X-LEGGED SALLY

If the question is "Which Avant band had the best run during the nineties?" X-LEGGED SALLY is no doubt in that conversation. From Belgium they released five studio albums plus a live one during that decade, and all are high end recordings. I regret not grabbing them all back in the day, but managed to pick this one up from 1996, and the previous one "Eggs And Ashes" from 1994. A rather large band of seven with three horn players including leader and main composer Peter Vermeersch. I prefer "Eggs And Ashes" to this one, but it's a matter of taste.

They've gone further down that "explicit lyrics" road here, but this band has always been about humour, and Zappa is their influence both instrumentally and lyrically. Although I did think of those crazy Swedes SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA with the blasting horns and high energy sounds. They actually expanded to an eight piece here, adding a vocalist who would be on "Fired" their live album released the same year as this one, but he won't be on their final 1997 recording. Interesting though that they added a string quartet for that final one.

A lot of short tracks here with 18 of them over 58 plus minutes. We have some guest chapman stick on the song "Hair". And that is actually my favourite song on here for that funny intro and those vocals that are full of character. I also really like "Fes II" for those deep rhythmic sounds, and it's quite powerful. Least favourite is "Skip XXI" and I have skipped this one. The conversation is not my thing on this one. Reminds me of Canadian Sue Johanson, an older lady who was a sex educator up here and on the radio. One of the many somewhat famous people I met when I owned my own business. Funny lady. Just not my kind of humour.

Avant fans need to hear this band, and the cool thing is that you can't go wrong with any of their six recordings. A solid 4 stars.

X-LEGGED SALLY had a pretty good run in the nineties with five studio albums and some live stuff. This is a seven piece band out of Belgium with three horn players and the usual instruments. We do get vocals and plenty of humour. I just have this 1994 release and the followup "The Land Of The Giant Dwarfs" from 1995. We get over 58 minutes of music here and nine tracks, with the closer being a monstrous 17 plus minutes. The music is taken from three different projects they had worked on previous from '91, '93 and '94. Songs from these performances were compiled here with incredible results.

The only name I recognized was Jean-Luc Plouvier who is guesting on keys for one track, but was part of this band for their first two studio albums. Jean-Luc previously played on UNIVERS ZERO's "Ceux Du Dehors" and "Uzed" albums in the 80's. And speaking of guests, we get plenty with a total of nine adding keys, violin, trombone, bass, sax, guitar, trumpet and two vocalists. And the guest guitarist is Michel Delory who also played on UNIVERS ZERO's "Uzed" record. As far as the main band goes, I'm so into the rhythm section. That upfront bass plus a drummer who brings it in spades.

I really have fallen for this one despite the horns being played in a style I'm not that into, as in blasting away much of the time. And that opener stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. Sounds like a German "Oom pa pa" song with vocals. So lame, but that's the point, as it starts to deconstruct towards the end. Nice. The second track "Laut Und Leise" features some raw and abrasive guitar, and I like the heaviness with that rhythm section. Some ripping guitar later on "Midwave" but before that it's all about the horns and it gets quite avant too. "Hate Song" is crazy to start, love the drumming. It turns experimental after 2 minutes.

"Turkish Bath" is catchy with huge bass lines and dissonant horns. Twisted stuff. "Sparadrap" is about the multiple sounds meshed together, quite punchy as well. "Mask" that 17 plus minute closer has it's moments but it's not all gravy. Still, a great way to end the album. It was fun re-acquainting myself with this one over the previous week. Another winner from Belgium!

If Fired was an album marked by a Frank Zappa stamp, Bereft of a Blissful Union could be one testifying of the musical depth and ambition of the band. Conceived for choreography and worked in collaboration with The British Smith string quartet, it clearly shows that there is no musical place where Sally can't cross its legs; contemporary classical (many tracks knit on measure for the Smith Quartet, deploying all their ability, a piece written by Schubert), jazz in various forms (here, the 24 minutes long track two is a killer; several stylistic bits are taken out of their time context and mixed together, like for example dixieland clarinets wailing on top of syncopated jazz-rock rhythmic lines, half tribal drumming giving place to 19th century classical dance hall music, cabaret jazz meets free, Latin percussions dance with strings, sampled New Orleans banjo pave the way to a howling sax in an orgy of rhythms, Broadway against Afro, etc... a true and genial melting pot!), music for thrillers (appearing quickly somewhere like a survolted ghost) and more yet! Changes happen at lightning speed and your brain comes to stock tons of brief information, until some classical pieces are brought in as release to the tensions. Nothing's left to hazard, everything is tightly conceived and programmed, despites the feeling of chaos and panic. Vermeersch in a nutshell!

