CORTEX

A1. "Devil's Dance" (2:30) a great upbeat, piano & guitar-based Disco tune to open the album. Nice! New bassist Nicolas Mirkov and guitarist Philippe Vautin prove their worth from the opening minute. Even though it's short, it could easily (and happily) have been extended as a long jam (with perhaps some saxes or more solo work from Alain or Nicolas). (9.3333/10)

A2. "Funk Around The Punk" (3:18) definitely funk with the whole band--bass, drums, keys, and rhythm guitar--all participating in the wholeness of a 70s funk song. Guitarist Philippe Vautrin does some pretty cool things with his guitar: partly rhythmic, partly lead (small chords and both plucked and strummed strings). Alain Mion is active on several keyboard tracks indicating multiple over dubs. No horns or winds (that I can detect) on this one. Cute and peppy--very much like a BOB JAMES song. (8.875/10)

A3. "Hurluberlu" (5:10) two chord blues-based funk-rock/R&B with a rolling bass line and driving drum beat so that Alain and Philippe can play around on top. Nice, interesting work from Philippe's fuzzy-flanged lead guitar over this awesome cruisin' song. Excellent work from bassist Nicolas Mirkov (who, by the way, is the sole composer credited for this song) as well as from drummer Gandolfi. (9/10)

A4. "Soul" (2:50) three-chord keyboard entry leads into a funky Disco song with cool clavinet, rhythm guitar, and K.C. & The Sunshine Band "Get Down Tonight" lead guitar work, plus saxophone solos in the second half. Actually a pretty cool and creative song! (9/10)

A5. "Datura" (2:30) bass and guitar provide the most important inputs on this song. Though it has two motifs, it is another song that feels simple, one-dimensional, like a warm-up song or étude/practice/audition tune. One of the few songs not totally credited to Alain Mion, the guitar work of Philippe Vautrin is purely rhythm guitar but co-composer Nicolas Mirkov's bass (and sax) are plenty funky. (4.625/5)

B1. "Poxa" (3:25) this one sounds sappy enough to be a cover--like something that would likely end up as elevator music--but when the female background singers enter and start their "la-la-la-la-las" it kind of eliminates it from elevator heaven and renders it more of a soundtrack to some low-budget film. It's not bad--the musicians' performances are all fine--it's just a bit hokey. (8.75/10)

B2. "Mister J." (3:36) funky and perky little composition by drummer Alain Gandolfi that sounds like an American advertizing song. Female background vocalists enter in the second minute intermittently injecting the word some word that sounds perhaps more like "raina" than "régina." (8.875/10)

B3. "Régina" (5:00) the lone composition of guitarist Philippe Vautrin opens with guitar setting the chord progression, key, and pace. Funky bass, straightforward drums, keys, and clavinet "horns" plus real horns join in (the real horns gaining more traction the further into the song we go). (8.875/10)

B4. "Efficace Swing" (2:58) a nice little flute-led dittie that feels unfinished, more like an étude or practice song that never received the attention needed to finish it. Why is there no credit given to the flutist? (8.875/10)

B5. "Oh. Lord" (6:20) I love the etheric female vocalese singing like an angel over the church-like Hammond organ chords throughout the first half of this song. The little Hammond flurries in-between the two rounds of Alice Prévost's vocals is a little corny, but overall it's very cool. And then it ends. There is a rather long pause as if there is a whole new song starting, but I do recognize the same chords/key in the opening Fender Rhodes display. And then the bass, drums, and rhythm guitar-like chord play of Alain's left hand join in and provide a lovely funk-lite love song. (9.5/10)

Total Time: 37:52

The overall impression I have of this album is that it is a collection of interesting and fun ideas that the two Alains and their band mates were using for practice/workout sessions, most of which never really got fully developed or "polished." There are plenty of nice melodies and pleasant funk-lite grooves throughout, just nothing as amazing as the first album.

A-/five stars; though I really would not consider this a true masterpiece of top tier Jazz-Rock Fusion, the album is filled with brilliant, sometimes innovative ideas, excellent performances by all musicians involved and some great earworm- like ditties and hooks--and, of course, a core of silky-smooth funk! I sure miss the dreamy voice of Mireille Dalbray!

