SLOCHE

This is really essential stuff.

Not only for fusion-lovers, but also for Canterbury-scene-enthousiast, because the music reminds me a bit of Caravan and Soft Machine but also Kraan and Gentle Giant.

There's not much guitar (except on Ad Hoc, wich is mostly a rock-song), but loads of keyboards (hammond, clavinet, rhodes), drums/percussion, bass and saxophone.

The music is mostly instrumental and has lots of rhythmic chances but it all flows so naturally, that it's disturbing. The songwriting and musicianship is impeccable.

A real must-have for lovers of Canterbury, jazz/fusion, instrumental sympho/progrock and light psychedelica. The Québec-progscene really delivered some of the greatest bands in the 70's (Sloche, Maneige, Harmonium). Great stuff and they can hold their own in comparison to the Krautrock and Canterbury-scenes.

If you like songs which reserves in anytime the bigger surprises, certainly you will feel a great pleasure when you hear this album, still more if you are fan from GENTLE GIANT, YES, CAMEL, RETURN TO FOREVER or some other jazz-rock bands ! I lament the very few number of reviews (only 14 for an 1975) album and slightly disagree from my friends of P A community which concede a superior quotation to their next album "Stadacon'" ( I think this one be fairly superior). The best tracks in the album are Track 3 "J'un Oeil" wiht a clearly introduction in GG style and the lyrics part very similar to OCTOBRE (mainly in the album "Survivance", of the same year), Track 4 "Algebrique" and their initial sequence in YES "vein" ( a "Heart of Sunrise" citation ) the very frenetic middle theme and the "cranky" final part and Track 5 "Potage Aux Herbes Douteuses' mixing GG, YES and their symphonic final with fantastic vocals ! The other 2 initial tracks also are good tracks ! My rate is 4 stars !!!

Sloche were a jazz rock fusion band out of Quebec in the seventies and they released only two albums. This one, "J'un Oeil" (I, an eye) was their first and features a band that makes excellent use of their rock side to deliver some very exciting music steeped in a strong concoction of jazz.

The album opens with spacy effects and space music, nothing like what the rest of the album is going to be like. Some semblance of a tune emerges at about 1:20 and by 1:35 we get some pretty groovy music going with wah-wah guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard. This is more like what the album is going to be like: a cross between jazz rock fusion that skirts the edges of symphonic prog here and there. All the tracks include vocals yet three of them are vocals only without lyrics.

Now sit back and listen to this band move and groove with organ and synthesizer solos, guitar solos, and some very lively and deliciously cooking music. Of the five tracks, four of them are longer than six minutes, the longest being "Le Kareme D'eros" at 10:56, and each of them go from section to section without coming back to repeat anything. Only the title track seems close to a normal song with lyrics that have almost as much relevance as the music. "Le Kareme D'eros" also includes a part with lyrics but it's mostly instrumental with the first 3:40 devoted to a classical piano composition.

While there is much for me to be excited about with this album, the track that has won me over completely is "Algebrique". The beginning is innocent enough with two electric guitars playing slowly like a ballad while some synthesizer adds a few trippy notes. An organ comes in with some weirdo notes and then suddenly the band jumps on with a very original-sounding meter. How can I describe it without a degree musical theory? The vocal part is next and a bit weird as they sing, "Schtoo-doop, ding! Schtoo-doop, di-a-wing!" No matter the music from here on in goes into something that I can only say must have inspired bands like Wobbler and Seven Impale. There's sax and this rock out part with guitar. And all that comes down to the awesome break with drums as the main feature and I tell you, the sound of these drums is so well captured. These days I don't hear anyone recording drums like this and it's like my head is inside the tom toms. I listen to this track several times a week lately and the highlight is always this drum part. And then things get heavier and the Wobbler similarities increase. Brilliant piece of work this one is to me!

But the whole album is really quite an exciting and vigorous collection of music. I am definitely going to track down their other album. A very highly recommended jazz rock fusion album if you prefer the rock side to have a firm presence.

