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Mandarine (Vinyl)
Long awaited vinyl reissue of this rather obscure and quite rare French jazz rock release from 1978. The French fusion scene was booming then and this fit right in place. Instrumentation throws in the kitchen sink: violin, two guitars, keyboards, sax(s), bass clarinette, bass and drums. It takes on shades of Canterbury in spots. Good stuff!
"While nothing annoys me more than slick jazz-rock "by the numbers", French sextet Ex Vitae (from Limoges) were anything but. Although the album was recorded in 1978, you can tell that the band's aesthetics were informed by the early 1970's French underground of bands like Komintern and Moving Gelatine Plates, or the Futura roster of bands (the more musical end of it, ie : Travelling). And don't let the amateurish looking home-cooked artwork mislead you into thinking that this might sound scrawny and famelic, as the production is booming.
Three long tracks and a shorter one, all of them very different from each other and exploring a different facet of their sound. "Vice-Versa" has to be my favorite moment here, and is the proverbial immediate, storming opener that instantly sucks you in.. then the 16 min. long "Saxophonie" features some free sax playing (as ashratom pointed out), but it does also include several diversions into other territory as well (more musical or more atmospheric), "Gavarnie" features some brilliant guitar playing that reminds me of Can's Michael Karoli's work and is nicely hypnotic, and the title-track has, among other things, some very Magma-like chanting at one point.. As you can see, it's quite broad in style, but a certain Ex Vitae identity emerges throughout the album, which is consistently interesting and varied, and instantly likable." - Rate Your Music