So this is the swan song of X-Legged Sally! The last time we can realize how good the Vermeersch-Vervloesem association was. Sally would later be sent to a Flat Earth Society without Pierre and both men would each in their corner keep writing great music! Fired is a live recording and on several points a reminder of how close to Zappa's universe the music was; first, the radio program broadcasting the concert was called Cucamonga; secondly, the orchestral mass smells like many instrumental Zappa recordings, same thinking about dynamics and harmonies; third, there is even time for a tribute with the integration of the tune "City of Tiny Lites". But where Zappa's music favours a groovy flow (even complex ones), X-Legged Sallly really shines out in digging in depth intricate broken cross- rhythms, angular melodic lines and subtle humoristic twists (where Zappa's musical humour is more a cream pie straight on your face, like in silent movies). X-Legged Sally is full of resources and not all albums are that much Zappaesque; Fired is maybe THE album closest to Zappa's music; it is also an incredible energetic album played at full speed and giving you all for your money! So bye and long live X-Legged Sally!

This is an excellent album. I own this and Killed by Charity. This is the better of the two by far IMO. The whole album has a live feel (no pun). From the first track i knew this was a band i wanted to see live. Their presence was felt, and their music was great. They have their horn melodies that are pretty much flawless. Unison parts played with ease. This album was an excellent one. From Zippo Raid to F%&# and Coffee, Xls is sure to please any avant garde fan. a must have.

As the title of this record, this might just be the album of excess, both artistically and in term of virtuosity. This unit always made a point of good musicianship and usually make a point of putting humour in their records, but here, outside the album title, I must say that this is not quite as enjoyable as the rest of their discography.

Vermeersch compositions are definitely a tad too obtuse for the average fan even if the habitual lunacy is still there it is more of a demented nature rather than fun. There are times (during the Break Too track most notably) when Monderlaer's singing is not too far from Crimson's Adrian Belew circa the Discipline album, and Vervloesem's guitar resembles the one in the same album's Elephant Talk. The second last track It's A Baby is the highlight of the album mostly because it is more accessible.

Not that this album, is not a typical X-L S album, far from it, but it is simply a bit off balance compared to previous Slow-Up or the following Land Of The Giant Dwarfs. Still highly impressive, but one gets the feeling that impressing you was their main idea on this album. They should've worried a bit more of the musical enjoyment a tad more. Maybe they just tried too hard to make a good record. They will be more successful by being more natural.

This album is mostly music accumulated from different projects (three apparently) that X-L S participated in. As most of the Belgian chamber prog groups have, they often were linked to multi-phase artistic projects and this made them fairly widely known in Belgium, even if this did not really helped them making a breakthrough. In this case, we deal with tracks that were written for short films of friend Wim Vandekeybus dating from 91 (Immer Das Selbe Gelogen), 93 (Her Body Doesn't fit her Soul) and 94(mountains made Of Barking). Needless to say that hardly none ever saw these movies outside of the opening screening events.

This mixing of the tracks outside their sequences and sometimes away from other tracks of the movies they belong to is somewhat a strange manner, but I programmed my deck to play the tracks as they were chronologically were recorded, there was not much difference. One thing for sure is that none of those tracks sticks out like a sore thumb, as could be feared with a such perilous gamble, and actually the whole ensemble of them make a very good album, maybe their better after Giant Dwarfs. If you heard the other X-L S albums, you will be categorically enthused by this one as it is right up their normal usual style, completely nuts, insanely crazy and absolutely impressive both in inventivity and virtuosity. Again, many parallels can be found in Quebecois groups like Miriodor, Interference Sardines and Rouge Ciel but also Swedish groups like a weird cross of Qoph, Von Zamla and Ensemble Nimbus, Finns such as Hoyry Koyne , Uzva and Alamaailman Vasarat or fellow Belgians Cro-Magnon,

