FRENCH TV

Formed in 1983 in Louisville, Kentucky, French TV started as a trio with Mike Sary on bass, Stephen Roberts on keys and sax player Jeff Jones.When Jones left for Boston to study electronics, the reamaining duo started looking for new musicians.After many auditions they were joined by 17-years old drummer Fenner Castner, who brought in his friend Artie Bratton on guitars.French TV entered the Sound-on-Sound Studios in Crestwood in August 83' and finished their eponymous debut in March 84'.Following a limited interest by the music labels, the album was released privately by the group and features original member Jeff Jones on the track '' Under Heaven there is great disorder''.

Very easy to understand why French TV's music was totally ignored by the music industry, being a commercially devastating blend of R.I.O., Fusion and Canterbury-styled jazzy Prog with many blistering moments and unusual comlex parts, hiding influences from NATIONAL HEALTH, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, FRANK ZAPPA and even CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and sounding close to compatriots HOWEVER.The music has a very jazzy nature, without being actually close to Jazz-Rock, and the US quartet shows a great ability on shifting between frenetic instrumental themes to more melodic textures in an album that is executed with coherence from the start to the very end.Obscure keyboard offerings, notable electric and acoustic guitar melodies and shivering, deep bass explosions combine in a tight Fusion style with some incredible ideas, which suffer a bit from a buried production, but overall they sound tasteful and well-crafted.The performances are dense and rich with excellent interplays and breaks into more dreamy soundscapes, resulting a nice balance between complex structures and elaborate passages.

Fortunately the album has been reissued by Mike Sary's Pretentious Dinosaur label in a decent remastered version.Lovely and intricate Progressive Rock all the way for all lovers of instrumental mannerisms.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

I have heard, and was impressed, by an occaisonal French TV song on internet radio and was lucky enough to obtain a copy of "After A Lengthy Silence" on vinyl and gave it a spin. Varied styles are evident, from hints of Canterbury, Happy the Man, Frank Zappa, and Brand X. Saxophonist, Clancy Dixon, has a style that reminds me of early Gong works. Bill Bruford comes to mind on several tracks as well.

"After A Lengthy Silence" contains compositions that are complex and well calculated with time changes that provide the listener with ever changing moods. This release is highly recommended for fans of Canterbury, jazz fusion and listeners who appreciate a unique blend of many different progressive genres.

Goosegg, East Los Angeles, CA

Calling on the collective conscience of the worldwide prog community - it's high time we paid attention to the great music that has been and continues to be written and recorded in the avant areas of the USA!! In this particular occasion I am referring to the latest release by French TV, the combo led and maintained by bassist Mike Sary. For this 2010 offering "I Forgive You For All My Unhappiness", Sary has teamed up with drummer Jeff Gard and keyboardist/saxophonist Steve Katsikas, plus collaborations from others (especially guitarist Shawn Persinger, who also happens to be his colleague in The Distinguished Panel Of Experts). "I Forgive You For All My Happiness" is a catalogue of real reinvigorating musical experiences ruled by the laws of surprise and challenge - something that is so typically FTV. The opener starts with a sarcastic 1-2-3-4, which serves the listener with an agile, warmth main body, in many ways related to National Health and 70s Bruford (you can tell that Master Bill is a big paradigm for Gard's own drumming style). This track also includes some dissonant adventures that seem pretty coincidental with Miriodor and other similar contemporary RIO acts. 'Conversational Paradigms' receives and re-elaborates a big part of the opener's extroverted vibe, developing a bigger dose of melodic extravagance while retaining a similarly warmth mood. You can reasonably suspect at this point that this album is not going to be as dark as "This Is What We Do" or as overtly genius as "The Violence Of Amateurs" (FTV's ultimate masterpiece so far, to my ears at least), but it is not mandatory for an experimental progressive album to be dark or magnificent in order to have great quality. FTV still rules big time and can trace musical roads of uneasiness and tension at any given time: 'March Of The Cookie Cutters' is solid proof of that. This is piece # 3 and now the band feels it's time to explore the avant-garde nuances further with an iron will and coherent finesse. The bold series of dissonant developments and twisted dynamics is totally Zappaesque. Near the end, a slow passage develops a mysterious aura that is somewhat close to Francophone RIO (Univers Zero, so to speak), really creepy, but right before the moment of deadly implosion, things dramatically shift toward vivacious colors of funny artsy extroversion. 'You Got To Run It Out, Dawson!' starts with another sarcastic 1-2-3-4: more room for sonic surprises, no surprises here. This track's particular feature is the presence of hard rocking nuances in the guitar parts and the rhythm duo's dynamics; there are also some trends inspired by However and Happy The Man (two bands that I have always felt as crucial references for FTV's sound). 'With Grim Determination, Terrell Dons the Bow Tie' is the calmest and least ornamented piece in the album, but never getting at a condescending level. It includes a beautiful synth solo starting around the 1 ½ minute mark (Jan Hammer-style, perhaps). For the last 90 seconds, the track shifts toward grayish atmospheres that outline a chamber-rock element in a powerful, yet delicate fashion: the resulting density serves then as a psychedelic catharsis built with total finesse. That is where the playful 'Mosquito Massacre' settles in for the album's closure; witty, agile and capricious, it almost sounds as the soundtrack to a climatic scene in a surrealistic satiric movie. Even the rough guitar parts and spacey synth ornaments bring themselves fluidly into the overall mood, while the drummer works successfully at gluing the whole sounds together within a proper framework. "I Forgive You For All My Unhappiness", in a general balance, means the reaffirmation of French TV as a relevant voice of contemporary USA's progressive rock. It's high time the worldwide prog community paid due attention to them - haven't I said this before?

