JACQUES BLAIS - THÈMES

Self-taught guitarist that played a few years on the local Quebec scene in various line-ups, , sharing stages with Octobre, Maneige, etc. Jacques Blais became one of Quebec's best guitarists (along with Frank Marino) and his reputation grew to the point of playing prestigious shows without having recorded an album (yet). Late 74, despite having his own and upon hearing Contraction's second album La Bourse Ou La vie, he asked the group's bassist Yves Laferrière to produce his first album, and soon enough most of the band was backing Blais, not only in the studio, but in the next few months' following its release in 75. With an ordinary picture as artwork, Blais' Thèmes album became a favourite and even gained some local award as "experimental album of the year", but rest assured, there is nothing experimental about this great funky jazz-rock album, where Contraction leaves an indelible paw on it, despite all tracks being written by Blais himself.

Musically besides being a worthy Contraction album, Blais' wonderful and warm guitar virtuoso and autodidact style is plenty more reason to fall under the spell of Thèmes, which appears to be a musical thematic album Starting on Robichaud's inimitable vocals, the "Theme" is a lovely quiet intro, moving on to a mid-tempoed piece where Blais' guitar takes the listener by the emotions soaring in the sky, before the closing section returns with Christiane's heavenly vocalizing. Sept Quatre is a 7/4 piece that was quite popular on the radio airwaves and features wordless vocals ala Wishbone Ash in Argus, but Contraction is blasting away, while Blais is now reaching the stratosphere. Le Matin is a Blais-sung track (accompanied by Chrstiane's brother on flute), but Blais' voice is certainly not his main feature. Ascencoeur (a clever pun associating elevator and heart) is a slow developing crescendoing piece dominated by Blais guitar, ending the first side and contrasting heavily with the flipside opener.

Indeed Vrai Ou Fou (true or crazy) is a schizophrenic piece contrasting between an evil guitar riff and more atmospheric moments, but in the end, the guitar histrionics win easily, Blais putting in a brilliant performance, although pushed to the limit by Contraction. T'as Des Nuages (you have clouds, but bunch of clouds if you remove the apostrophe) is another Blais-sung track, but neither outstanding, nor standing out Bord En Bar sees the discreet return of Christiane Robichaud, but the track is a Hendrixian guitar fest, while the closing Thèmes is a reprise of the middle section of the opening track.

After parting company with Contraction in July that year, the second part of 75 will see Blais enjoying major local success, sharing Festival stages with Offenbach, Aut'chose, Conventum and Michel Madore. By mid-76, Blais had formed a new duo called Fantasia, improvising very popular gigs, before performing for Mick Jagger's birthday (in Montreal to see the Olympics). Fantasia will grow, including members of Eclipse, Pollen and Pouls and will eventually release in 77 an album called Jacques Blais & Fantasia, produced by Harmonium's Michel Normandeau, but this is another story. In the meantime, Themes is an extremely fine album, one that was almost forgotten, but the fantastic duo of ProgQ ebec just unearthed this gem.

4.5 stars. This was love at first listen. Jacques Blais is such an interesting story. He's a self taught guitarist from Quebec with his own unique style. He fascinated audiences, and soon fellow musicians and those in the recording business were coming out to see him play and sing. It wasn't until 1974 though that he got down to business and recorded his songs. He was so impressed with CONTRACTION's debut that he asked their bass player Yves Laferriere to produce his first record. It wasn't long before the CONTRACTION band were part of the recording process, backing him up. This is a Jacques Blais solo album called "Themes" to be clear.

"Le Theme" opens with Jacques' wordless vocals and acoustic guitar and soon Christiane is adding her wordless vocals as Jacques starts to sing. Beautiful is the word and I'm reminded of HARMONIUM. Such a good contrast when the drums, bass and electric guitar kick in at 1 1/2 minutes. No vocals here. A calm with piano before 4 minutes as Christiane returns vocally and it's so moving before 5 1/2 minutes. I didn't mention that two of the musicians play solina on this record which adds atmosphere and more.

"Sept Quatre" explodes out of the gate with wordless male vocals, nervous guitar expressions, along with bass and drums. Lots of energy here. Some ripping guitar on this one. "Les Matin" features Christiane's brother on flute. Tender vocals and a folky vibe for around 2 1/2 minutes, then electric guitar, drums and more arrive, again providing a great contrast of sounds. "Ascencoeur" opens with solina floating along before the guitars take over. Yes we get acoustic and electric together and man this is impressive.

"Vrai Ou Fou" opens with guitar that can only be described as avant sounding before it turns melodic and fluid with vocal expressions in tow. Back to the experimental guitar as drums kick in this time. So good as they are on fire here after 3 minutes. "Ta's Des Nuages" is good with the vocals and strummed guitar to start, along with bass and drums. Mid-paced with some piano and vocal melodies. "Bord En Bar" has these vocal expressions from Christiane as well as active drumming with guitar and bass. The closer has wordless vocals from Jacques crying out. Earlier the guitar and piano solo over that rhythm section.

I'm not sure exactly why I'm so into this album, but the guitar is different and I like wordless vocals. Having the CONTRACTION band here is huge as well. This is my favourite of the CONTRACTION and related albums.