French Blues Vocal In English
I have just come across this fine French blues album –
though you wouldn’t know it’s French – performed by Lucien Zabuski who used to
be the vocalist for Magma, though I think he left before their first release. Not
sure; still learning.
For the vocal think Edgar Broughton and you’d have a perfect
reference point for the sound in its growl and emotion. The songs are basically
a rock blues with some soulful singing, but also generic rather than original –
not that this matters at all because that is what you should expect and want if
listening to this: and Zabu’s vocal is superb in that style already noted.
Track five Silent
Angel is a delightful exception, a jazz number enlivened by the saxophone
playing and Zabu’s more expressive vocal, here sounding like Roger Chapman. The
French band is excellent [and if you want the full cast list, check it out
here], but it is the sax soloing that plays wonderfully off the voice, though I’m
not sure if the lead is Teddy Lasry or Yochk’o Seffer [and there is a Laurent
Grangier who plays too], and I like the guitar work woven amongst the saxophone,
presumably played by Dominique Frideloux.
Sixth Subversion Blues
is another song sticking its head above the rest, a gothic/horror riff [you
just recognise it, don’t you?] and the manic shrieks and ringing bell add a
further sense of menace – a song that really must be used is any one of the
zombie films/series so popular at the moment: The Waking Dead meets Zabu.
The album closes on a punk amalgam of country and rock, Yellow Girl, the opening bluegrass
fiddle disappearing as a sound as quickly as it has started. What a tease.
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