For a bit of time, I thought that French TV was one of the coolest underground bands I had discovered. They play a complex breed of music stemming from the depths of Cantebury, jazz fusion, RIO and other what-have-nots, throw in a bit of nonsense humour to ''ground themselves'' and sport some of the most hilarious liner notes this side of Frank Zappa. Naturally, I wanted to keep getting more works from them, but this album made me hit ''that thing on the wall'' a lot faster than I had anticipated.

While THE VIOLENCE OF AMATEURS is a great album in its own right, two songs in ''Tiger Tea'' and ''Mail Ordered Quarks'' weren't exactly my thing; way too serious and deviod of a memorable moment. It seems as if THE CASE AGAINST ART is trying to channel those two pieces alone and milk them out over an entire album. To put it bluntly, I was the least bit amused. What happened to the funny stuff like ''The Kokonimo Stomp''?

Beats me, although I'm sure plenty of people would enjoy having a few words with me. The only speck of funny I could find was the carnival atmosphere of that big ''W'' song at the end, but it didn't last long enough and didn't come early enough in the album for me to really care. I will admit that ''That Thing on the Wall'' is the most standout (I hesitate to say best) track here, but that's probably a byproduct of coming first and the rest of the album swimming in a sea of blah.

Any serious music fan looking for some unknown thing might be interested in this album. If you want pep, loudness, humour or excitement, then look elsewhere across a good chunk of the prog spectrum. It has music kudos, but it seems to lack focus and direction. Then again, I realize that most progsters might enjoy this album if heard, and I'm probably in a countable minority.

I'm not the biggest fan of the term 'thinking man's music', because that sort of implies that anybody who doesn't listen to said music is not intelligent. That's certainly not true, and while I myself needed time initially for my musical tastes to broaden and vary over time, I still understand why Avant-Garde music can be disliked by many, many people, even members of this very site. Yes, despite our willingness to dive into the experimental world of Prog Rock, many of us proggers still find ourselves stumped when it comes to certain sub-genres. So what exactly should we do when faced with a style of music that doesn't speak to us? Well, we can either leave it alone for good and possibly miss out on some wonderful musical moments, or we can scout the perimeter of the said genre and search for a way in. I think if you're still curious about RIO/Avant-Prog, French TV is a very good band that could serve as your 'entry point'.

