Marc Moulin - Placebo Sessions 71-74

Belgian keyboardist and synthesizer pioneer Marc Moulin initially started out playing jazz in the sixties, then, inspired by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock on one hand and british prog-rock such as The Soft Machine on the other, moved on to fusion. He founded the band called Placebo (certainly not to be mixed up with the brit-rock group from 1990s) and the group recorded and released three albums. During his tenure with Placebo, Moulin got his hands on an early Minimoog and thus began his pursuit of electronic idiom. As could be expected, the music is heavy on layered keyboards like electric piano, clavinet and analog synthesizers. Not only that, but there are great horn arrangements as well. They use trumpets, saxophones, but also bass clarinet and flutes. Sometimes they even add electronic effects on the horns as well, as possibly inspired by electric Miles Davis bands, but also referring to the experimentation of Frank Zappa and Soft Machine. Even if Marc Moulin himself doesn't look back on the band too fondly, being dissatisfied with sound and perhaps even performance on the band as well as considering Placebo's music a bit too derivative of other well known prog-jazz outfits; there's one thing that can't be denied about this band: they really grooved! Backing the layered arrangements and instrumentation was a solid, funky rhythm section. At the very least, Placebo pulled off a convincing amalgam of progressive jazz-rock orchestrations and funk's rhythmic drive. Pieces like "Aria", "Planes", "Showbiz Suite" and "Only Nineteen" are mind blowing compositions showcasing their musicianship quite well, whereas pieces like "Balek" point to futuristic side of the band with its gurgly synth sounds. This album sounds so ahead of the time you'd think Jaga Jazzist has taken a few cues from Placebo and Marc Moulin. Curious factoid: Francis Weyer, later to be known as easy listening acoustic guitarist Francis Goya played with Placebo as well. If that's him doing the guitar parts on pieces like "N.W", "SUS" and "Bosso" (that one's got a really solid guitar solo), then it's surprising to learn that one of the biggest muzak hacks once had considerable credibility. The music is mostly instrumental, save for one vocal cut "Inner City Blues", which one can take or leave, depending on his opinion of the voice singing (which is apparently uncredited). At the very least it has a nice laid back feel with piano, bass, hi-hat percussion and ethereal flutes. While not all tracks are equally memorable, this underrated gem is an excellent addition to seventies electric jazz/fusion or even funk music collections.