Posts tagged French TV

(Review from frenchtvonline.com)

The eighth French TV album, “Pardon Our French” twitches, squirts, squeaks, flows, soars, marches, stomps, cranks, hovers, trips, uses sonic commas, semi-colons, ellipses, does ballet and the Snoopy dance, goes to the circus and west but not least, bewilders. All in ways the faithful will love and virgin ears listening for something unusual might well appreciate.

The marching band opening and ensuing circus themes in “Tears of a Velvet Clown” offers a dose of that unique French TV instrumental humor, while opener “Everything Works in Mexico” clobbers the listener with a dazzling array of changes and some nice Spanish guitar and violin work by Smith. “Sekala Dan Niskala” is a musical romp through west and east Asia; they cover it all with riq, tabla, dumbek, violin, rebab, flutes, sampled gamelon, and many other instruments. “Ruff Tuff Creampuff’s Take Over” is a raging barn-burner where intense keyboard, sax, and guitar lines weave around each other while the intricate bass and drum work keep everything afloat.

The near 17 minute ‘Pardon Our French Medley’ is a wonderfully accessible and powerful instrumental amalgam of tracks by such French legends as Ange, Atoll, Carpe Diem, Shylock, Pulsar & Etron Fou, here all put into one giant musical melting pot with some scorching electric guitar work throughout, allied to solid rhythms from that department and seriously flowing playing from the arsenal of synths and keys, providing a truly breathtaking fusion of jazz-rock and prog-rock that keeps the mix of melodic prog and dramatic jazz-rock within suitably structured confines and delivers a blend of synths-guitars dominated music that ranges from the atmospheric to the downright explosive, every member of the band playing a vital role as the medley rolls by.

French TV knows how to take a sonic melange, a veritable quilt of abstraction, harness its nefarious energy centers, and imbue it with distinct identity and sense of direction.

Line-up:
- Mike Sary / bass
- Warren Dale / keyboards, brass, woodwinds, vibes
- Chris Smith / guitars, banjo, electric violin
- Jeff Gard / drums
with
- Steven Dale / brass (1,4)
- Stephanie Dale / piccolo (4)
- Will Stewart / trumpet (4)
- Pam Thomson / brass (4)
- Richard Steiger / percussion (2)
- Natalie Gilbert / vocals (3)
- Denise Gilbert / recitative (3)
- Howie Gano / string ensemble (3)

Track List:
01. Everything Works In Mexico – 11:55
02. Sekala Dan Niskala – 6:19
03. The ‘Pardon Our French’ Medley – 16:58
04. Tears Of A Velvet Clown – 13:17
05. When The Ruff Tuff Creampuffs Take Over – 11:40

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(Review from frenchtvonline.com)

French TV is a band you can count on. Now with six albums under their belt, any new French TV album is always a load of fun and great playing. A fairly consistent band membership throughout the 90s, with the core of Sary, Zigoris, Robinson and Douglas contributes to the cohesive whole, with other members contributing on several tunes.

The album kicks in with “The Kokonino Stomp”, a dance suited for epileptics with diarrhea. This track is all over the place: the craziest stomping rhythm, constantly changing, and an angular melody line that is actually catchy. “The Secret Life of Walter Riddle” is even worse (or better) with its hilarious marching intro and strong surfbeat inclinations. Held together by a mood coming from old detective series, this piece is a sound orgy going from swing to circus music to cartoon music.

“The Odessa Steps Sequence” gives the listener a pause while bringing us back to a more straightforward progressive. A rendition of Volare’s track (featuring their drummer Brain Donohoe), this one transcends the original recording and pushes this tune one step further.

“Mail Order Quarks” starts like a fusion ballade but quickly turns into a fusion-esque Hawkwind drive or something like that. “Tiger Tea” takes a dive into calypso music, for 90 seconds or so, and then takes a progressive left turn, the first of a long series of strange mutations.

The album closes with a 22 minute monster rendition of the Zamla Mammaz Manna’s “Joosan Lost/The Fate”, a wonderful juxtaposition of symphonic melodies and all out improv noise with a lullaby like intro.

Line-up:
- Mike Sary / bass, percussion
- Dean Zigoris / guitar, keyboards, vocal, percussion, synth guitar, noise, analog synthesizer
- Bob Douglas / drums (1,5)
- Greg Acker / flute, sax, Hawaiian nose flute, percussion (1,3-5)
- John Encifer / keyboards
- Eugene Chadbourne / banjo
- John Robinson / keyboards, ’1/4″ jack noise’ (1,3,5,6)
- Brian Donohue / drums (2,3,6)
- Steve Good / saxes, clarinets (2)
- Chris Vincent / drums, vocal, percussion & “Popsicles” (4)
- Cathy Moeller / violin (4)
- Kirk Davis / vocal, percussion, “unbridled enthusiasm” (4)

Track List:
01. The Kokonino Stomp – 4:40
02. The Secret Life of Walter Riddle – 8:13
03. The Odessa Steps Sequence – 8:41
04. Mail Order Quarks – 10:26
05. Tiger Tea – 12:15
06. Joosan Lost-The Fate – 21:40

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(Review from gepr.net)

After a second and more lengthy silence, French TV re-surfaced in 1994 with their third album Virtue in Futility. It contains tracks “recorded sporadically” between July 1987 and October 1990. Diverse yet cohesive, most of the seven songs are supported on foundations of strong, engaging compositions built by talented musicians.