The reason I say this is because French TV's music, while still very intelligent and uncompromising in abstract complexity, there is an undertone of accessibility that should appeal to more traditional Prog fans, even those not initiated into this particular area of the genre. There are hints of smooth Jazz, Hard Rock, Bluegrass and Classical, and yet it never becomes 'too much to handle'. Every moment on this record feels like it is supposed to be there. It fits. Never did I feel like these guys were just tacking on a bunch of pointless complexity to simply show off. It truly seems that the compositions (as off-the-wall and non-traditional as they may be) were all written to serve the music, and not themselves. Whenever an artist does that, it's always worth applauding. Especially with a band as capable as this, it would be very easy to allow ego to run rampant and play super-fast and super- complex all the time, but then of course the music itself would suffer from too much content and not enough 'room to breathe'. French TV never once falls into this trap, and they pull off their impressive, intelligent music with incredible grace and reservation.

So what exactly IS French TV all about musically? Sure, I've described my impressions and personal opinions based on what I heard, but I have yet to get specific. So I thought I would go song-by-song this time and give a brief overview of each, so that you the potential buyer can feel confident in your purchase, knowing what to expect. The album's tracks grow increasingly longer over the course of the record, and the music becomes more and more experimental and interesting. Please take a moment to read below and see if the info provided is enough for you to give this band and album a shot.

''The Kokonimo Stomp'' starts out with what sounds like a mixture of saxophone and flute providing the initial rhythm. Melody doesn't play too much of a role in the begging, and even when electric guitar and keyboards become prominent, it isn't until about a minute-and-a-half into the track that we begin to hear something that resembles a more familiar concept of a melody. It is led by the saxophones, with clean, energetic rhythm guitar back-up. A little after two minutes in, organ plays a more significant role. This is my favorite part of the song. Then things pick up the pace even more with a complex, interesting banjo lead! After that, things die down and become more atmospheric and psychedelic briefly before the next rush of exciting instrumentation blasts in. Some funny, wordless vocals come in near the song's end, and by this point you should have a good idea of what you're in for. This track in particular is just so much fun to listen to, and it was a great choice for an album opener.

''The Secret Life Of Walter Riddle'' Starts off with a march and whistle that sounds straight out of the armed forces, with the drums and flutes playing in that familiar, stomping fashion. But before long, things dart into a different direction entirely, and the song truly begins. Cool mixture of styles, here. Distorted lead guitar, occasional input from the sax, digital layering, and almost Metal- like composition overall. The song continues to head in unpredictable directions while holding on to the hard rock leanings nearly the whole time. It's a brilliant track. I don't want to give it all away, but suffice it to say, later on in the track is when the similarities to other more well-known Avant-Garde groups first appear on this album.

''The Odessa Steps Sequence'' is apparently a cover song by a band called Volare. Brian Donohue, who drums on this track as well as a couple of others, was a regular member of said band, it seems, and they decided to recognize the band through this track. Although I have not heard any material from Volare, they are/were damn good if this song is any indication. Since it was written by a different line-up of sorts, the attitude and direction of this song is a bit different from the other songs on this release. It's ironically one of my favorite songs from The Violence Of Amateurs. The first half of the song is just gorgeous beyond belief, while the second half is more aggressive and avant-garde in its delivery. Very exciting, and always changing. A must-listen. Lucky, as of this writing, that very track is made available as a sample on the band's page here at PA.

''Mail Order Quarks'' is another favorite of mine. A bit more laid back to begin with than previous French TV originals on this album, the song features flute very prominently during its first half, and the smooth Jazz influence is very heavy here. Just a lot of light, lovely music. The second half of the song takes on a more Middle-Eastern type of vibe, and the flute is once again fairly prominent, but rather than being the soothing, caressing piece of the puzzle that it was then, it now sounds like it belongs to a snake charmer, urging his pets out of their holes with frantic ferocity. Around 7:45, things come back around again, and the Jazzy, uplifting side of the music now dominates the song's outro. This is one roller-coaster ride of a song, and may possibly be the album's highest point. Just brilliant.

''Tiger Tea'', a more playful opening sets the stage, at times the keyboards and guitars sounding like they came out of a Yes song. Once the saxophone comes in for some major playing, though, you realize this is still French TV. One of the more wild tracks on the album, this song might be the most unaccessible original track the album has to offer. However, those of us who already love Avant-Garde Prog music should feel right at home. It's the second-to-longest track, so long attention spans are required to get the full enjoyment out of it, but even then this song may very well be my least favorite, simply because it just doesn't speak to me as personally or immediately as the other original tracks did. However, you should know that this is still a very fantastic track, and just because I like it the least, that doesn't mean that I don't like it. I do. It's just not as good as the others, in my view. Still quite interesting and worth hearing, though.

