(Jazz Rock/Fusion/Canterbury) Noetra - Definitivement bleus - 1982/2000, FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Noetra biography:
Masterminded in the mid 70's by guitarist/composer Jean Lapouge, this all-instrumental French band mixes rock, jazz and chamber music while never completely going into any one style. Inspired by the Canterbury movement of the day, they used STRAVINSKY and DEBUSSY as their influences and sprinkled them with subtle touches of rock and jazz (HATFIELD AND THE NORTH, SOFT MACHINE, WEATHER REPORT, OREGON, EBERHARD WEBER). Failing to strike up a deal with ECM, however, they didn't release any albums and ended up dissolving in the mid-80s. In the early 90's, however, Musea gathered material that had been recorded between 1979 and 1981 and released two quality NOETRA CD's plus a solo album by Lapouge ("Hauts Plateaux").

(www.progarchives.com)

NOËTRA´s second album offers this time a collection of songs recorded between Winter ´78 and May ´82, and is mainly a testament of this partiuclar band, project of Jean Lapouge, guitarist and composer. The general sound of the record is a kind of chamber jazz rock with some hints of Canterbury, but not in a dark or aggressive way, because it is a kind record, a bit quiet sometimes, but that keeps ytour attention during all the listening. The album starts with "Mésopotamie", a very kind intro, with some spacey keyboards on it linking to "Qui est-il Qui Parle Ainsi?", intermediate section of this trilogy, playing very nice soft jazz (reminding me of CAMEL or HAPPY THE MANN), leading to "Reprise Mésopotamie", the main theme, closing this first section.
"Agréments Parfaitement Bleus (III)" is a very interesting piece, starting with light winds growing throughout the song and leading to a kind of chamber jazz crescendo, very interesting, reminding FRENCH TV. "Agréments Parfaitment Bleus (epilogue)" is mainly a string driven coda for the song.
Great point of interest of the whole record "Alpha de Centaure" is a very melodic canterburian piece, with great guitar playing by Lapouge that makes one think about HATFIELD AND THE NORTH. Also remarkable is the ending of the song because of the interlinks between violin and the wind section. "Venise" comes next as a kind of counterpoint, beacause this song is very MAGMA sometimes, starting with very zeuhlish strings which, after a guitar driven interlude, leads to a final crescendo, with great distorted bass by Denis Lefranc.

"Transparences" starts with a very sweet and folky intro that evolves into a guitar fusion development that ends in a chamber work, nothing stressful but quite warm. Another of the points of interest of the whole record, together with the next song, "Tintamarre". It has a kind of chamberistic intro, very zappaesque, but also AFTER CRYING (era "6" and "Show") comes to mind, that finally blasts into a canterburian groove reminding GILGAMESH or VOLARE, after a break it turns more jazzy, reminding MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, excellent piece and one of the best of the album. Superb.

After such a great amount of intensity, the relax comes with "Ephémère (a M.C.)", a very slow, almost atmospheric piece, quite different from the rest of the album, although the turn about minute 8 develops in a superb violin driven final, reminding ZAO. We are very close to the end of the record. "Forfanterie" sounds a bit folky, even medieval sometimes, before an almost free jazzy section with that personal chamber touch of the band breaks that pastoral atmosphere. Not bad, but not outstanding. The final song of the record is "Printemps Noir (final)". It starts with an obscure chamber intro with harmonium followed by a drum solo linking the final section.

It will be of interest for those who like the less radical side of Canterbury and R.I.O. or who love jazz fusion sounds, in this case blended with rock and chamber works.
(www.progarchives.com)

This is the second CD from Noetra recorded during the period of 1979-1982. From the interesting liner notes it appears Noetra worked hard to strike up a deal and interest, even getting as far as a meeting with ECM head honcho Manfred Eicher, which proved fruitless in the end. A sad tale indeed, but thanks to Musea we have two quality CD’s from this excellent ‘Chamber Jazz’ band.
Knowing the band’s history it’s easy to see why they approached ECM, as the sound here is very reminiscent of Oregon and Eberhard Weber. I also hear bits of Paul Winter at his ‘Jazziest’, and of course elements of National Health and Soft Machine. This is wonderful stuff, and in hindsight it hard to imagine these guys did not move on to bigger things.
(www.proggnosis.com)

- Jean Lapouge / guitar
- Denis Lefranc / bass
- Daniel Renault / drums & percussion, violin
- Pierre Aubert / violoncello
- Francis Michaud / flutes
- Christian Paboeuf / woodwinds and piccolo
- Pascal Leberre / saxophones and clarinet