HORIZON DIGITAL

Their third album was rather like ALIQUANTE, only more of it. Ann Ballester's singing voice gained in confidence, making this quite pleasing to listen to as she sings on three of the album's six tunes (I don't know if I'd quite consider the chanting on "Confluence" "singing" exactly). She's replaced her old ARP Omni (glorified string-synth) with an Oberheim polyphonic, allowing for an expanded palette of synthesizer tones. The Weather Report comparison creeps ever closer.

An extended guest-appearance by Gong's Mireille Bauer on marimba, vibes and other percussion really make this album soar. Really, one of the better fusion items from France, and highly recommended. I was disappointed to see two tracks from this tacked onto the end of Muséa's ALIQUANTE CD, a practice that practically screams out, "We have no intention of reissuing this in its entirety." A grave pity, as it's clearly their finest hour.

After the almost awesome Aliquante, ES came back the following year with a fairly different album, one that would be recorded in Chateau D'Hérouville and recorded by Laurent Thibault (see his section elsewhere in PA), with a very different line-up. Only the Lorenzini-Ballester couple remains with Gouillard on drums, bassist Turquenne passing through Magma (little wonder) and being replaced by Grillot and the group brings in ex-Gong Mireille Bauer (vibes & perc) as a sort-of guest on the way to Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes. It's my guess many progheads will prefer this present album over Aliquante, and no doubt the gatefold artwork will work subliminally for Horizon Digital, but you should trust (blindly) me on this one, go for Aliquante

One of the differences you will hear is a more Zappa-esque feel to HD, due to Mireille Bauer's vibraphones, this as noticeable on the fast tracks (Aurore) than on the slower moments (intro of Camara), giving a more Mother-esque feeling than a Gong-ian tone. Another difference is the much greater presence (and more intrusive) of Ballester's Steely Dan-esque vocals laced with weaker second-rate Zeuhlian influences. So overall the ES formula is returning to a sung popier format, Ballester's synths choices not being as successful as previously, and the group is even closing the album with a needless blues track.

If on the strictly vinyl album comparison point, Aliquante is a much better album than HD, once you get to the Cd reissues, Musea actually renders things more difficult, by adding five bonus tracks that were supposed to be ES's fourth album and recorded in 80. While remaining musically roughly in line with their third album, the group was now only a duo consisting of Lorenzini and Ballester plus guests, and by that time, they had been caught by a lot trends of the times, and tried to be much more song- oriented (as in commercially-oriented songs) with Ballester's voice returning to the fore, but the back up she got made the whole thing sound like Steely Dan and this time not just vocally, but musically as well. Actually the five tracks of the fourth unreleased album make a rather nice accompaniment to Horizon Digital's eight, but you will find a degradation of quality and inspiration, the pop thing being furthered even flirting with a reggaeish funk. Better first start with Aliquante and if that pleases you enough to find more about them, come to this one (and its successor as bonus) and then move to the debut if you're still interested.

Horizon digital is their third album from 1978 and aswell their swansong. Almost same with predecesor but little les exciting in parts, keeping on first track Aurore the energic moments they used on Aliquante delivering some top notch passages. The instrumental section are great, maybe the vocal arrangements are not so intresting but never the less ok on Camara. Graced by an excellent gatefold cover art, Horizon digital desearves to be paraised but I don't think is their best work, Aliquante remains their most acomplished work from their career. All in all a fairly good album, but the magic of previous release here is not so present only on some passages. The Cd re issue by Musea has 5 bonus tracks, the pieces that suposed to enter on their forth album from 1980, but in the end the release never saw the light, they disbanded soon after in summer of 1981. 3 stars maybe in some parts 3.5 stars, still good but not so excellent as Aliquante.

Third and final album by this Jazz Fusion band out of France. They add a fifth member who was formerly with GONG playing percussion, vibes and marimba, and we get a new bass player. This isn't nearly as "showy" as the previous album "Aliquante" where I felt the drummer and keyboardist were more upfront in the sound than on here. More energy on the previous album as well plus I'm not the biggest vibes fan but I do like it as a flavour here and there. This album was recorded and engineered by none other than Laurent Thibault.

Top three would include the opener "Aurore" which opens wide with drums and vibes before we get some power with guitar over top. Synths will take the guitar's spot than a calm as electric piano takes over followed by drums, bass and a full sound. So much going on with those percussion sounds with bass and vibes. Another top three is "Jungle's Jingle" which despite the title actually has some credit. It's catchy and determined with vibes sprinkled in. The synths are interesting. Some nice bass 3 1/2 minutes in. So intricate and complex with all these sounds. Last top three is the closer "Confluence" and here we get some female vocal melodies which I like along with those intricate sounds as the tempo picks up early on.

A 4 star album for me but not quite as good as "Aliquante" their previous record.

