Best French Fusion LP: Francis Moze - Naissance (FRA, 1982)

So here's a record from Tom's cd reissue wishlist.
On the back: "This record is dedicated to my mother, to my wife, to my son, special thanks to Herbie Hancock."
Thus [tracks titled] Jocelyn would be his mom, Sophia his wife presumably, "Naissance" refers to the son (whose picture is on the guitar?).  I love the fact it could almost be a concept album since both birth and death appear here.

First of all I'll let Tom speak


"Following on from the Major Surgery post (4 days later, but such is my life), we have another fine record submitted by The AC - this time in the fusion category. Francis Moze is one of many ex-Magma alumni to have pursued a short career in the fusion field. Perhaps the most overt of these attempts was the collaboration of Lockwood, Top, Vander & Widemann, and their 1981 album so subtlety entitled "Fusion". It's not overly surprising, given that Magma were at heart a jazz group right from the beginning. However by the time of "Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh", the band had become so creative, it spawned an entire music movement that still survives today: Zeuhl.

Moze was a veteran of the early Magma lineups, and later turned up on a couple of the more fusion oriented Gong ensembles. Thus his one sole album flew under the radar, unlike his bass playing brethren such as Paganotti and Top.

The AC says: "Obscure fusion album by this former Magma bassist. At first glance, this would seem to be quite typical of other such early 80s French efforts from the likes of Francis Lockwood, Raymond Winter, etc. That is, light and glossy jazz fusion with not too much in the way of depth. That's not too far from the truth, but as the album goes on it reveals itself to be above average for this style, with some fairly engaging instrumental compositions and a pleasant overall atmosphere. Worth a look for genre fans."

And that's exactly right, the album really gains momentum as it goes. Personally I'm a big fan of the McCoy Tyner styled staccato piano, and Moze's band utilizes this technique to great effect, propelling the music forward at an exciting rate. I'm rather certain our fusion readers will want to hear this one. Very nice record from perhaps a surprising source.  " 


And thereby he gave it a priority 3.   I personally really love this record.   I could listen to it all day, and there are days where I have done just that. The ingenious use of electric keyboards (Andy Emler) throughout is what really impressed me.  There is a bit of the repetitive patterns characteristic of zeuhl but the best thing about this is just the strength of the compositions and the sheer enjoyment value.  Consider the song Sophia.  Starting off with a happy funky fusion vibe, Patrick Gauthier-like on a G suspended basis, note how halfway through the song it completely changes direction and goes to G minor with that gorgeous descending pattern on the electric piano--  subsequently traveling through various nice diatonic modulations before returning to electric piano soloing and closing it out with a really soft finale-- wow!  The change in emotions is stunning.  The feeling you get that he really loved whomever it was he had written this for, is palpable.

I don't think it's a detraction to say this music is so well-written you could see them playing it in your local Starbucks- [yeah fat chance that will ever happen, the people who get music for them are complete ignoramuses].
 

One last remark about Tom and cdrwl-- those who have followed the last few posts there may have made note of the utter admiration with which Tom has expressed his thanks to us here for discovering such utterly unknown gems as Gold - No Class Whatsoever and Rantz.  So thanks to Tom for pointing that out (lol).






Sophia: