PLACEBO

Marc Moulin is one of my favourite keyboardists, I'm not into the speed and flash that most are impressed with, give me that tone please. He would be part of the avant Belgium band AKSAK MABOUL, as well as the incredible COS. He is so funny, he is a border line comedian and I will always feel indebted to him for also releasing under his own name a compilation record of the best tracks from the first three PLACEBO albums that couldn't possibly be more perfect. These two recordings blow me away and show in part the kind of legacy Moulin and PLACEBO left behind.

I can't get over the sound of this record. It's like listening to Miles at times and many of those incredible American Jazz/Fusion bands of the early seventies. I have had this on repeat the last two days just refreshing myself with this beautiful album. It's so consistent and high end that I just have to bump this up to 5 stars. Of the seven tracks only two of them would I give less than 5 stars to as far as songs go. One is the only cover on here of a Thelonious Monk tune but under 2 minutes and then "La Bougie" also under 2 minutes and both are good but man the rest is gravy all the way.

Released in 1975 and under 40 minutes, it also includes the side long suite called "Tohubohut" at over 17 minutes which is broken down into five tracks. I mentioned Marc's humour, check out part III that had me laughing out loud the first time I heard it and still continues to make me smile. It sounds like two horns talking to one another and laughing too. Has to be heard, hilarious. When I mentioned American Jazz/Fusion like Miles that is especially heard on the opener "La Saule" and "Le Beau Galop" two tracks that take their time and offer the most incredible sounds including this bass driven groove I love. Why am I thinking Bill Cosby here, I have a hard time putting into words how this album sounds and how meaningful it is to me.

The flugelhorn/trumpet, electric piano and bass just could not be more perfect and the bass player is uncredited which bothers me because it is so important to the sound here. Who was it? My music!

"Inner City Blues" is a pretty good opener with vocals. I like how it starts with percussion and piano as vocal melodies join in along with bass and drums. Soon he's singing the lyrics but the vocal melodies aren't over yet. Flute before 1 1/2 minutes then more vocal melodies before a change arrives after 4 minutes. Not into this section with the high pitched vocals and piano but it's brief. Horns and drums take over to the end. "Planes" is beats, horns, keys, flute and more. It picks up after a minute as horns honk and the electric piano impresses.

"You Got Me Hummin'' is another vocal track and this one has a lot of soul in it. Piano and a beat to start then horns after a minute before the vocals arrive. Not really a fan of this one. "Humpty Dumpty" is a short but enjoyable instrumental where sounds beat and pulse as the horns come and go. "Aria" has to be my favourite. It opens with the sounds of children playing before a relaxed sound of bass, drums, keyboards and horns take over. Sounds like clavinet then flute before 4 minutes.

"Showbiz Suite" is the longest tune at 7 1/2 minutes. A laid back start with drums and piano before a variety of horns join in. This continues until we get a bass solo starting after 3 1/2 minutes lasting less than a minute before returning to that earlier sound. "Ball Of Eyes" has piano melodies throughout this 2 minute song. "Oh La La" is the one minute closer of someone singing the title of this track over and over. Sounds like an old school tune.

So a mixed bag for me but some nice highs on this one.

"Bolkwush" is a great opener as we get keys, drums and bass right away as horns arrive blasting and they will come and go. Love that trumpet just before a minute as other horns continue to come and go. I also like the low end sounding keys and bass along with the steady, punchy sounding drums. "Temse" has intricate drum work as horns and flute kick in briefly. The electric piano takes over as the horns return. Such a good groove to this one as the horns come and go over top. Some clavinet too after 2 minutes.

"Phalene" has a relaxed sound to it of electric piano, drums and a horn to start. Bass joins in as well to this lazy and smokey sounding song. Such a chilled-out track as it drifts along with different sounds coming and going over top. Love that electric piano. "Balek" might be my favourite though. We get these deep sounds that pulse as drums help out. Melancholic synths and horns start to come and go. Electric piano after a minute. The melancholic synths are back after 2 1/2 minutes to the end.

"Polk" is kind of funky as electric piano joins in. Horns before 1 1/2 minutes replace the piano but the latter returns a minute later. "Only Nineteen" opens with bass and drums and they create an excellent sound here as the electric piano joins in quickly. Some brief blasting horns before 2 1/2 minutes before they turn steady playing over top.

