VENDREDI 13

4.5 stars. What a lineup ! Former MAGMA members Emmanuel Borghi (Fender Rhodes, synths), James Mac Gaw (guitar), Philippe Bussonnet (bass) and also Daniel Jeand'heur(drums) who also recently played on AMYGDALA's second album are ONE SHOT. This is a live album recorded on Friday the 13th, hence the title in French. This could be described as dark, heavy Jazz with a lot of Zeuhl references.

"I Had A Dream Part 1" is the shortest track at over 6 minutes in length. Drums and keys open as the guitar comes in quickly.The result is a catchy, heavy sound.The bass 2 1/2 minutes in is monstrous to say the least. "I Had A Dream Part 2" is the longest song at 14 minutes. Compared to part 1 this is more adventerous and proggy and I like it better. Lots of atmosphere to open as different sounds come and go. We get a melody 2 minutes in. I love the way the guitar plays over top. More excellent guitar before 5 minutes with very chunky bass lines. The drumming is amazing in this intense section. Huge bass after 10 minutes. When it settles down after 11 minutes the crowd cheers at the sheer intensity and brilliant instrumental work that they have just witnessed. The guitar grinds away slowly to end it. "Blue Bug" opens with some deep bass that continues slowly until we start to hear the drums 2 minutes in. It's building slowly, reaching it's peak around 4 minutes before calming back down. It's 7 minutes in before it gets poweful again but settles again quickly. Nice guitar work after 7 1/2 minutes though. The intensity is rising after 9 minutes. Great sound.

"No" is the jazziest tune on here. Uptempo keys and bass 1 1/2 minutes in as the guitar starts to rip it up before 2 minutes. It sounds so impressive 3 minutes in. Jazz heaven 5 1/2 minutes in. More fast paced keys and bass 7 minutes in. "In A Wild Way" opens with some great sounding keys as bass and drums provide an excellent rhythm. The guitar is prominant early. It stays jazzy from before 2 minutes until guitar returns 8 1/2 minutes in. Mac Gaw starts to take over until he's tearing it up 10 minutes in.Nice. "Urm" is the most Zeuhl-like song on the album and my favourite, although it's hard to pick just one. It's dark early as drums pound slowly. It's building. Drums stop before 3 minutes as guitar starts to lead the way. Massive slabs of bass 3 1/2 minutes in as the tempo starts to pick up. Very Zeuhlish 5 1/2 minutes in. Lots of synths as well.The bass is thunderous as it shakes the soundscape to it's core. Killer track !

I can't recommend this high enough to the Zeuhl fans out there. In fact if your into heavy music or bass guitar, this is very much worth checking out. It couldn't be played any better i'll tell you that much.

Even if One Shot's second album is a live release (recorded on Friday 13th, 2001 in Macon, France), but it contains all-original material, so it should be regarded as a full-fledged album. Graced with a polar artwork and featuring the same line-up, this album was again a long-OOP private pressing, but is now again available through the Soleil Zeuhl label. What's changed is the general sonic feel as this second effort is much more refined than their raw debut album, but you'll be nowhere near the neo-prog production values either. Indeed, this Friday 13th remains a typical Zeuhl album, without any kind of compromises or concessions.

The opening two-part 20-mins+ I Had A Dream piece is demented track that might be a little too repetitive and overstay its welcome, despite an extremely complex rhythm pattern. For the rest of the album, OS delivers another batch of their dark and sombre soundscapes, between King Crimson and Magma, and on the more modern or lesser-known influences, one could mention Potemkine, Vortex, NeBeLNeST and a few more. The 9-mins No track is the jazziest track of them all, and I mean this in the "standard jazz" manner, because of the second part of the track's solos are very much in that vein - and therefore less broody and menacing.. The following Wild Way is definitely the most-fusiony. Sooooo, you could say that One Shot sounds typically French prog, with some Zeuhl and fusion touches, induced by the pounding bass, but also the dark atmospheres of their music.

Personally, I do not find that Vendredi 13 is their better album and it should not serve as an intro (try the remastered debut or the latest Dark Shot), and might just be my least fave, but it is still an excellent Jazz-Zeuhl album, although there are albums much more urgent to discover before you get to this one.