PARDON OUR FRENCH

FRENCH TV, a very underrated american band. Quite odd since they provide the more 'bearable' kind of RIO/Avant prog mixed with some jazz/fusion elements. Furthermore their style also includes a lot of classical prog elements besides obvious influences of Zappa shining through every now and then; something that makes them stand out from other RIO bands. Something I have to give credit for is that they respectively take the positive aspects of every genre and leave out the chlichés, what remains is pure vitality and delight in playing.

In 2004 main composer Mike Sary brought up the big guns again, Pardon our French advanced to one of my favorite albums of it's genre. True to the motto Everything works in Mexico the first song mixes spanish/mexican rythms and melodies with stunning violin solos and Sary's overwhelming bass work. After a mellow break with some quite piano runs the sharp violin and keyboard appear again, leading over to a spanish acoustic guitar part accompanied by the violin. Sekala Dan Niskala offers asian rythms and melodies in the first half, turns rather melancholic, but not for long, it actually turns to a pretty weird song. Fripp like guitar and hand-clapping in the end, nice. Now it is time for something special. With their Pardon Our French Medley FRENCH TV created an own composition by covering some french prog bands. CARPE DIEM, ATOLL, PULSAR, ETRON FOU LELOUBAN, ANGE & SHYLOCK (I don't know all of them) are the ones to suffer for a great, independent appearing longtrack. Mike Sary really contrives to wrap those tunes up to the typical FRENCH TV sound. Anyway, this track is definitely more classical prog than RIO. Tears of a Velvet Clown abducts us to an amusement park, flute, trompet and tuba, blitheful melodies...now accordion & marimba, welcome to the circus...then applause & laughter in the background and the roller coaster ride begins. Very humorous before the music is about to change to a rather melancholic prevailing mood. Comparing the first half of the song to it's second may give an account of the song title. A weird song with an odd atmosphere, but definitely my favorite song on this album. When the Ruff Tuff Creampufss Take Over, unfortunately the last song, features a great, very deep bassline in the beginning. Altogether very slow in tempo but definitely not less in it's looniness and humor. Some improvised jazz parts are adumbrated but they are bridled and never really break out. Instead, the song gets wilder in the end and Mike Sary really pushes the envelope regarding his bass playing. A mind-blowing finish.

FRENCH TV proved again that they're a band to reckon on. If you're not familiar with RIO/Avant Prog, or have poor relations to the genre you should check out this album. It can perfectly introduce you to the genre and simultaneously be very revealing. It's engrained in the genre but mingles it with various other influences. The band takes each impact with a pinch of salt and adds a lot of humor, disguised and obvious. It may also meet with the approval of Zappa fans. But for all that I still think that Pardon our French definitely is an excellent addition to ANY prog music collection.

Strongly recommended !!!

3.5 stars. FRENCH TV are from Kentucky and have been around releasing albums since the mid eighties. An avant band with the focus on humour, these guys are a lot of fun led by bass player Mike Sary. A four piece here but three of them are multi-instrumentalists plus we get six guests adding instruments, plus a couple of vocalists helping out. The guitarist adds a lot here with mandolin, banjo, cello, viola and electric violin. The violin sounds so much better than the hick playing on that more popular mid-western band. Sophisticated here, country sounding there. No comparison. The keyboardist by the way adds horns.

It's hard unfortunately not to compare any FRENCH TV album with their "Violence Of Amateurs" from 1999. Their high water mark by far. Still, there's so much that I like here but hit and miss overall, mostly hit hence the 3.5 stars. An hour of music and only five tracks but there's that 17 minute suite where they cover eight different songs by French bands. A lot of respect for this from yours truly. I mean bands like ANGE, SHYLOCK, ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN, ATOLL, PULSAR and CARPE DIAM get the FRENCH TV makeover. This is called "The Pardon Our French medley.

There's a lot of variety on this recording, in fact the opener sounds like a Spanish or Mexican song called "Everything Works In Mexico" yes the humour is all over this record. The closer is my favourite because they seem to be more adventerous on this one with more depth. If your into avant music with humour, than this is a band for you. Not as good as say CHEER-ACCIDENT who play in a similar style, but I'll leave that up to you.