"Red Net" has relaxed electric piano as slowly played horns join in. This is really laid back. Electric piano leads the way for the most part other than early on and late. "Re-Union" is different from the rest. Atmosphere hums and hovers as it floats along throughout. Sounds like electronics over the final minute which is kind of cool.

Another solid album by these jazzers from Belgium. 4 stars.

"N.W." opens with bass, a beat, cymbals and electric piano before the horns kick in. All these sounds come and go here and it's quite laid back and relaxed. I really like this. Tasteful is the word with the bass and drums being the constant throughout as other instruments come and go.

"Plotselling" opens with electric piano and cymbals followed by guitar and a beat. Flute before a minute. Horns start blasting around 1 1/2 minutes. Some nice guitar work after 2 minutes, very fluid. I love this stuff! It almost stops 4 minutes in as a drum solo kicks in and lasts until after 5 minutes when the electric piano, bass, guitar and more join in. Horns follow and they will get dissonant before 7 minutes.

"Bosso" opens with electric piano, drums, bass and guitar as a horn comes in over top. This is fairly uptempo and jazzy. The guitar replaces the horn after a minute with some fast paced playing. The flute joins the guitar a minute later. Catchy suff.

"Dag Madam Merci" starts out with bass, electric piano and a beat before the horns come in blasting followed by some jazzy guitar. Man that sounds like clavinet before 1 1/2 minutes. "Hop Hop" again opens with bass, drums, electric piano and more before the horns arrive blasting after 1 1/2 minutes. Some interesting intricate guitar melodies in this one. Why could they not have named this "Hip Hop"?

"Tanga" opens with the drums and electric piano sort of playing together as horns come in briefly then synths before the horns return. Accordion after a minute as it is contrasted with synths until 2 1/2 minutes in when the horns return.

"Stomp" must be a code name for funky? Yes this is funky and we get some trumpet after 2 minutes then the horns blast before 2 1/2 minutes as the funk continues. Synths to the fore then it's the horns again before 5 minutes followed by a manipulated horn. Electric piano then starts to lead late.

"S.U.S."opens with sounds that echo as cymbals can be heard and sparse percussion. Bass and drums join in just before a minute then a horn. So cool. Trumpet just before 2 minutes. Melancholic synths replace the trumpet after 2 1/2 minutes until horns arrive again at 3 1/2 minutes.

If your into that early Jazz/ Rock sound similar at times to NUCLEUS and Miles you should at least have a listen. A solid 4 stars.

With a large brass section consisting of a 4-piece trombone/ trumpet/ clarinet/ sax personel (among them Richard Rousselet of Julverne fame), additional members on guitars, bass and drums and of course Moulin on keyboards and piano, Placebo's debut seems not quite intricate or adventurous to speak the truth.Moulin's first effort relies a lot on smooth and relaxed jazzy arrangements with a melodic approach and very light interplays, quite accesible to say the least with only occasional and non-risky solos.The sound flirts at moments with Horn Rock in a BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS vein with harmonic trombones and saxes but also with Funk and even Soul, especially when vocals are present.It is rather doubtful if such an easy-going sound will satisfy the progressive listener, however there are a couple of exceptions which deserve a specific mention like the short but nice ''Humpty Dumpty'', where the Canterbury-like guitars and electric piano meet the fine performance of the brass section, as well as the longest cut of the album ''Showbiz Suite'', a Canterbury-flavored piece with a definite SOFT MACHINE/HATFIELD AND THE NORTH edge, where the solos and instrumental battles are endless yet inspired, electric piano, saxes and bass are on the forefront and actually this is possibly the only piece in here prooving Moulin's great talent.

The album has some good moments to satisfy fans of Jazz-Rock,Horn Rock or Jazz-Fusion,but it is still very far from a demanding listening for the average progressive fan.Recommended only to lovers of the aforementioned closely related styles...2.5 stars.

Musically, Sam Suffy is not far away from Placebo albums, but if anything the album is more even, because unlike the group efforts, SS had few covers (just one, a short Monk composition), which was always the weaker side of Placebo. So MM develops a superb melodic funky jazz-rock that will work wonders in samplings three decades later. Some will say that SS owes much debt to Hancock's Headhunter, but these typical Placebo grooves existed since their earliest albums, so it's not like the similarity is inspired or influence by Herbie.

