Eider Stellaire – s/t. 1981. Magma. Zeuhl. I could quit right there, and have served my purpose for many readers. Michel Le Bars ensemble was clearly developed with Christian Vander in mind. But he didn’t Xerox the playbook and go off and play pretend. Instead Le Bars took some core formations and then added his own twists and turns, to create one of the best Zeuhl formulas to come along. Ever. So where are these difference to be found? Vocals for one thing. Or lack thereof. There are no made up Germanic languages or the lingua franca of Eskaton being employed. There are, however, some nice wordless female vocals adding a softer non-threatening Northettes touch to the proceedings. Then there’s the guitar. That’s right, think about it. Electric guitar on a Zeuhl album. It’s a rare species. It does exist, but mainly as an accent instrument. Not so on Eider Stellaire’s debut. It’s featured often, and adds quite a sizzle especially when paired with some fuzz bass. And, as on any Zeuhl album, if the bass player isn’t driving the music forward - and you into oblivion - then quite frankly he’s not doing his job. And Patrick Sinergy is up to the task. He may not be Top or Paganotti, but I don’t think either of them would be unimpressed either. Electric piano is another staple of the business, and once again, Eider Stellaire succeeds at driving the pace with this perfectly tuned instrument. Add in some delicate flute and melodic sax to provide a little yang, and you have one great instrumental rock album, as only it seems the French can do. And don’t bring up the Japanese zeuhl bands to me. Just don’t. Oddly enough, the only instrumentalist that doesn’t shine is Le Bars himself. On the drumkit, no one is going to forget Vander anytime soon. That’s OK - as in sports, the best coaches are rarely the best players. Brilliante.
Eider Stellaire – s/t. 1986. Thought I’d throw in a quick note on the second album. I’d always thought the drop off on this one was immense. And maybe it still is when compared to the massive debut. But really the first half of this album is definitely an interesting approach to the formula. Much more atmospheric with a world music edge. Had it maintained the course for the duration, it would’ve been a fine album on its own merits. The second side is closer to fuzak, recalling maybe Musique Noise. Or as I said about them 15 years ago, they sound like the Zeuhl lounge act at the local Ramada Inn. Both albums fit comfortably on one CD and that’s how it should be reissued I think. Many labels have tried in vain to get these reissued (especially Soleil Zeuhl), but Michel Le Bars has no interest unfortunately.
Pseu – s/t. 1982. The early 1980s were a heyday for the Zeuhl style of bands. Not that anyone knew it then of course, except those crawling around the clubs in and around Paris, Nice and Marseille. Not only was their Eider Stellaire, as mentioned above, but Eskaton, Super Freego, Uppsala, Honeyelk, Jean-Paul Prat, Xalph, Shub Niggurath and Dun were also making the rounds. Now we can add Pseu to the pack. They never did get around to releasing their music on album, so this 2004 Musea reissue is quite a revelation. It takes a bit to get going, and unfortunately this isn’t a typical Musea reissue with great liner notes in English, so it’s hard to know if it’s the earlier or later material that’s suffering (recordings are from both 1981 and 1982). But by track 5, Pseu is firing on all cylinders and continues through to the end (and this section covers about 35 minutes and is the bulk of the disc). And, like Eider Stellaire above, the guitar is featured far more than on most Zeuhl albums. The vocals are pretty much all chanted using only phonetics rather than actual lyrics or even made up languages. Naturally the bass playing is superb and the drumming here is also better than Eider Stellaire. A wonderful discovery for any Zeuhl fan.