ROUE LIBRE

Drummer Robert Forgas, who was heavily inspired by Soft Machine, recorded and released his debut album, 'Cocktail', in 1977, but due to the demise of the record label he pretty much gave up on music for ten years. Thanks to Musea, the healthy sales of 'Cocktail' then led to the release of two new albums in the Nineties, which in turn led to conversations about forming a band to be able to play the music live. Their debut album, 'Roue Libre', was recorded in less than two weeks in March 1997, and was released on Cosmos Music later the same year, but has now been unavailable for more than 20 years.

Even though I was highly active in the scene in the 90's I had not come across this release until now, but I did review their most recent album, 2018's 'L'Oreille Électrique' which I thoroughly enjoyed so was looking forward to this. In many ways this is like stepping back in time, not to the late Nineties though, but a decade earlier. Patrick (drums, electronics) is joined by bassist Philippe Talet to provide the bedrock of this release, always moving yet always keeping the structure tight while Mathias Desmier (guitar) and Stéphane Jaoui (Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizers) provide the middle layers, wrapping on top of the rhythm section to provide depth and yet more support. However, it is Mireille Bauer (vibraphone, marimba) and Frédéric Schmidely (tenor & soprano saxophones, flute) who are often the lead players, often harmonising while Frédéric must have worked like a trojan in the studio, adding multiple instruments and threads to the same track. That is not to say that Desmier is not a wonderful shredder, just that he is rarely given the opportunity to shine, although his blast in "Sérum de Vérité" is both unexpected and a real delight.

There are only three songs here, with the short one being six minutes long, and then we get one at eighteen and another at twenty, but they never seem that lengthy as one is soon deep inside the music which somehow seems dated and timeless all at the same time. Given his early love of Soft Machine it is no surprise this has much to offer fans of the Canterbury scene, with the likes of National Health also having some influences while this will also appeal to those who enjoy Jean-Luc Ponty, Ian Carr's Nucleus, Frank Zappa's instrumental works and Billy Cobham's early bands. In many ways this is something of a forgotten album now due to its lack of availability and it is wonderful to be able to enjoy this again thanks to Cuneiform Records who signed the band to their label more than 20 years ago.