, it opens with some very funky Herbie Hancock-like Fender Rhodes play before the band kicks in with some serious funk (especially from bass player Jean Grevet) as well as Mireille Dalbray's airy wisp of a voice breathing an incredibly playful-sexy vocal (in French). Her vocal is effected (and mutli-tracked) to create an effect that I've heard before--quite commonly--from French song-makers of that era--since they started putting effects on vocals from "yé-yé" artists like Sylvie Vartan, France Gall and Françoise Hardy. Chantale Goya would be the best example that I know of. At 1:12 Mireille stops singing and the electric piano of bandleader Alain Mion takes over (with Jean Grevet's bass right over his shoulder). Great jazz-funk! Alain Gandolfi is right there in the pocket with Alain and Jean. Though they're credited on the album, I hear no additional instrumentation until Alain Labib's sax at the end of the fourth minute--after Mireille has returned to the microphone. (9/10)

A2. "Automne (Colchiques)" (2:35) the album's only song not credited to current band members for composition, it opens with a rapid full-band funk with some interesting dated synth in the lead instrument position behind Mireille's breathy yet precisely timed vocal. Despite its brevity, this is a fully-developed song. Very spunky. Mireille even gets to stretch out and blast out her pipes in the final minute. She's got power! (8.875/10)

A3. "L'enfant samba" (3:00) a kind of BOBBY CALDWELL/EARTH,WIND & FIRE pseudo-samba. Mireille returns to and I can finally hear the presence of Jo Pucheu's percussion and Jean-Claude "Le Boeuf" d'Agostini's rhythm guitar. Finally, Alain Labib's sax gets to shine (if only rather briefly). (8.875/10)

A4. "Troupeau bleu" (5:00) from the opening piano notes of this one you just know that it's something special. And then you get the delivery of an excellent even heart-wrenching multi-facetedd vocal from Mireille--backed to great effect during the chorus sections by Alain Labib's reverberated sax. Now this feels like a bossa nova. Plus, it's a very nuanced and well-constructed sophisticated song. And then, bonus! we get to hear, in the fourth minute, the first of Mireille's extraordinarily beautiful and acrobatic Northettes-like vocalese as a kind of additional "instrumental" solo. Extraordinary! My favorite song on the album. One of the best songs I've ever heard out of France! (11/10)

A5. "Prelude à 'Go Round'" (3:52) excellent playfulness between Alain's electric piano, Jean's funky bass, and Mireille's wordless vocalese. Mireille's command and effortless creation of melody are so stunning! What skill! What perfection! Not in the same league (or same style) as the amazing Urszula Dudziak, more like Amanda Parsons or Pascale Son. Such a cool song: so simply constructed and populated. And to top it off, Alain Labib gets to play a beautifully-nuanced sax solo in the final minute. Awesome! (9.75/10) A6. "Go Round" (1:20) beautiful solo piano play. Hard to believe that this is the "meat" to the previous song's "prelude." (4.75/5)

B1. "Chanson d'un jour d'hiver" (5:20) some of the most melodically-rich smooth jazz-rock fusion. The piano play alone is worth the entire song but then add the wonderfully filling bass and drums and Mireille's NORTHETTES-like wordless vocalese into the mix and what you have is a kind of heart-wrenching result. Wow! (9.75/10)

B2. "Mary et Jeff" (2:40) feels like a variation on the previous song, only Discofied and without Mireille's presence. The drums and bass don't align very well with Alain's piano--nor do they seem fitting for the song's mood. Alain keeps using these chord progressions on his piano that are so gorgeous that they make my knees want to buckle. (9.125/10)

B3. "Huit octobre 1971" (4:22) opens sounding very, very much like something straight out of HATFIELD AND THE NORTH's studio jams leading up to their debut album, only funked up a little more by the bass and keys. Mireille's wordless vocalese sounds just like the airy angelic voice of Amanda Parsons, but Jean Grevet's in-your-face electric bass and Alain Mion's multiple keys are definitely the stars of this show. There's a little homage to Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness" in Alain's long solo in the third and fourth minute--and then there is an awesome double-time final minute in which Mireille returns and steals the scene. Wow! (9.25/10)

B4. "Sabbat (1ère partie)" (1:00) bouncy clavinet and groovin' bass and drums unveils a HERBIE HANCOCK like funk party. It's happenin'! This then leads into . . . (5/5) B5. "Sabbat (2ème partie)" (3:15) . . . a big bossa nova party scene using crowd noises and everything with lively percussion, Fender Rhodes, really moving bass, and Mireille's mutli-tracked voice delivering some fast moving happy Fender Rhodes-dominated music. Alain Labib's sax solo in the frenetic third minute really scores! Awesome stuff (and I am NOT a sax fan.) (9.25/10) B6. "Sabbat (3ème partie)" (0:26) . . . and then you have the feeling of a big reveal: explosive like an orchestra-embellished motif, but then everything falls into line for . . . (5/5)

B7. "Madbass" (2:50) . . . another funky Head Hunters-like jam of danceable joy. Sax duplicates the bass line before Alain Mion's funky clavinet-like synth takes the lead. This is the best part: very jazz/Herbie-like. (9/10)

Total length: 40:03

Such a great album, consistently top notch jazz-funk with a few touches of Canterbury magic thrown in for great measure.

A/five stars; a certifiable masterpiece of Third Wave Canterbury- and Headhunters-tinged Jazz-Funk. An album that I cannot recommend more highly!