In general, this album is like a more listenable Mr Bungle album that was released 15 years too early, and by Canadians, no less. Sloche leaves the Yes-influenced tracks from the previous album by the wayside, in favor for what I would call bipolar Dadaist jazz funk. On tracks like "Il Faut Sauver Barbara", the band coasts effortlessly from every idiom of Prog possible: an intro that has the harmonic sensibilities of a Canterbury scene artist like Gilgamesh, Pink Floyd-esque phase-shifted and Leslie guitars, and sonic hijacking a la Frank Zappa or King Crimson. Songs like the title track or "Ad Hoc" show that the band can groove like there's no tomorrow. All in all, I can't really find a weak track, except for "Le Cosmophile" possibly. There aren't many bad things I can say about this album at all. A band with TWO keyboardist deserves a five-star rating

1. "C'pas fin du monde" (8:52) starts very spacey with lots of synths playing around, as if trying to find a groove to attach themselves to. When the groove does arrive it sounds quite a bit like some Canterbury Santana--or maybe KHAN. LIttle keyboard interlude at the 4:54 mark brings us back to the searching chaos of the intro. The organ eventually directs everything into a kind of "Big Bang/Creation" crescendo. By 6:20 we're groovin' again-- almost Motown-ish (the rhythm guitars--remind me of THE ISLEY BROTHERS, AVERAGE WHITE BAND, or WAR). Then the clavinet comes in! It's BILLY PRESTON! Fun song if a little dated. (8/10)

2. "Le kareme d'Eros" (10:50) begins like a piano bar player warming up his fingers before getting into a CHICK COREA-like rhythm and style at the 1:10 mark. The melody established by the (Still) solo piano at 1:45 sounds a bit cinematic--as if to confirm that we are in the piano bar (with Billy Joel). At 3:15 the pianist starts to show off his classical licks à la KEITH EMERSON. At 3:45 a MAGMA-like choir najes quite an impressive (and welcomed) entrance. Let the wild rumpus begin! The ensuing duelling electric guitar and keyboard sound very much like LARRY CORYELL'S performance on LENNY WHITE's forgotten classic Venusian Summer. Cool little bit. by 8:55 we've left that and gone into a more RETURN TO FOREVER-like passage. INteresting song that I'm not sure really works--even if it is supposed to portray little Cupid's random exploits. (8/10)

3. "Algebrique" (6:30) is a bit more cohesive and yet GENTLE GIANT- and YES-like in its structural shifts and staccato rhythms. An interesting ZAPPA-like part begins at the 2:10 mark, with synth and voices grabbing the listener's attention. At 3:28 begins a sudden foray into territory covered by TODD RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA's in "The Ikon." Luckily, they don't stay there long--though the drummer more and more sounds to me like a drummer from Todd's mid-70s posse. The heavier, more KING CRIMSON-esque final minute is my favorite part of this, my second favorite song from this album. (9/10)

4. "J'un oeil" (4:43) relies on the repetition of a very familiar poppy riff until the wonderful clavinet-backed choral-vocal section begins. AT 2:10 we go back to the introductory repetitive riff for a bit, until it slows down with a spacey organ and high-register electric guitar melody take over. Switch back to the choral-vocal section for the last minute. This one is my favorite. (9/10)

5. "Potage aux herbes douteuses" (7:07) begins again very much like the AVERAGE WHITE BAND, shifts to a little GINO VANELLI coda, then back to the A part, coda B before shifting into second gear with a fun off-tempo section. This seems to be very much an exercise in band odd tempos, though the insidious climb up the scale is enjoyable and interesting. At 3:30 the choral enters for a different coda before the THIJS VAN LEER-like organ play takes us to an extremely FOCUS/CAMEL-like section--which then combines with the choral beautifully. Wonderful! Interesting ANT PHILLIPS-like end! (9/10).

