THE WRONG OBJECT & ELTON DEAN: THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH

The Wrong Object is a group from Liege, Belgium, led by the talents of guitarist Michel Delville and having a strong Jazz background as exhibited by the fact they even had three sax/trumpet players at some point.They started as a Frank Zappa cover band with a main core consisting also of Damien Polard on bass, Alain Deval on drums, later replaced by Laurent Delchambre, Fred Delplancq on saxes and Jean-Paul Estievenart on trumpet/flugelhorn.They played live in several European countries over the years, taking part in quite a few grand Jazz festivals and during their performance at Glaz'Art in Paris on 18th October 2005 they were joined by the legendary Elton Dean of Soft Machine on sax.It was one of the last live performances of Dean, before passing away in February 2006, the album was released in 2007 on Moonjune Records under the title ''The unbelievable truth''.

With a deep FRANK ZAPPA background and links to the music of THE SOFT MACHINE due to Dean's presence, this live consists mainly of Zappa covers and jazz improvisations, nothing to do with Prog actually, and often passing in the territory of Free Jazz.Some 65 minutes of music in seven tracks overall offer a spicy and intense taste of the free spirit of Jazz Music with 70's THE SOFT MACHINE being a good comparison, not only because Dean is on stage, but also because the rhythm section and Delville's guitar seem to be around for the creation of supporting, psychedelic tunes.The album is thus dominated by the long, scratching and free solos of Delplanq, Estievenart and Dean on saxes and trumpet, resulting to over-stretched pieces of improvisation, which are pretty nice to be seen live, but not overly charming for a normal audio release.This is one of these live executions you have to be there to fully appreciate or maybe a DVD could be a better delivery as a whole.Of course the material is pretty strong and powerful, going from Psychedelic Jazz to Free Improvisation and back, adding some obscure electronics in the process and eventually completing a dynamic set of jazzy weirdness with endless solos and instrumental masturbations.

Not among my priorities and definitely not suitable to Prog fans.This is loose Jazz Rock with Avant-Garde leanings and numerous improvised parts, a good fit for those into this particular style and maybe fans of the jamming side of THE SOFT MACHINE and the featured FRANK ZAPPA productions...2.5 stars.