''Joosan Lost/The Fate'' is the second and final cover song on The Violence Of Amateurs. It is taken from the group Samla Mammas Manna (from their 'Zamla' era), and it a lot of fun to listen to. I have to be honest, here - as of right now, I am still not familiar enough with Samla Mammas Manna's work to say how accurate of a cover this is, or even which version may be better than the other. I can say, however, that the presentation of the song is still very much in French TV style, and it doesn't feel disjointed or 'tacked-on' to the rest of the material at all. Right at home, this track is, and it's very, very well-played. A good song, the longest song, and the last song of the record. Part of me does wish that these guys had ended the album with an original piece, and not just a cover of pre-existing material, but that's a minor issue, and not worth worrying about. It's still a fantastic album overall.

The Violence Of Amateurs was my first French TV experience, and it blew me away. So as much as I hate to say this, I would indeed classify this as 'think man's music'. That's not to alienate anybody out there in Prog land who wouldn't like this, but i do think the music found on this release is very intelligent and above-par. So far beyond most of the other stuff heard in the more well-known Prog sub-grenes, and really, that describes the entire RIO/Avant-Prog sub-genre to me - it's one of the few styles of music that is TRULY progressing all the time, and if this album is any indication, this type of forward-thinking isn't going to run out of steam anytime soon.

This album should be able to appeal to even those more unfamiliar with Avant-Prog, but it still doesn't hold anything back, and delivers big for those of us who are on the lookout for more interesting, otherworldly music. French TV's appeal reaches beyond many of their peers, and crosses over into enough varied territory to bring in fans from all over. Now it's just a matter of raising the awareness for these guys. It's a shame that so few people here seem to even know that this band exists, and even fewer people are bothering to review their works. Let's change that. Go and order yourself a copy of The Violence Of Amateurs, and weigh in your opinion as well.

Happy listening.

What's French TV? How about a crazy, RIO-influenced, Cantebury sounding, fusiony pyrotechnical freakout band from the middle of Kentucky?

Seriously, with a name like theirs and as obscure and as overlooked as they are (even on PA), I absolutely had to get in on the fun. Right away, the group fires on all cylinders as ''The Kokonimo Stomp'' goes through a plethora of jazz riffs (with a little bluegrass thrown in for whatsits sake) without sounding awkward or forced. The band clearly knows how to have loads of fun, and the first two tracks show it with the second having surf rock as its main base.

Starting with ''The Odessa Steps Sequence'', the group veers into a more serious musical direction with the unique keyboard sound (I don't know what in tarnation it is) stealing the show. The very long ''Joosan Lost/The Fate'' actually goes through only a few themes in its 21+ minute span, but really keeps the interest there as it sounds like epic James Bond movie music.

''Tiger Tea'' and ''Mail Ordered Quarks'' are where I start to have problems with the album as the serious-ness of the music becomes too overbearing; both songs are boring fusion ramblings devoid of a memorable moment. But, this album is the carnival freak show of the prog rock world, and it's worth hearing just for the novelty of it. Even if you don't like the music, the liner notes will make you laugh until you wet your pants.