French Jazz-Rock Fusers' third and final album presents a slightly altered lineup despite the essential core of guitarist Marius Lorenzini, keyboard wizard Ann Ballester, and drummer Alain Gouillard. All of the new members enlisted by producer Laurent Thibault are of equally high caliber with pedigrees including memberships in such bands as Magma and Gong. I also love to see how the French let women get involved to such high degree: they deserve it! They earn it!

1. "Aurore" (5:42) cool two-part song with Mireille Bauer's vibraphone given one of the primary/prominent roles in the weave. I very much like the tone and style of play from guitarist Marius Larenzini and I find this weave with its multiple melodies competing and yet complementing with one another quite enjoyable. (9.125/10)

2. "Camara" (9:25) a similar style to the previous song despite the long intro and presence of French choral vocals. They create a great little weave here with very catchy melodies and swinging rhythm track. Do I hear a little similarity to Belgian band COS here? At the 3:20 mark the band shifts up a gear with a little Latin percussion added to the swing in order to guide and inspire the two synth soloists to strive upwards. At 4:28 we're back to the lighter, smoother COS- like vocal motif, perhaps slowed down a bit, now using some dramatic stop-and-start techniques to punctuate pauses and shifts. Very cool! And boy! can these musicians play! I am SO impressed! Though there is a definite Third Wave smoothness to the engineering and sound palette, the band is definitely carving out their path through the exciting funk of this still-fairly-new seb-genre of music (i.e. Jazz-Rock Fusion). Have I mentioned how impressive drummer Alain Gouillard and bassist François Grillot are on the bottom end? I love the harmonized duet between Mireille Bauer on the vibraphone and Ann Ballester on the electric piano during the closing minute. (19/20)

3. "Ma vie dégénère" (2:58) almost a standard rock song with more choral vocals in the fore. Not nearly as exciting as the previous songs (and not nearly as complex or jazzy). (8.4/10)

4. "Daisy" (7:04) again I'm hearing a much more modern kind of music--something more avant-garde than what the 1970s is usually like--though some of the jazzier Canterbury bands also come to mind during certain sections of this song. Opening with electric guitar and vibraphone arpeggiating a two chord sequence over and over, I am quite reminded of 2023's OIAPOK (almost exactly!) And this is 45 years before Pierre "Cheese" (Wawrzyniak) and company ever released an album! Lots of funky panning, both forward and back and then side to side, very quickly. I'm still quite blown away by the ballsy music and engineering. Could this have really been 1978? Also, the funk coming from both the bass play and the syncopation of the rhythm section as a whole in the middle section, is quite remarkable. Nice Steely Dan quality and familiarity to the keyboard and guitar parts. Wow! (14.25/15)

5. "Jungle's Jingle" (6:32) another odd, off-kilter song that has a very quirky Canterbury sound palette and a twist-and- turning bent to it not unlike Pierre Wawrzyniak's CAMEMBERT project of the 2010s. At 1:15 there is a little pause bridge for a reset before the band drops back into the hypnotically circular motif of the opening section. Odd synth and guitar sounds join the weave to present before 2:18 when a new motif is established, one that is still "circular" but now containing some MAGAM or SETNA-like menace in the feel of the weave. Again the lead instruments (guitar and synths) are put through some very strange futuristic sound-blender or something for several of the solos though vibraphone and piano or still within the realms of normalcy. I love the gutsy experimentalism these guys (and gals) are expressing! (9.25/10)

6. "Confluence" (4:46) a slow and very deliberate mathematical construction opens this one for the first 83 seconds before the band merges onto the autoroute while assuming a piano-led high cruising speed. The somewhat Latin- tinged weave is peppered with piano, synths, marimba and timbales performing the lead melody injections until a whole band chorus joins in spewing forth a wildly crazed African-sounding Babel-speak at 3:03--which starts out within the musical weave but gradually drives the instruments from the soundscape for a full 30 seconds of crazy a cappella time before everything comes to a full stop, leaving us with a sudden and surprising space with no sound! Crazy! Then, at 4:04, the hard-driving motif returns with a new Zeuhlish insistence (especially from the bass, drums, and guitar). This could quite easily have been something I might have heard on CAMEMEBERT's two albums from the 2010s, Schnorgl Attahk and Negative Toe. but nothing I would ever have expected to have heard in 1978! I am stunned! (9.75/10)

Total Time 36:27

I am still stunned--even now after my fifth or sixth listen to this astonishing album! How?! . . . What?! . . . Where the heck did these cats come from? Where the heck did they get their ideas? I mean, there's only so much you can get from listening to Parliament, James Brown, Mandrill, Osibisa, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and/or Frank Zappa! How much of this ingenuity can be attributed to producer Laurent Thibault's genius?

A/five stars; a masterpiece of refreshingly original Canterbury- and Zeuhl-infused Jazz-Rock Fusion. I definitely consider this an essential addition to any so-called prog lover's music collection.