Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

BBI

Heavy Prog • France


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

BBI biography
Recorded in 1996 but unreleased till now, this intense guitar-based trio consists of MAGMA member and ONE SHOT alumnus Philippe BUSSONNET (bass), drummer Jean-Claude BUIRE (OFFERING), and XAAL founder Laurent IMPERATO on guitars.

The band offers a unique sound; straight-forward and hard rockin but reasonably complex, tinny in a good way, occasionally emulating the Crims but with a bit less pretense, and a good sense of improvisation without overkill. The music progresses in a minimal way, not breaking a lot of new ground but still quite worthy. Would appeal to fans of YANG and other contemporary instrumental Heavy Prog groups.


-- Atavachron (David) --



Why this artist must be listed in www.progarchives.com :
This was a project featuring important figures in the French scene.



Discography:
BBI, studio album (2008, recorded 1996)

BBI Videos (YouTube and more)


Showing only random 3 | Search and add more videos to BBI

Buy BBI Music


BBI discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

BBI top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.84 | 19 ratings
BBI
2008

BBI Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

BBI Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

BBI Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

BBI Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

BBI Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 BBI by BBI album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.84 | 19 ratings

BUY
BBI
BBI Heavy Prog

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars BBI stands for Bussonnet, Buire and Imperato, the names of the trio who make up this band. Bussonnet i'm sure is the most well known for his work with MAGMA and ONE SHOT in particular. Buire was the drummer for Vander's solo project called OFFERING, while Imperato was the lead guitarist for XAAL. The music is pretty heavy as you can imagine and in my opinion this isn't as good as the bands I mentioned above mainly because of the lack of keyboards and the style of music here. Having said that, this is a blast. Oh and Udi Koomran mastered this album, and this must be the fourth album i've reviewed recently that Udi worked his magic on. The guy is amazing.

"DVDX" has such a good intro, I love the bass. It settles in quickly with guitar playing over top. These contrasts continue. Some ground shaking bass 2 minutes in. The guitar to follow is crying out. The bass and drums are relentless. "Riff Fantom" opens with the guitar and bass really standing out then it settles. The bass is very growly especially 4 1/2 minutes in. The music gets pretty intense at times. It settles before 7 minutes then it slowly builds. This is great !

"Charlie" is lighter sounding Jazz Rock. "Les Indiens" is down right nasty early on. It does settles as the guitar grinds away. It's building. The guitar is ripping it up before 8 1/2 minutes. "Trente-Trois" has some funky bass as the guitar solos over top and the drums pound. "La Main Du Diable" is uptempo and almost catchy (haha).The guitar tone is excellent here. It settles before 2 1/2 minutes. Listen to the bass ! The guitar is lighting it up after 4 minutes.The tempo picks up before 5 1/2 minutes.

A couple of these tracks ended up on ONE SHOT's debut, reworked somewhat of course. Very worthy of 4 stars.

 BBI by BBI album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.84 | 19 ratings

BUY
BBI
BBI Heavy Prog

Review by Cesar Inca
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars This is a very interesting and peculiar prog novelty for this year 2008 - interesting because it brings a powerful breath of fresh air to the standard of heavy progressive rock, peculiar because it is the first and final testimony of a band that died too young and before its time (so to speak). BBI's eponymous posthumous release offers a frontal mixture of whirlwind, thunderstorm and neurosis for the current development of intelligent rock music. The band feels comfortable ordaining its sonic structure within a power-trio's frame, inserting the pulsational resources of zheul, the complex subtleties of jazz and the muscle of psychedelia in its epredominantly heavy approach. We can trace the family airs that link BBI to the heavy aspect of Xaal (former band of the guitarist, another ephemeral band with lots of talent), but most of the stylistic coincidences are connected to Korekyojin and Yang: controlled complexity delievered in openly extroverted moods in a perfect copulation of finesse and harshness. The opening track 'Dvdx' brings a catchy access to the band's offering, bearing an inexpugnable array of electrifying sounds. 'Riff Fantom' shows a lead guitar that reminds us of a Zeppelinized Hendrix lost in a frippian dream. The bass solo that emerges from minute 4 is brutally atrocious in its challenging dexterity; there is also a wild drum solo built on a guitar-bass litany, which eventually leads to the incendiary climax that ends the track with flying colors (dark colors, that is, in order to provide the pictorial metaphor a tighter accuracy). 'Charlie' states a priority for jazz-driven structures, with the guitar elaborating controlled textures and the bass utilizing the fuzz in order to create a dynamics (instead of fire) that complements the guitar's empty spaces. The drummer once again highlights his labor, this time bringing Terry Bozzio-inspired airs to the fore. 'Les Indiens' states a middle term between the preceding track's subtlety and the indefatigable neurosis of 'Riff fantom'. 'Trente-Trois' sounds like a Pastorius-era Weather Report track performed by a Hendrix/Beck tribute band. The tortured psychedelic shades brought in by the lead guitar meet an adequate counterpoint in the funky-instilled basis performed by the rhythm duo. When the guitar indulges in McLaughlin-like soloing, the rhythm duo shifts to a rockier trend in order to sustain the mood properly. 'La Main du Diable' fills the album's last 7 minutes, being a spectacular closure. The basic musical idea is quite simplistic, but it is in the expansions that the band shows its know-how: here I find the most exciting guitar solos in the album, the tightest combination of punch and catchiness, the most structured display of power, in a few words, the perfect example of rocking energy in a progressive framework. This repertoire doesn't reach the 40-minute mark, and that's a real pity since BBI reveals itself as an act capable of creating permanent excitement in music. This "interrupted" legacy of BBI ultimately released by the Soleil Zheul label cries out its merits to be appreciated as an important item of heavy prog. 4 ⅜ stars!
Thanks to Atavachron for the artist addition.

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.