Despite the explicit allusions in the album title, "The Violence of Amateurs" is a work of maturity and complete cohesion in the impressive French TV catalogue. The sort of musical maturity that the band had started accomplishing from the "Virtue In Futility" album onwards meets its total fruition in this fifth studio effort. The time of this album was a period in which the band was reduced to the duo of founding member Mike Sary and guitarist/keyboardist Dean Zigoris plus a host of talented guests that happen to be supporting them at the moment. The completion of a kaleidoscopic tracklist such as this, full of agile moods and enriched with a clever variety makes this album an absolute masterpiece of avant-prog for the last two decades. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since its release: it's like an old album by a truly veteran group. 'The Kokonino Stomp' kicks off the album with exhilarating flying colors, providing an exciting sequence of motifs in a "big band" framework that screams craziness and genius at the same time. The RIO and Zappa elements are abundant all throughout this progressive roller coaster: it includes a circus section with a Dadaist banjo, a be-bop portion with Charleston piano and a cartoonish tribal percussion/chorale. Enjoy with humor, but don't let the humor block your ears off the abundant musical genius invested in this piece. Next comes another extroverted track, 'The Secret Life of Walter Riddle', whose humorous introductory motif might work as background music for a comic sketch. Then, the main body is set on a lively rocking pace wrapped in a colorful instrumentation that features some brass and synth fanfares. There is also room for an amazing guitar solo that finds Zigoris stating a solid hybrid of Holdsworth and Frith in a hard rock mood (go figure!); there is also some room for a sick sax solo displayed on a jazzy swing. The piece ends on a Ventures-like note. After these 12 minutes of prog joy, come the 8 ¾ minutes of 'The Odessa Steps Sequence', the cover of a Volaré track - in fact, this band's drummer is one of the special guests for French TV here. For this one, the French TV commune explores its lyrical side (not as common, but consistent anyway). The first 4 ½ minutes are focused on an eerie mixture of symphonic magic and jazzy textures, stating a framework of contemplative subtlety for the complex melodic development. After that, the piece shifts toward sources of pomposity, like a "Wakemanized" ELP. Afterwards, a more neurotic motif settles in, featuring what arguably is the most explosive guitar solo in the album. 'Mail Order Quarks' brings the most moving melodies to the fore, bringing an ethereal atmosphere that may sound related to Shadowfax, HTM and However's softer facet. Abundantly acoustic, the guitar and soprano sax weave a soaring development of dreamy moods. A second motif kicks in to introduce a mesmerizing set of exotic fusion ambiences; gradually, these ambiences grow to become more intense, with spacey synth ornaments interfering among the flute flourishes while the rhythm section gets reasonably louder. Once this exquisite climax ends at the 7 minute mark, the track goes back to its softer realms in order to prepare the path for the closing reprise. How lovely this piece is!, lovely in the finest tradition of prog, as a piece of refined tapestry, pristine sensitivity and polished skill. This track is a definitive cornerstone of Franch TV, just like the album is a highlight in the current USA prog scene. 'Tiger Tea' follows in a return to the band's extravagant side - the joyful exhibition of Latin jazz colors on a samba- meet-rumba tempo glows in its frivolous insanity. The Dadaistic approach to these merry colors reminds me a bit of Rascal Reporters and 90s Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. There is also a duel of guitar and piano that sounds like Irakere revamping a 80s KC jam (go figure!). By the 4 minute mark, the piece is totally rooted on an apparently chaotic eclecticism that indeed is nothing but a display of intelligent complexity. The last motifs tend toward the serene side of things: there is one of them featuring soft jazzy guitar and Focus-like flute lines, a lovely portion in its own terms; the final section is based on an atmosphere of soft jazz-rock that becomes quite anti-climatic. in an effective manner, pleasant as it is ironic. Almost every French TV album includes a cover, and "The Violence of Amateurs" is no exception - Sary, Zigoris and their momentary guests indulge in a robust version of Zamla Mammaz Manna's 'Joosan Lost' ('The Fate'), surpassing the Nektar and VdGG covers that had a place in previous releases. This album is a masterpiece, no doubt in my mind about it.