The opening Le Saure is an enthralling funky piece with a cool groove, where Moulin switches from one keyboard to another, a bit like Herbie does. The short Thelonius Monk-penned Misterioso is probably the more experimental album with Rousselet's flugelhorn drawing monster sounds. The short From track is keyboard bonanza with Jasper helping out on electric piano. An interesting exercise, where Moulin toys with a Moog. La Blouse is another smooth-gliding funky groove, so typically early 70's. The short Bougie is a duo between Rousselet and Moulin's bluesy piano, probably the weaker track around. The closing playful jumpy Beau Galop has Marc tripping on his keys happily, without a sole care in the world.

The flipside is made from the sidelong five-movement suite, lasting (17 minutes) with Castellucci on drums (as opposed to Morales on the other side). The moods range from happy to sinister, from the sublime to the orgasmic, from dissonance and animal noises (the third movement) to pure heavenly grooves, with Rousselet blowing from a Miles Coltrane to a Ornette Sanders, the bassist pulling from you some spine shivers with his delightful touch.

Reissued in the late 90's on the Counterpoint Records label (also doing the Placebo compilation), the Cd came in handy for those looking to investigate Moulin's early 70's music, because the vinyls were fetching a small fortune, because eagerly searched for in the acid jazz and trip hop circles. MM's SS album is probably Marc' best works of the 70's, and this Cd is warmly recommended to everyone into JR/F, easily earning its fifth star.

I really mean it here, somehow the tracks chosen on this compilation are up to 95% of the ones I would have chosen, so remarkably so, that I am taking the time to write down. Although a compilation album can never replace the album feel (as opposed to a collection of tunes), but in this case, the compilation is so well done that it could become its own album. So in a way very Moulin way, he actually sampled his albums to make a new. Will that circle finally be broken? Not likely ;-) !!! And we would hate Moulin to stop being himself!!!

The lenghty Stomp is a little too repetitive, but still a great moment, but it does have an end-of-era feel, while N W, also rather lenghty is a real reflective moment, the brassy funky Dag Madam is great change of pace, the closing S U S is again delving in Moulin's search for new electronic sounds (here almost a sonar), Plotselling being the main attraction the first side of the vinyl with its lenghty Rhodes lines (a little Ratledge- sounding here) while the winds induce a great added tension even if a drum solo comes in to ruin it a bit. Bosso is a Novo (I know;-) so typical of years to come.

Although Placebo will only disband at the end of 76, this will be their last album, and by giving an attentive ear to it (they do seem a little short of ideas), it seems that they stopped before making one more album, that would've been "l'album de trop". Luckily they did not!! However , before their eventual demise , Marc Moulin had put out a "solo group" effort called SAM SUFFY which is quite astounding, adventurous, eclectic and the perfect expression of what he wanted to do: expand from an octet to a trio: Grandiose!!!

He then will go on for an extensive and then extended career including a political and very satirical press-writing twist, an acid-jazz career, production of Cos and Philip Catherine albums and fronting electro-pop outfit Telex (ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons's preferred band) etc..

Balek starts out with a then-revolutionary loop dominating the background and the group just surfs throughout the track's 4 min while Moulin switches from Moogs to Rhodes and back, great stuff. Only Nineteen is another track where Moulin shows us his savoir-faire and here the horn section plays the faire-valoir. Phalene (recorded live) is a rather lenghty piece (a relative 8 min) that takes great pride in being slowly developing itself, content on following Rottier's great drumming and the brass clearly influenced by Nucleus's Ian Carr. Temse is also the occasion for Moulin to extend his electronic KBs to the max, while remaining at the service of the song - un très grand monsieur - meanwhile the funky horns and no less enthralling rhythm section just take you to hell and back. Polk is another sizzling funky jazz-rock track induced by a great guitar, which makes you love every second of its short life.

Maybe their better albums and certainly the most even, this gatefold album (the debut was too) is one of those seminal albums for the Belgian jazz scene, and it is rather hard to understand how and why it never got a Cd release (outside the compilation) because this album was much sampled for acid-jazz and techno.