SPEED LIMIT

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3.5 starts really!!!

Speed Limit's debut album is a very interesting collaboration between ex-Magma and ex-Zao Seffer and Bucchi (the other pillar of this group along with bassist Dugrenot), and musically it sounds like a cross between good early 70's jazz-rock (Soft Machine and Nucleus style) and Zeuhl music (more Zao than Magma). Graced with a double-headed parakeet paper collage for artwork, the album takes us into deep early jazz-rock ala Miles or Nucleus, where Bucchi's electric piano gets its share of exposition.

Starting on the 11-mins torrid fusion of Sleep Walker, SL is certainly not going faster than the speed of light, but Seffer's sax intervention drives the group red hot into the groove they chose, while Curbillon's guitar remains mainly rhythmic. The much shorter Pava is a slower builder but manages the same red-hot intensity. The even shorter Abra is more or less full on weird noises that simulates a newborn giggles and groans coming from Seffer's sax squeals and percussions, providing a bit of humour.

A squealy sax opens the flipside and the first few times, you'll check your stylus for dirt and clean the vinyl uselessly, but it's all part of the track's deliria and drama of Spanish Dream. Fundamentally, there aren't many differences between Seffer's material and Bucchi's, they're both fairly similar, stuck somewhere between Bitches Brew, Nucleus and mid-Soft Machine. The following Ballad is a bit of a bore, never getting past the late night or pre-dawn jazz noodlings. Fortunately the closing Ducky recuperates the same superb intensity present throughout most of the album.

I certainly am biased towards this style of music. These guys are pros though and having Seffer involved is a bonus for me. He actually composed the first 3 tracks while piano player extraordinaire Jean-Louis Bucchi composed the final 3 songs. What I love about this music is listening to the different sounds all mesh together so perfectly. And while the sax and piano play stand out the most, my favourite parts are when the angular guitar comes in on the two longer songs.This is an all instrumental album by the way.

"Sleep Walker" is the longest track at over 11 minutes.The drums and percussion lead the way early. Sax and piano join in the fray to create an excellent melody. The guitar and bass then arrive to make this a joy. All these intricate sounds are such a pleasure to listen to. The angular guitar starts to become prominant, making some beautiful noise after 3 minutes. "Pava" opens with cymbals before sax, drums and piano come in quickly.The piano leads the way early. It gets a little sombre before 3 minutes as Seffer plays his alto sax slowly. Actually there's not much of a melody at this point.

"Abra" opens with some nice drumming followed by some dissonant sax. The tempo starts to pick up and the drumming is great. It changes 2 minutes in to a more jazzy sound as the bass comes in. "Spanish Dream" features sax, piano and bass with not much in the way of a melody until before 3 minutes.That's when the drums and angular guitar come in with percussion, making the rest of this song my favourite on the album. I could listen to him play his guitar all day long. Sax takes over for the guitar before 7 minutes. "Ballad To Laura Antonelli" is 6 1/2 minutes of laid back sax and piano play that drifts along pleasantly. "Ducky" is more uptempo with piano, bass, percussion and drums leading the way early. Sax a minute in as Seffer takes the lead the rest of the way.

It's easy to recommend this amazing Jazz music from France.

Speed Limit were a short-lived French Jazz-Rock band, based in Paris and led by Hungarian drummer George Jinda and featuring an all star-line-up,including Magma fellows Joel Dugrenot (bass) and Yochk'o Seffer (wind instruments) along with Gerard Curbillon on guitars and Jean-Louis Bucchi (electric piano).This quintet recorded and released the band's eponymous debut in 1975 on Le Chant du Monde.

''Speed limit'' is the definition of improvisational Jazz-Rock with no other particular aim than the abstract interplays and the long solos by the band members.And while the album contains some nice grooves and big breaks with dominant instrumentation,they all fall soon into a soloing labyrinth with endless minutes of free virtuosity.The individual performances are expected to be good,regarding the musicians participating and so it is: Melodic sax lines by Seffer,deep bass work by Dugrenot and atmospheric electric piano parts by Bucchi.But when it all comes to a compositional term,the album is really muddy with very long solos,which get the listener tired along the way, and a work far from being coherent and tight.

''Speed limit'' ends up to be a rather boring effort and definitely not represantative at all of these musicians' talent.I can only recommend this album to die-hard fans of Free Jazz music,who dont mind the countless minutes of improvisation in an album.