A recent discovery of mine, French TV is a band that I have learned to love quite quickly. Their eclectic approach to progressive rock music is signaled by an experimental concern to mix RIO, jazz and Canterbury-influenced rock in such a way that humor and melodic sense happen to be well amalgamated within the overall sonic frame. Their third release is entitled "Virtue in Futility" (1994), and it happens to be their first grand opus, their first expression of genuine musical maturity - I strongly recommend it as the uninitiated's entry, although generally speaking, you can never go wrong with a French TV album. Of course, I'm aware that not all prog fans and collectors are particularly keen on the avant-garde side of the genre, but the specific case of French TV reveals a reconstruction of the experimental stuff under a less inscrutable guise. 'Hey! Real Executives Jump From the 50th Floor!' gets the game started in a very rocking manner: the powerful guitar riffs, the dynamic drumming and the energetic organ interventions make it sound like a mixture of Deep Purple and ELP focusing on a long lost Happy the Man track. The soft interlude featuring a piano solo (a-la Rachmaninov) and a symphonic-oriented escalade manage to state a proper amount of variety before the main rocking passage is retaken for the conclusion. This is a solid opener guaranteed to catch the listener's attention, so 'Clanghonktweet' should be really interesting to keep the listening experience refreshing. And so it does!... It is a very playful track that incluyes Renaissance and Celtic flavors in a sort of "Jean-Luc Ponty plus special guest Kerry Minnear" sort of way. This track also contains a divergent interlude, consisting on ethereal moods (very much a-la "First Seven Days"-era Jan Hammer). Sweeter than the opener, track no. 2 is no less extravagant, with some sections that find the violin getting really loud and the synth providing some noisy psychedelic ornaments. 'The Family that Oonts Together, Groonts Together' bears a pleasant compositional development, sounding like a jazz-fusion journey that merges into the combined traditions of Shadowfax and Happy the Man, with augmented elements from Maneige and "Jazz FromHell"-era Zappa. The passages in which the trumpet solos go on shining are absolutely majestic. Generally speaking, this piece gives ample room to the delivery of agile orchestral developments, despite the fact that it is not a symphonic progressive track in itself. 'I'm Whining For That Funky Baby Of Mine' starts quite confident in its abandonment of the soft side in favor of a frantic aspect of French TV's music: the opening section is very mad, dissonant and tense in a challenging manner that anticipates the sort of work we've come to expect from the likes of Frogg Café nowadays. The free-jazz and avant elements are undeniably dominant in this track, with the musicians exchanging dialogues in a common labor against the conventional conceptions of structure. 'Empaté' retakes the kind of sophisticated magnificence we had already found in track 3: this one expands on the jazz- oriented colors and gives them a near-symphonic twist, while incorporating some airs of Crimsonian neurosis as well. This track's energetic musicality makes it a special climatic momentum in the album. 'Friends In High Places' is a bit rougher regarding its sonic framework, and it is also more Spartan: mostly based on the drum kit's cadences intertwined with recorded presidential speeches, it displays a genuine sense of menace without getting explicitly creepy. The simplicity is obviously hiding something underneath its deceitful surface. The album's last 12+ minutes are occupied by the monster track 'Slowly I Turn. Step By Step. Inch By Inch'. It starts warm and smooth, featuring a slow tempo and a gentle guitar, but there is another reality to this track. It is dark and gloomy, as is revealed by the gradual crescendo elaborated by the dense instrumentation. From the fifth minute onward, hell has already broken loose: guitar and sax assume a shared protagonist role in the sonic delivery that mixes jazz's sensual vigor and avant-prog's neurotic vibe in a very muscular way. Think of a hybrid of Frogg Café and Thinking Plague with some touches of Present and you will nail most of the track's spirit. The closing climax feels peculiarly robust, ending with some caustic drum beats before getting at the 10 minute mark. After a few seconds of silence (not a lengthy silence, according the title of the band's sophomore album), the band returns with a funk-oriented jam drowned in humor. "Virtue in Futility" is an excellent example of the sort of experimental prog rock that has been practiced and recorded in the USA from the 90s to this day - French TV is an important name in the current avant-prog scene, and definitely their discography should be more widely appreciated. 4.30 stars for this one!

Pardon Our French is the title of French TV's eight album. After a long time, they decided to do covers again (they already had a cover of a Van Der Graaf Generator song before) and show that the name French TV is well deserved. Namely, they chose to do covers of only French artists - Ange, Pulsar, Shylock, Carpe Diem, Atoll and Etron Fou Lelouban. So, basically a wet dream for any fan of French progressive rock and a nightmare for normal people.

The line-up is again based around the bass player, Mike Sary, who is again surrounded by the right people to share his extraordinary vision. Again, they managed to create that perfect French TV organised confusion, chaos that makes sense. They must have made their fans and female fan very happy.