A1. "La rue" (4:23) the album's only track credited (partially) to drummer Alain Gandolfi, it opens with some very funky Herbie Hancock-like Fender Rhodes play before the band kicks in with some serious funk (especially from bass player Jean Grevet) as well as Mireille Dalbray's airy wisp of a voice breathing an incredibly playful-sexy vocal (in French). Her vocal is effected (and mutli-tracked) to create an effect that I've heard before--quite commonly--from French song- makers of that era--since they started putting effects on vocals from "yé-yé" artists like Sylvie Vartan, France Gall and Françoise Hardy. Chantale Goya would be the best example that I know of. At 1:12 Mireille stops singing and the electric piano of bandleader Alain Mion takes over (with Jean Grevet's bass right over his shoulder). Great jazz-funk! Alain Gandolfi is right there in the pocket with Alain and Jean. Though they're credited on the album, I hear no additional instrumentation until Alain Labib's sax at the end of the fourth minute--after Mireille has returned to the microphone. (9/10)

A2. "Automne (Colchiques)" (2:35) the album's only song not credited to current band members for composition, it opens with a rapid full-band funk with some interesting dated synth in the lead instrument position behind Mireille's breathy yet precisely timed vocal. Despite its brevity, this is a fully-developed song. Very spunky. Mireille even gets to stretch out and blast out her pipes in the final minute. She's got power! (8.875/10)

A3. "L'enfant samba" (3:00) a kind of BOBBY CALDWELL/EARTH,WIND & FIRE pseudo-samba. Mireille returns to and I can finally hear the presence of Jo Pucheu's percussion and Jean-Claude "Le Boeuf" d'Agostini's rhythm guitar. Finally, Alain Labib's sax gets to shine (if only rather briefly). (8.875/10)

A4. "Troupeau bleu" (5:00) from the opening piano notes of this one you just know that it's something special. And then you get the delivery of an excellent even heart-wrenching multi-facetedd vocal from Mireille--backed to great effect during the chorus sections by Alain Labib's reverberated sax. Now this feels like a bossa nova. Plus, it's a very nuanced and well-constructed sophisticated song. And then, bonus! we get to hear, in the fourth minute, the first of Mireille's extraordinarily beautiful and acrobatic Northettes-like vocalese as a kind of additional "instrumental" solo. Extraordinary! My favorite song on the album. One of the best songs I've ever heard out of France! (11/10)

A5. "Prelude à 'Go Round'" (3:52) excellent playfulness between Alain's electric piano, Jean's funky bass, and Mireille's wordless vocalese. Mireille's command and effortless creation of melody are so stunning! What skill! What perfection! Not in the same league (or same style) as the amazing Urszula Dudziak, more like Amanda Parsons or Pascale Son. Such a cool song: so simply constructed and populated. And to top it off, Alain Labib gets to play a beautifully-nuanced sax solo in the final minute. Awesome! (9.75/10) A6. "Go Round" (1:20) beautiful solo piano play. Hard to believe that this is the "meat" to the previous song's "prelude." (4.75/5)

B1. "Chanson d'un jour d'hiver" (5:20) some of the most melodically-rich smooth jazz-rock fusion. The piano play alone is worth the entire song but then add the wonderfully filling bass and drums and Mireille's NORTHETTES-like wordless vocalese into the mix and what you have is a kind of heart-wrenching result. Wow! (9.75/10)

B2. "Mary et Jeff" (2:40) feels like a variation on the previous song, only Discofied and without Mireille's presence. The drums and bass don't align very well with Alain's piano--nor do they seem fitting for the song's mood. Alain keeps using these chord progressions on his piano that are so gorgeous that they make my knees want to buckle. (9.125/10)

B3. "Huit octobre 1971" (4:22) opens sounding very, very much like something straight out of HATFIELD AND THE NORTH's studio jams leading up to their debut album, only funked up a little more by the bass and keys. Mireille's wordless vocalese sounds just like the airy angelic voice of Amanda Parsons, but Jean Grevet's in-your-face electric bass and Alain Mion's multiple keys are definitely the stars of this show. There's a little homage to Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness" in Alain's long solo in the third and fourth minute--and then there is an awesome double-time final minute in which Mireille returns and steals the scene. Wow! (9.25/10)

B4. "Sabbat (1ère partie)" (1:00) bouncy clavinet and groovin' bass and drums unveils a HERBIE HANCOCK like funk party. It's happenin'! This then leads into . . . (5/5) B5. "Sabbat (2ème partie)" (3:15) . . . a big bossa nova party scene using crowd noises and everything with lively percussion, Fender Rhodes, really moving bass, and Mireille's mutli-tracked voice delivering some fast moving happy Fender Rhodes-dominated music. Alain Labib's sax solo in the frenetic third minute really scores! Awesome stuff (and I am NOT a sax fan.) (9.25/10) B6. "Sabbat (3ème partie)" (0:26) . . . and then you have the feeling of a big reveal: explosive like an orchestra- embellished motif, but then everything falls into line for . . . (5/5)

B7. "Madbass" (2:50) . . . another Discofied funky Head Hunters-like jam of danceable joy. Sax duplicates the bass line before Alain Mion's funky clavinet-like synth takes the lead. This is the best part: It's very jazz/Herbie-like. (9/10)

Total length: 40:03

Such a great album, consistently top notch jazz-funk with a few touches of Canterbury magic thrown in for great measure.

A/five stars; a certifiable masterpiece of Third Wave Canterbury- and Headhunters-tinged Jazz-Funk--one that currently sits at #3 on my list of All-Time Favorite Third Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion albums. An album that I cannot recommend more highly!