Ice Ice Baby!! Chansons Des Meres Froides-Hector Zazou-This Is A Voyage--

Cold As Ice, you know...

This is a fitting album for Winter and us Northern Hemispherians. Songs from the Cold Seas, a concept album by the late French producer Hector Zazou is an album I like to listen to when I need to mellow out a bit and relax. Zazou created an album with vocalists and updated musical styles from the Northern areas of our planet. Most of the singers are female, though not exclusively so. Canada, Norway, England, Wales, Scotland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, and America are represented here, and additionally the Sami people who inhabit the northerly parts of Scandinavia, the Yakut of Siberia, and the Ainu people of Hokkaido.

Though the singers are at the forefront of all the recordings, the reason I return to this album again and again is because of Zazou. There is something truly amazing about the sonic timbre of this album. There is a crisp and pristine clarity to the recordings that fits in line with the Northern theme. The music makes my ears tingle.

With Laughing Face and Gleaming Hands

The arrangements are also traditional but often with unusual injections of instrumentations. And the whole concept is unusual--plus it must have cost a mint to record this. I have to salute the company that gave this project the green light. As much as I enjoy a good pop hook, or a mile a minute punk raveup, I also enjoy hearing unique and unusual recordings like this.

Of course, a further attraction are the great artists who collaborated with Zazou on this project. From Finland we have the stellar vocal quartet Vartiina. On Annukka Sunren Neito I feel like I am being transported back to some ritual from 500 years ago. Bjork is Iceland's representative, and she trades off with a clarinet on a religious theme with Visur Vatnsenda-rosu. Excellent. John Cale and Suzanne Cale duet on The Long Voyage a song whose lyrics are based upon the poem Silhouettes by Oscar Wilde. Actually one of the more lighthearted moments on this album. The bass clarinet riff gives a certain levity to the proceedings.



There are a lot of interesting moments on this album. One of the most notable is Adventures In The Scandinavian Skin Trade which is a hip hop take on a Sami joik (chant) which uses traditional instrumentation like mouth harps and Siberian Tambours. The Yakut Song has amazing plaintive ululating vocals by Lioudmila Khandi. Another highlight is the Scottish segment Oran Na Maighdean Mhara, with Scottish pipes and the powerful vocals of Catherine-Ann MacPhee. The Inuit Song of The Water with its raspy breathy rhythmic vocals is another mind blower that closes the album on a high note.

Also included here are Siouxie (The Lighthouse), Lena Willemark (Havet Stomar), and Tokiko Kato (Yaisa Maneena). Though the albums journey takes us across the entire northern globe and multiple continents, the theme holds together well, and blends traditional with the modern. The only complaint I could have is the sameness of tempo on the album and that you could argue that some of the music has a mystical "Riverdance" aspect to it. I think that a lot of this was not accidental, and I don't really want to quibble about an album not being other than what it was meant to be. Overall, I find Songs From The Cold Seas to be a pretty standout and highly artistic work. I can only imagine how difficult this must have been to put this project together. And he pulled it off. There are spiritual and naturalistic elements to these recordings that put this a cut above and beyond your average musical endeavor.

Dogs Different Me---Further Evidence The French Can Rock--

Considering that they have been our staunch allies for generations, a lot of Americans talk crap about France.
In the run up to the Gulf War part deux, things got very out of control here in America. In those tense times I was often afraid to put on my beret and striped shirt when I drove to a local shopping mall. I would in most cases go back inside and change into my lucky Stars & Stripes jumpsuit. Thankfully those days have passed and things seem much more cordial under the Democrats.

Instead of Freedom Fries, we can now refer to French Fries as pommes frites de liberte. Recently a law was finally passed making assault of a mime a hate crime. And as I'm sure you've heard, the Snail McNuggets are back again at McDonalds, but for only for a limited time. Jerry Lewis has been finally been released from Guantanamo prison. Most importantly, that probe NASA was going to send to determine if there was in fact rock and roll in Gaul has been scuttled. Because anyone who has listened to The Dogs excellent punk album Different Me knows the real score. My fellow Americans, a few listens to this cool record and you will soon be eating smelly cheese yourself and surrendering to the charms of these 21 punk rock gems.

The Dogs were from Rouen, and featured the dramatic heavily French accented vocals of Dominique LaBoubee. Hugues Urvoy de Portazamparc played Bass, and Michel Gross was on drums. They played a spiky but melodic style of punk, sounding like an updated Velvet Underground, but also playing in the style of the New York Dolls, Ramones, Clash, even Pink Flag era Wire. They clearly also have a love for classic 50's rock n roll. It's sort of hypocritical to think that we make fun of France for not being able to have great rock music, but this super album was never released domestically much less promoted. If people can't hear this, it turns that old canard into a self fulfilling prophecy.



From the very beginning of the first song, Different Me, you know you are in for treat. Dominique was a very charismatic performer with his own unique style. Different Me is to me like a French version of the Saints Classic Stranded. He's got that chip on his shoulder like Chris Bailey. Gotta Tell Her is in the same vein. I'm thinking back right now to when I first listened to this album. I bought it on word of mouth and because I figured that if I didn't I probably would have to pay a lot of cash to get it. I am happy to say I was not disappointed, and shortly therein I was grinning from ear to ear. They must have been a terror on stage. I regret not ever seeing them perform, but I only found out about them a few years ago.



And I've missed out on a lot. I have three of their albums now--the other ones I would have to get awfully lucky to find. But this album is particularly special. More From You is another classic tune nestled in a bed of classic snotty punk. Other great songs on this are Words, Lonesome Hearts, Fortune Teller, and Terminal State. Of the additional track you have No Way, 19, Charlie Was A Good Boy, Here Comes My Baby and Go Where You Want To Go.

My only regret about this album is no lyric sheet. I have a lot of difficulty understanding what he is saying. But I do understand the intensity. As a bonus the CD reissue of this album includes 8 songs from prior singles and Eps. These songs have a real live in the studio quality and in general have a rougher punkier feel. But this album is a winner throughout. Unfortunately Dominique passed away tragically in 2002 at the premature age of 45 while on tour in the US. But he left behind some great music. If you like the bands I mentioned above you will be absolutely delighted by The Dogs. This album has aged well, like a good Bordeaux. I give Different Me 3 Michelin stars as a classic punk rock delicacy.