PAZOP

A short album alike other quirky jazzy progressive rock from the Netherlands/Belgium/France coming from the 70s. Pazop is pretty silly, I quite like the instrumental work, nice drumming/bass and impactful keyboard. On the other hand the vocals can be rather odd. Male vocals like Tom Walts and alot of jokey shouting/talking.

Bami, Lychee Si opens with what the instrumentals one can expect from this album, stellar e piano, squeaky violin, versatile flute and funky/driving bass/drums. The only female vocals on the album come in at around two minutes and remind me a lot of Pascale Son of Cos. Then one gets their first dosage of the albums carnival music. Then the music ends and French (?) comes in then wordsalad chanting "Bami Lychee Si Don't Call Me Chicano". This song does a good job summing up everything one will find on the album.

Harlequin Of Love is a very old sounding song, mid 60s? Vintage yet quite catchy, "I'm the HA-A~A-laquin of lOve! Of looove." The singer does a good job, there English is impeccable. The track also features some nice e piano and segues into the next song.

Can It Be Sin begins with ominous flute over distortion. The song gets calm after this with cymbals emulating waves as violin plays. After male vocals come in to croon "Can It Be Sin~". Then the song erupts and heads into a bombastic piece that quickly returns to the vocals. The bombast returns but this time the the singer sings along with it using equal grandeur.

And The Hermit Will Be The Master kicks off with piano then heads into the kind of instrumentals that colour this album. The vocals on this track are not as distinct as on the previous tracks. There is also saxophone with some kind of effects giving it a plastic quality, lovely. Towards the end of the track one is graced with the tracks title being shouted out and some laughter which does not kindle joy for me.

M. M. M is a pretty instrumental where the keyboard and flute really shine. There's even a bass lead part towards the end.

In The Army (Devil Likes Smoke) opens with shouting then enters a military March and talking. I hate this song, makes me feel like I'm watching a movie or listening to a musical.

Track 7 opens with a solid rhythm over which a tapestry of keyboard magic is weaved. Two minutes in the flute takes the lead in all its overblown glory. At four minutes the song has a chaotic breakdown and enters a spoken section, again atrocious.

It's the end is as the name says the closing track. It's pretty much echoey vocals bidding the listener goodbye, cute.

Overall If you like artists such as Kandahara, Frank Zappa or Supersister you should definitely check out Pazop. I for one find the vocals to be a massive obstacle on the album as when the human voice appears on Pazop it is usually quite ugly.