Irvin Malonen's Inner Voice, by request, Germany, 1980

The music here is almost library-like in its lack of ambition or intellectuality nonetheless we get a nice basis of classic electric guitar-based instrumental fusion.  The minor second chord change of Coffee Cup had by this time been heard many times before, e.g. French Asia Minor who mastered the style in copying their predecessors like the great Mclaughlin's Mahavishnu, but still can be enjoyed agreeably:

US Jester, 1978, more US magnificence

Yet another in the long line of beautifully warm progressive rock albums from the back of the seventies which should have charted as mega-hits as far as I can opine, but clearly weren't-- who has even heard about this one?

Listen to the penultimate track fusion masterpiece, very similar to Luna Sea's but clearly better:




The first song brings out that glorious synthed hard-AOR US sound we are already so familiar with:




Can anybody get tired of that sound?  I never will.

Claude Barthélémy returns by request with Moderne (1983) and Forest One (1981) with Real-Politik from 1986 [unrequested]

His first album was Jaune et Encore, presented in glorious lossless before.  In 1981 he came back with Forest One and two years later, Moderne.  Both are similar to the first, and at the same time, not quite as strong compositionally.  But with its very slight nod towards commerciality, I really love the later opus, check out the highly Robert Wyatt-like track called Late:





I am presuming it was Claude himself doing the honour of singing here (as he wrote the lyrics).  And look at what our friend apps had to say about this record on rateyourmusic:

For third time in a row Barthélémy invites a completely new core to help with the recordings of his third allbum ''Moderne'' (1983, Owl Records), captured in December '82: Bassist Jean Luc Ponthieux (also the boss of Owl Records), drummer Jacques Mahieux, saxophonist Jean-Marc Padovania and Gérard Buquet on trombone and tuba with guest appearances by Philippe Deschepper on guitar and Manuel Denizet, drummer on ''Jaune et encore ''. The interest of Barthélémy has turned over the years to a smooth and gentle Jazz Rock with a few quirky Fusion instrumentals thrown in for good measure. Still he insists on composing tight and consistent material instead of spending his time on long, directionless improvisations and ''Moderne'' shows his good skills both as a composer and guitarist. There a couple of pieces with a Blues background and vocals, rather out of time and place, sounding too soft for an otherwise technical album. This one ends up to be the most guitar-centered work of Barthélémy, you have the feeling that accompanying musicians get out of sight quite often to offer Barthélémy complete space for his guitar ideas. So it left me complaining about a more solid teamwork, but again the style is fairly intricate for an 1983 album.

Really, I've posted so many similar guitar-driven eighties fusion albums from France before, such as Jean-Luc Chevalier of course, Traitement Special, Oz Quartet, Philippe Caillat, Eric Tocanne, etc., etc.  They seemed to have had quite a predilection for this style.

Bonus, the distinctly more disappointing later album called Real-Politik recorded here in sidelong mono mp3 rip.

Retour a Haiti: Gerald Merceron and Herby Widmaier are back with their magnificent and long-awaited Tet San Ko, 1980

We can never get enough from gorgeous, eloquent and mysterious Haiti-- that undiscovered country from whose beautiful bourn, of course, none wishes to return...   it's our fourth platterly trip back today (but never the last) with those wonderful Widmaiers and jazz keyboard genius Gerald Merceron and our collection still has holes.  I referred to this already in my treatise on music after hearing the shocking progressive composition of the title track.  Oddly enough it reappears purely as an instrumental in the b5 position here so the youtube upload has an elsewhere provenance.

This is a real mixed bag, not as consistent musically as the previous Energie Mysterieuse, with quite a variety of music, generic tropical uptempo pop-like songs (admittedly with odd chords) in the b1 position, chamber music with string quartets (a5 and b5), a vocal song purely accompanied by violin a la julverne, just like in the 1978 work, a few interesting electric piano ballads sung mostly by Lionel Benjamin this time, even an experimental, improvised instrumental like the middle part of King Crimson's Moonchild at b6, altogether, songwriting not quite as good even as son Mushy's Kote Ou masterpiece.

Here's one of the best songs, b3, with Gerald's trademark electric piano, the synth at the beginning reminding me a lot of Mo's first demo album:





Again the rainbow appears lyrically (lakansyel).

Some more notes of interest taken from the back:
The first track is advertised as a new Haitian dance, the "Shampa."
A new and fresh-faced Widmaier appears, Hansy, who plays bass on a few tracks.  I would love to know who is who on the back photo.  Our old favourite Mushi plays synths on the above sample b3.  Herby (or Herbie) only sings one song (a3).
Lyrics consist of poems set to music, by Frank Etienne, Antonio Rival, Pierre Richard Narcisse (what a great name!), Rudolph Muller, and Gerald himself (a2 and b1).  What a shame we can't understand the original writings as they must-- without a doubt--  be beautiful.
All compositions and arrangements of course are from the great Merceron.

The following quote appears at the bottom:

"prendre du passé rien que ce qui peut aider a pénétrer victorieusement dans l 'avenir. Tout le reste n'est que fatras"  --Leon Laleau.

"Take from the past nothing but what can aid to penetrate successfully the future.  All the rest is just noise (?)".

And of course, my plaintive and unrequited (usually) question which I asked for Karlos Steinblast and J.F. Murphy in the past-- where are they now?  today?

This was recorded in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Ariel's magnificent Perspectives

This was recently reviewed on the now-defunct cdrwl in the following terms, sadly one of the concluding posts there:

I've had a few people ask me about this title in the last couple of months, and honestly I had no idea what it was. There's an aural copy on Youtube, so I finally got around to hearing it, and I was immediately intrigued. I was about to report on the album here, when I found an original going for a reasonable price. I snapped it up, and heard the LP last night for the first time. This is a great one folks - I'm very impressed by it. Definitely an album from the 80s though, so if you're a dyed-in-the-wool 70s addict (which I can sometimes be myself), then this may not be your cup of tea. All the same, the fiery psych oriented guitar alone might sell you.  While awaiting for the LP to arrive, I found someone who knew the band, and it's been confirmed they are from the Chicago area. There's no info on the LP regarding their origin...

Release details: Very obscure album that is just now being discovered. Album is housed in a typical American single sleeve thick white cover that lends itself easily to ring wear. Comes with an insert that contains no data. Interesting to note that mine is on blue paper, and the photo above is orange. Not sure how many colors were utilized. This album would benefit greatly from a CD reissue, and I just added to the CDRWL today as well. The sound is good but can be improved upon.

Notes: From the far south Chicago suburbs, comes the super obscure Ariel, an album that is just now making its sound heard worldwide. Early 80s Rush is the most obvious first influence, but there's more here than meets the ear as it were. All instrumental guitar, keys, and drums are the core components, and the compositions are complex and tight - with a strong fusion influence. No escaping the King Crimson sound from the era either, but also (surprisingly) Doldinger's Passport, minus the sax (imagine the sequencer heavy Moog lines for example). If we were to really deep dive here, I would compare Ariel to fellow Chicagoan's Proteus, mixed with the UK group Red (on Jigsaw). While Side 1 is impressive enough, the final three tracks do nothing short of wow the listener. And they close with their peak composition, always a hallmark of a great album. Ariel does not belie its mid 80s sound (despite the somewhat psych influenced guitar tone), and yet compared with the normal dreck from the era, the band proves the middle 80s were not a total wasteland (heavy metal genre exempted of course). This one deserves the buzz its currently receiving in the underground.

Priority: 1

Clearly, he enjoyed it, as did we.  Have a listen.