Emmanuel Booz - Au Restaurant d’Alice
I did an overview of this French musician’s work at Gnosis a while back and don’t have all that much to add to my appraisal of this first work. I did have a bit of an Arlo Guthrie interest in my youth and had fun spinning the original Alice’s Restaurant a few times, but of course so much of that record is the lyrics and my high school level French isn’t up to the task here. With that said there does seem to be that same sort of casual and upbeat humor here, and my opinion of this has come up a couple of notches, although at this point I don’t think I’ll be hanging onto it.
Jean-Luc Hamonet/Algue - Melodie, Melodie Rock
Musea’s progressive rock book (although I’m definitely going from memory here) has this rare-ish one off project pegged as something of a Camel clone (my words) and while that may be true in part, I’d say the dominant influence on the music is the Allman Brothers. I don’t remember which song it was but there’s definitely an homage to “Blue Sky” that reminds me a little of an analagous Allmans tribute on Motorpsycho’s Let Them Eat Cake. Unfortunately for Hamonet he’s severely handicapped by his equipment and production, with what is one of the thinnest guitar tones I’ve ever heard and his backup group seems a little too tight and amateur to help let the inspirational floodgates loose. I like its breezy upbeat mood but this isn’t an album that’s likely to even convince fans of the influences.
Amir s/t
The early 80s French new music/jazz outfit works sort of in the same circles as Confluence or Clivage, musical ensembles working in both classical and the occasional world or exotic styles to give the entirety a somewhat chamberish feel. It builds slowly with pianos and winds only for the gentleness to start being disturbed by discordant strings as the music develops with a tendency to improvise freely. Throughout the album we’re treated to lots of “found object” sort of sounds, whistles and more unidentifable sounds all of which reminds me of outfits like Limbus 3/4, Ossian and others. Overall it’s a pretty fascinating piece although its inclusion in any rock book is something of a stretch.