from Art Zoyd - Faust (1995)

 

After their days of chamber-prog to watch cities burn down to the ground to (so you might want to keep those records handy these days), Art Zoyd progressively (or 'regressively', to be precise) stopped letting their music speak for itself (which it did before, with remarkable dramatic acuity, without any need for captions or visual aids) and began sidelining it to a supporting role, as mere accompaniment to grander productions - the sort that can bring a vaster audience your way, perhaps with no specific interest in your music (so, really, why bother continuing to work at it as much), but with a sure taste for 'events', the bigger the better. 

This soundtrack to Murnau's Faust (1926), designed to be performed live accompanying screenings of the film, is one example of that. Make no mistake, I would attend that venue; not only since any excuse to re-watch the film on the big screen would always do, but because Murnau's masterpiece would surely have no trouble in carrying the music along (rather than the other way round), and lend it some of the life, imagination, and pathos it lacks. 

In itself, though, this is a typical product from Art Zoyd's multimedia days (at least their subsequent modern classical days could be a bit more challenging): minor key atmospheres that go nowhere, failing to stand on their own without a silent movie being projected in the background, or a light show to distract you from the absence of musical colours other than synthesizer grey. 

Yet, as the Zoyds themselves could still occasionally prove, even according it a functional, subordinate role, the music really needn't be so stale. "Gates of Darkness 2", for instance, still manages to pick up on that Zoydian state of emergency vibe, with their trademark rumbling bass lines ushering panicked masses to the catacombs. 

Obviously, even that doesn't bring anything new to the table, but when what you're offered going forward is essentially defined by the absence of what was once there, it's inevitable to appreciate more whatever remnants of a crumbling past we can still get.

from Brute Force (1970)

The overstated reference to guitar mayhem master Sonny Sharrock having sat with this band, called "Brute Force", for a record with the same title, bearing that 'we mean business' photo on the cover, may understandably have jumbled a lot of people's expectations (mine included). Adding to that confusion, while he is credited only on the first three numbers, some Sharrock-like shredding is also to be heard across a few others, and no other guitar player is identified as part of the crew. 

So, what should be made clear first of all, going into this, is that it is in no way a real Sharrock-joint: even if he adds some of his trademark tremolo cacophony to part of the proceedings, at no point is that the dominant vibe. Quite to the contrary, the first half of the record is mostly devoted to some soul-jazz-funk numbers whose righteousness seems to have dispensed with more superfluous musical considerations other than carrying the message across, and whose ability to musically rough up any listener, Sharrock-style, is fairly remote. 

That being said, things do start looking up on the flip side: the more free-flowing energy of "Monster" and "Ye-le-wa" I can certainly dig; but, for me, the most pleasant surprise the record had to offer was possibly its only moment of "Doubt", whose flute-swept winds (permeated by some (short) circular-breathing-sounding figures that remind me of the incredible shower of locusts Evan Parker would unleash all over Scott Walker's Track Six; high praise for that) close the album suggesting that, ultimately, against the very statement of existence for the band and album alike, these guys could actually have been more adept at the inspirational than the confrontational - and that, contrary to our action-packed imaginary of how social justice gets done, should hardly be seen as a lesser role for any freedom fighter to take on. As so many will possibly be re-learning in these days of renewed civil unrest, taking to the streets to fight against "the man" (making his triumphant comeback) is bound to only get you halfway there, if you can't also give everyone something to fight for.