AQUARELLE [AKA: SOUS UN ARBRE]

Although I can usually be counted to promote RPQ bands (Rock Progressif Quebecois), Aquarelle are one that just don't do anything to really stand out from the crowd. Even within such a small provincial scene.

They play a very competent jazz rock / fusion, that at times will, at best , remind you of generic TV or movie soundtracks.

The best example that I could give would be this - Francoise sounds like an instrumental backing track for a mid 70s Robert Charlebois out-take. Mellow, melodious, some latin tinged percussion at the end, but nothing that will stick in your mind after the needle (I picked up a used LP copy at Spin-It) rises from the vinyl.

Indeed, while Charlebois was THE Quebec pop rocker par excellence, he knew how to make his music go beyond the stereotype of the many genres that he tried his hand at . And that's Aquarelle main failing. It's not the lack of inventiveness, but rather the lack of any ability to make the music come alive. TO make it their own.

The album title translates to Under a Tree. And while I can imagine it relaxing listening to this playing whilst lying in the shade, I can't call it anything more than barely mediocre.

O.K. , if you just can't get enough of late 70s Jazz Rock /Fusion. But there's more than enough good stuff out there that you should go through first.