NOETRA

Noetra's self described swan song, while somewhat more limited in instrumentation and due to that overall scope when compared to the previous two releases, is still the most interesting of the three archival albums containing material by this band. Generally better recording quality elevates the total experience a notch, and the performance by all instrumentalists is quite excellent. To my mind, this album comes across as the best one to explore if you want to get familiar with Noetra, and while that may be given recommendations go out to fans of chamber rock and jazz rock, with the former crowd arguably the ones who'll find this production to be most to their interest.

Noetra's second full length album, assembled and released 8 years after their belated debut effort, documents their repertoire as a jazz rock unit quite nicely. A subtle chamber rock orientation does remain, but rhythms, arrangements and instrument motifs are first and foremost geared towards jazz rock on this occasion. And as it turns out, Noetra was easily just as skilled in that department as they were when focusing on compositions with closer ties to chamber music. An album well worth checking out if jazz rock is your thing, and in particular if you also have a soft spot for chamber rock.

While not without minor flaws, Noetra's "Neuf Songes" is a production that clearly merited a CD release. Fans of chamber music and chamber rock appear to be the main audience for this production, and in particular those with a taste for music of this kind closer to classical music than rock should find this album to be one that merits an inspection.

Released some 30 years after they were recorded, these live efforts of Noetra will most likely appeal to a limited audience. The music itself is generally pleasant and should have a broad appeal as such, but the lo-fi character of the source material won't be to everybody's taste. It is a nice documentation of a band defying genre conventions however, their blend of influences from classical, folk and jazz combining into creations that don't really belong in either of these categories, mostly pleasant, but occasionally showing glimpses of brilliance and true genius, and most profoundly so on concluding piece Noetra.

With an expanded line-up including seven guest musicians on brass/wind/string instruments and Lapouge presence always on the forefront, ''Neuf Songes'' explores the boundaries of Chamber Music, Jazz-Rock and RIO, around the time Lapouge was inspired by the music of HENRY COW, MAGMA and EBERHARD WEBER.One can find several different orientations in Noetra's arrangements.The guitar-dominated parts turn from energetic Jazz-Rock to harmonic Chamber Rock in a blink of an eye with the light support of violins, cellos and flutes, always offering some fine interplays and a deep atmosphere.But there is a strong tendency towards Modern Classical music among Lapouge's ideas with dominant use of trombones, saxes, clarinets and oboe, eventually coming up with a small orchestra performing delicate Chamber Music.But also much of the material stands somewhere inbetween the two styles, where a dynamic rock section with a jazzy edge leaves its place to the Classical-influenced solos of the string and wind section.Overall this is over 70 minutes of compelling and highly adventurous musicianship with a great technical level.

In Lapouge's biography the listener can find the reason this material was never originally released.It turned to be some of the album's technical flaws, but the general deep and ''difficult'' approach allows some.Thanks to Musea the album has seen the light over a decade later and comes up as an effort, which fans of the aforementioned styles are sure to appreciate.Recommended stuff.

"Agréments Parfaitement Bleus (III)" is a very interesting piece, starting with light winds growing throughout the song and leading to a kind of chamber jazz crescendo, very interesting, reminding me of FRENCH TV. "Agréments Parfaitment Bleus (epilogue)" is mainly a string driven coda for the song. Great point of interest of the whole record

"Alpha de Centaure" is a very melodic canterburian piece, with great guitar playing by Lapouge that makes me think about HATFIELD AND THE NORTH. Also remarkable is the ending of the song because of the interlinks between violin and the wind section. "Venise" comes next as a kind of counterpoint, beacause this song is very MAGMA sometimes, starting with very zeuhlish strings which, after a guitar driven interlude, leads to a final crescendo, with great distorted bass by Denis Lefranc.

"Transparences" starts with a very sweet and folky intro that evolves into a guitar fusion development that ends in a chamber work, nothing stressful but quite warm. Another of the points of interest of the whole record, together with the next song, "Tintamarre". It has a kind of chamberistic intro, very zappaesque, but also AFTER CRYING (era "6" and "Show") comes to mind, that finally blasts into a canterburian groove reminding GILGAMESH or VOLARE, after a break it turns more jazzy, reminding MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, excellent piece and one of the best of the album, despite I´m not a lover of fadin out endings. Superb.

After such a great amount of intensity, the relax comes with "Ephémère (a M.C.)", a very slow, almost atmospheric piece, quite different from the rest of the album, although the turn about minute 8 develops in a superb violin driven final, reminding ZAO. We are very close to the end of the record. "Forfanterie" sounds a bit folky, even medieval sometimes, before an almost free jazzy section with that personal chamber touch of the band breaks that pastoral atmosphere. Not bad, but not outstanding. The final song of the record is "Printemps Noir (final)". It starts with an obscure chamber intro with harmonium (although not credited, I guess so), followed by a drum solo linking the final section, but I suppose this song is not actuallly finished.

Rating a work like this is not easy indeed. Despite being played with great ability and the originality of some of the compositions, there are some ups and downs that don´t let me rate it as a 4 star record. It will be of interest for those who like the less radical side of Canterbury and R.I.O. or who love jazz fusion sounds, in this case blended with rock and chamber works. 3 stars (although for me it would be 3.5)