The first two pieces are typical of French TV. It's a typical mixture of avant-garde and the occasional symphonic rock. Once more, we see some "unusual" influence, like Mexican and oriental music. They manage to create pieces that are fluid and unforced. They decided to cover their favourite French artists on the third piece (they are French TV after all). We can hear artists like Ange, Pulsar and Rock in Opposition legends Etron Fou Lelouban. The covers are great, the female vocal replaces the male excellently, only the French accent perhaps isn't the most convincing (but it adds a certain charm, a certain je ne sais quoi) - the lack of nasals is especially noticeable. For the end, we have two more French TV classics, which again show how unpredictable the men can be with their mixture of tragic and comic, dark and humorous.

French TV are exceptional musicians with a very specific style, but they still manage to surprise with an unexpected ingredient on every album. Pardon Our French is also full of such elements. Besides that, the album is also masterfully played and produced. This effort might suit people who are more into classic prog (if for nothing else than the covers) and can serve as a good introduction for all people who aren't that into the more experimental styles. Anyway, French TV cook up a feast again and you don't feel deprived of anything at any moment.

French TV is an American band playing mostly in the RIO/avant-garde style, but in all honestly, it is hard to categorize them with just this term as their music is influenced by so many different things. The only original member left from the group that started out in the early 80s is bass player Mike Sary who always manages to find competent musicians to play with him. This Is What We Do is their 8th studio album and as far as I'm concerned, their best to date.

Seeing as French TV is one of the most original and prolific American bands, it is hard to account for their lack of recognition, both in America and everywhere else. Mike Sary even gave up looking for a label to sign them and instead opted for releasing their albums on his own label.

The album starts with a song with a typically (for French TV) abstract title with music that fits the abstract moniker perfectly. There are many changes of pace and different moods, from meditative to furious and quirky. This piece exhibits everything that's great about French TV. They are able to incorporate so many emotions and styles into just one composition. The next piece fits that bill as well. Ska Face starts with a ska beat, but it soon transforms into a typical French TV frenzy. The album continues with My Little Cicada, where we hear some eerie Crimson-like mellotron passages and Henry Cow reed and wind work. The transitions between these parts is again effortless and later on in the composition we hear some fine violin playing by Chris Smith and some amazing Hammond and guitar parts as well. Look at the Bears reminds me in parts of Happy the Man, in other parts of ELP or Henry Cow. This is another composition with great energy and it's no wonder that it's one of their concert favourites. For the end of the album, they saved another corker with an unusual title. It starts off as a great fusion workout, then goes through several steadier moods, but always returns to the original level of enthusiasm.

French TV draw from so many musical wells that their music sometimes seems like a collage of different genres and influences. However, this collage seems completely normal and the music flows without any disruptions. Usually, bands find it difficult to master so many genres and switch between them, but with French TV it seems easy. Sometimes, you may hear straight-out jazz-rock, sometimes ska, sometimes symphonic rock in the ELP style, on occasion you may even hear Eastern and Mexican music influences, while at other times they sound very experimental. I hear many influences from other musicians in their music - Zappa, Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna, Happy the Man, Van der Graaf Generator... - but I think that they mainly strive to create music with its own character.

The playing and the sound on the album is beyond reproach. The band leader, Mike Sary, is a monster bass player. He may sometimes get lost in the sea of keyboards and reeds and winds, but when you do hear him, he is always precise and intriguing. Warren Dale is perhaps the most noticeable musician here, with his array of keyboards and reeds and winds. He knows how to create atmospheres and also play lightning fast on the synth and Hammond. Chris Smith is a sublime guitarist who continues in the Robert Fripp tradition of reserved yet totally controlled playing. He also contributes some hugely important violin parts. The final piece of the puzzle is drummer Jeff Gard, who is very solid at what he does. There are also some guest musicians on the album, most notably Paolo Botta, who also plays with French TV when they tour Europe.

I think it's impossible for French TV to record a bad album. They simply have such a great feel for balancing the good melodies and the experimental passages. It is hard to choose just one favourite French TV album, but if I was forced into it, I would have to say that This Is What We Do is my personal favourite. I don't really know why, it just seems that they got all the ingredients right for this one. French TV just keep getting better, so I eagerly await their next release.