Often, one song will tread across many different styles. For example, “Clanghonktweet” opens with violin, piano and bass in classical rigidity, overlaid with a fusion-esque rhythm, later followed by a somewhat melancholy wind- synth solo, bound together in a matrix of proggy synth. After the wind-synth solo, the band jumps into a groove ala Jean-Luc Ponty.

“The Family That Oonts Together, Groonts Together” works through tight twisting riffs characteristic of Zappa’s excellent fusion work. “I’m Whining For That Baby of Mine” sounds like an improvisational blow across Henry Cow and Soft Machine fields. “Empate”, after a “contemporary” trumpet solo, plows headlong into an oncoming train of progressive fusion.

“Friends in High Places” is Sary’s political statement. A mash of tapes extracted from the Iran-Contra hearings, infused with synth and drum machines, the song portrays Sary’s anger with the covert deal gone awry.

Sary, no slouch on the bass, has coupled himself with a superb and tasteful drummer- the two make a powerhouse rhythm section to propel the music through the many surprising hairpin turns.

Line-up:
- Mike Sary / bass (1-5, 7), tapes (6)
- Fenner Castner / drums (1-5 & 7)
- Paul Nevitt / keyboards (1-3)
- Dean Zigoris / guitars (1)
- Artie Bratton / guitars (2-5, 7)
- Reid Jahn / WX7 Wind Synth (2), saxophone (4, 7)
- Gretchen Wilcox / violin (2)
- Jon Encifer / piano (2)
- Bruce Krohmer / saxophone, clarinet (3, 5)
- Richard Brooner / trumpet (3, 5)
- Howie Gano / Scream (3), spastic keyboard solo (5), keyboards (6), drum machine (6)
- Bob Ramsey / keyboards (5, 7)

Track List:
01. Hey! Real Executives Jump From The 50th Floor – 6:05
02. Clanghonktweet – 6:42
03. The Family That Oonts Together, Groonts Together – 7:45
04. I’m Whining For That Funky Baby Of Mine – 6:23
05. Empat’ – 7:55
06. Friends In High Places – 8:06
07. Slowly I Turn … Step By Step … Inch By Inch – 12:16

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(Review from progressor.net, progressiveworld.net, proggnosis.net, progarchives.com)

Led by bassist Mike Sary, Louisville based US progressive band French TV was formed in 1983. French TV’s music is simple and complicated … All the band’s other issues contain moving moments; a hybrid of Canterbury, RIO, Fusion, and Insanity, not to mention random little snippets of other styles.

The band’s selftitled debut album contains nine excellent instrumentals, full of original, truly innovative musical ideas.

While spacey, brassy keys open the album on “The Visit Revisited” – defying convention, this track actually comes first rather than last — it is chunky bass rhythms, scattershot keys, and eddying guitars that are featured on “Happy Armies Fight In Their Sleep” — proving that French TV’s own brand of humour is evident from the get go. Despite the dark humour of the title, the whole piece is upbeat and bright, where those bass rhythms are very martial.

“Under Heaven There is Great Disorder”, being undoubtedly one of the best tracks here with its brilliant arrangements in general and killing sax solos in particular, is also a prototype of the principal stylistic ‘base’ of the music of French TV in the 1990s.

Rippling keys open “Spill”, while sparse bass thrums in the background. Slowly rising to the top, bass takes the lead, before percussion and keys swell back to the surface … those rippling keys become pulsating, like the sound effects for a UFO in a 50′s sci-fi flick. Each instrument fades in and out of the mix, leaving one or the other in the lead … before the tempo picks up to a rockier rhythm, punctuated by extremely shrill keyboards — so high pitched, don’t be surprised if your furry best friend and his doggy pals at stand attention.

“Dreams Of Peace” is another seemingly uncharacteristic track from the band, where the sound is more instrumental Supersister, being mainly Rhodes and drums. Lively at the outset, at times it truly becomes dreamy, where spacey synths create a peaceful eddy. “No Charge (A Free Improv)” sounds very much the contrary as the band are so in sync that you can’t help but think this should have been composed. Cohesive and tight for the most part, there are only a few sections where things seem a little unraveled – and characteristic French TV.

Parts of “Earth, I Wait” features some harsh, angular piano along with lyrical phrases. There are parts where Roberts verily attacks his keyboards — arty and avant-garde at the same time, this might be described as the classical composer losing his mind. And yet, it also speaks very much with the voice of a violent earth — volcanoes erupting, earthquakes shaking the crust, wildfires raging through dense forests, pummeling winds ripping structures apart. It is chaotic to be sure … and yet, a tour de force for Roberts, the soundpainting done up in angry reds, oranges and sinister blacks.

“The Visit” itself is energetic. Sary’s bass here is quite funky, deep boomy as it plays off with the vibes in a fevered duel. The calming piano which closes the album is in quite a contrast, not only to the rest of the track that precedes it, but also to anything else on the album, being the closest to classical than anything Roberts does on here.

Line-up:
- Mike Sary / bass
- Stephen Roberts / Roland juno 60, Roland jx3p, Fender Rhodes, piano, trumpet, vibes, drums (9)
- Artie Bratton / acoustic & electric guitars
- Fenner Castner / drums & percussion
- Jeff Jones / sax (3)
- Jon Weiner / cello (8)

Track List:
01. The Visit Revisited – 0:59
02. Happy Armies Fight In Their Sleep – 3:48
03. Under Heaven There Is Great Disorder (And The Situation Is Excellent – 3:31
04. The Artist’s House – 3:21
05. Spill – 10:44
06. Dreams Of Peace – 4:13
07. No Charge – 5:12
08. Earth, I Wait – 7:47
09. The Visit – 5:52

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