Opening track sung in German (as are a lot of the tracks here) and close to German Cabaret music mixed insanely with almost acoustic hardcore punk is quite a stunner, while its follow-up is a cross of Talking Heads meeting Miriodor. Midwave is the first real highlight (but what is a highlight in such a bright album anyway) and its superb groove enthralling you to oblivion until the track fades out in total chaos, awaiting for its slow death until the bass is re-awakening from stupor and bringing right back into hell. Bigots beware, these guys are musically evil!!!! Vade Retro Deus!! In the dark ages these guys would've been purified on a bonfire for using so many crazy scales, notes and dissonance. Turkish Bath has evident eastern influences, Sparadrap being maybe the low point on the album for being a little too demonstrative and I am afraid it is at the track's expense. The closer Mask with its 17 min+ is a bellyful of peppers but much worth the successful digestion for future musical orgasms. Sounds intriguing? I certainly hope so!!!!

Even though this is maybe not an album per se since it is a compilation of three different sessions, the resulting object is pretty successful as an entity and is an excellent if not a textbook case of the typical album you might find in the RIO/Avant-prog section of the Archives.

4,5 stars really!!!!

How to talk fittingly of the craziest album X-L S ever made? With their fourth album (fifth if you count the shared album of 91), X-L S reached their pinnacle (and IMHO, this is one of the top ten records to have come out of Belgium) and they will never find out how to top this album. Already, the bar was set rather high with the previous Eggs And Ashes, but here another level was easily reached. Can you imagine Miriodor and Interference Sardines with twice as many musos and allowed to sing whenever they wish (which is not often, but always dutifully chosen at appropriate moments) and constantly aim towards Zappa humour and songwriting? If yes, you must be completely insane and might just be ready for such a flabbergasting album.

Whether the concept of this album is a concept or not, you will be confronted by the main character's, Yesbody, adventures and some rather hilarious sexual education bits (such as inciting women to take up ownership of their clitoris ;-)o) along with fabulous musical landscapes that pushes back Capt Beefheart to his crib and sees eye-to-eye Monsieur Zappa. From the very first burping sounds leading into some familiar national anthem, to the very last notes of the jazzy outro - which is actually the intro of Yesbody's exploits-, we are facing an incredible journey that knows no bound in sanity or any other artistic/musical means. Can you think of someone crazy enough to write a track called Mono Dolby? X-L S does it!!! Although we are clearly in the rock domain and although you can feel these guys are jazz musos that have been classically trained, the whole album is clearly a GAS from start to finish.

Need I say more as a mean of closing remarks???

I think not!!!!!!!!!!!

This album is the music developed for a ballet or choreographed modern dance, written for the most part by leader Vermeersch but recorded with the help of British String Smith Quartet. Again, if you know this crazy Sally, you will know you are in for a gigantic roller-coaster ride, and in this case I believe the live shows must've been worth the price of the entrance to the hall, since it appears that part of the dancing happened under water and without breathing apparatus.

The album is book-ended by two classical pieces (the closing one being particularly interesting), but clearly the show's centrepiece is the 24 min Brungle, that comes complete with complete madness, a superb horn arrangements, exciting strings and wild drumming: stupendous. The other major track is the 10 min+ Birdcage starting out as a wild but controlled modern classical music. Another climax is the only sung track Out Of The Pit. Der doppelganger is a rearrangement of a Schubert piece.

This album is the last one to have come out under the X-L S name, but this is a fantastic exit for an extraordinary group. Very worthy and yet another superb chamber prog album.

Released as a musical testament, this recording dates from April 20th, 96 (the Cactusclub in Bruges) and is an incredible witness of the live power of the group. This was recorded for a live Radio Een Programme Cucamonga broadcast, which explains the excellent sound quality and the seriously faded out public applauses.

Still with an absurd humour (look at the sleeve upside down, it makes much more sense), the group goes through their whole career with an amazing five tracks from their debut album (if you count the Charo Calvo collab) and even have time for a fitting Zappa tribute with the superb City Of Tiny Lites sung out by Mondelaers (his voice although not that memorable is sometimes all too rare). The other highlight being the Nullo problemo, a slow blues-up improv with an infectious groove. However the original eponymous track XLS I feel was much more interesting in its studio version, even if completely different on this record.

A fitting farewell from one of the craziest band around, even if the tracks selection is a bit odd, IMHO.