This is a fairly recent discovery of mine, thus, as I go to rate it, I take into consideration both the impact it has on me today (a bit dated and immature) as well as my imagined impact the album would have had on me in the 70s or 80s (probably like Camel's Moonmadness.) I think it is a good album that has indications of a band that could (have) evolve into a great band. Like CAMEL or FRUUPP. 3.5 stars.

Another great discovery!

Yep, I'm on a roll my friends. It started with Et Cetera, then Maneige and finally Sloche, which is french for the brown and grey snow in the streets. It's funny they've picked up that name. Since the view of slush in the streets is enough to give you depression, the music of Sloche is many times sunny, warm and depicts a super summer day (well for me).

Quebec's love for Gentle Giant is well knowed and Sloche is aiming quite often in that direction. The days of Three Friends probably strucked them more deeply, because I keep hearing bits and pieces of the record. Good thing if it's done with taste, and this is the case here.

The large palette of keyboards is nothing to draw me away, maybe they're the Quebec band with the most keyboard dominated sound (think Novalis, GG and Harmonium). Fun lyrics too, a bit silly when they talk about the god of love Eros in his bed, thinking about orgy. Original to say the least!

Hard to dislike such well crafted melodies, and complex at that. Just like when I discover gems from another country, do yourself a favor and dig deeper into Quebec's progressive scene. The progger with an open mind and a taste for complexity will happy-dance by it's replay value.

Another winner.

Sloche's second album is much like its first; once again, the emphasis is mainly on instrumental passages (in fact, there's no vocals at all this time around), the symphonic influences from the debut sound scaled back to me, and the style is once again fusion- oriented. I'm not as thrilled by it as it seems many others are, but I guess everyone has a few bands that they ought to like given their personal tastes but, for whatever reason, just don't "click" with them - Sloche are evidently one of mine. Once again, I won't go below three stars because I can see how others might quite like this album; if you follow the output of the Quebec scene of the late 1970s, you'll probably find it a great pick.

A mostly-instrumental fusion album with a few symphonic influences, Sloche's debut album is a good companion piece to fellow Quebec natives Maneige's albums from around this time. Though I personally don't find myself moved by this particular mingling of progressive rock and jazz fusion sounds to the extent I am by Maneige's work, those who are particularly enamoured of the Quebec scene of the time will not be disappointed by this album, being as it is a highly competent piece performed by one of the less famed bands from that particular hive of prog activity. Three stars, but tack another one or two on if the Quebec scene is particularly special to you.

Hardly known outside of PA where it sits in the top fusion album list, this Canadian fusion album is quite a gem and a great example of mid-70s fusion.

It's harly longer then 38 minutes but you won't find one moment that lacks drive and inspiration. The occasional French vocal adds some extra variation but most of the album is instrumental, with compositions are rhythmically as well as melodically very strong, making this album an ideal treat for fusion and symphonic prog fans alike.

Seemingly without effort the band merges influences from technical progressive rock such as Yes, ELP and Gentle Giant with the then contemporary funk-fusion of Weather Report and Return to Forever. There are even with some avant-garde elements, but they remain subtle and non-obtrusive. All of this comes with a very spontanuously rocking attitude, bright spirits and a sound as colourful as the album art.

Not a masterpiece of fusion but worth hunting down for lovers of progressive rock and fusion alike.

Excellent debut album from relatively less known Canadian band. Music is very well balanced, even if based on keyboards mostly. Every musician has space for his instrument, but result sounds as real team product, not just a recording of talented soloists.

Musically the band is the quintessence of jazz fusion from its time: progressive rock element is added everywhere, but at the level you will always feel jazz fusion roots. Quite melodic, with some vocals, music is bright and quite optimistic, without too long compositions. It looks the musicians just took all the best from prog jazz fusion of their time. Musicianship level is excellent, especially as for debut album.

Excellent evidence of jazz fusion golden age ( and dated well happily). Very recommended. Not less than 4+!