(French progressive fusion) Transit Express - Priglacit (2001, Piano Bass Music PBME 03) 1975, France - 1975, FLAC (tracks+.cue)

Transit Express biography
This group started as a back up of one of the most secretive but highly regarded singer of La Chanson Francaise, Yves Simon, but soon decided to form their own career in parallel to their monetary occupations. The standard prog quartet was lead by keyboardist Perathoner and they recorded in Herouville their first album, Priglacit, in 75 and released it through Y Simon's label RCA Balance and they developed a good jazz-rock that's somewhere between MAHAVISHNU and BRAND X. They were joined by US violinist David Rose for their second album the aptly titled Opus Progressif. By the time of their third album's release Couleurs Naturelles in 77, their jazz-rock had veered more PONTY-esque (understandably so with the violin), but sadly this was to be their last (but excellent) album.

All three albums were released on the French RCA label and all three albums have been re-issued in the CD format on the Piano Bass Music Label under Perathoner's supervision. Perathoner also released later a solo album, which features its author solo on piano, but played as guest on many projects and albums. David Rose went on to Catherine RIBEIRO & ALPES.

During one of the timeout in Yves Simon's schedule, his backing band profited from the spare time to record their first album. Indeed this was quite quick (6 days in mid-May at Studio Davout), because they had had time to prepare it, and where even playing their own numbers at soundchecks of the singer's tours. The standard prog quartet developed an excellent jazz-rock that was rivalling the classic-driven Mahavishnu Orchestra, where the songwriting was fairly evenly spread out between the four accomplished musicians, although I wouldn't call them seasoned veterans. On a Spanish scale, you could place them between Fusioon's first two albums and Iceberg's jazzier opus like Coses Nostres.

The artwork might induce you to think the group is very percussive, but the sound is very much balanced. 14 relatively short tracks (max 3'40") that meddle into one giant number. In some ways, you'd guess that the tracks written by drummer Bouvier are more rhythmic, but then once they morph into bassist Guselli- written ditties, they don't necessarily become funky. As the short tracks keep speeding by, the listener is never bored, because they (tracks) are all very different and never repeat themselves. Their jazz-rock is still fairly academic, but complex, melodious and subtle finesse.

An excellent but short debut album that did not go unnoticed in the French jazz scene, Priglacit (no idea as to what the title means) is probably the best introduction to Transit Express' music, but you can't go wrong by choosing anyone of their three opus. And when this is the case, it's best to start chronologically.

Review:

Rather than review these three releases separately, I figured I'd accomplish the
same feat combining them. For those who have never heard of Transit Express,
they were a French progressive fusion band from the mid-1970's, whose music has
just been released on CD. Combining the styles of Mahavishnu Orchestra and
Return to Forever, two of the 70's most influential fusion bands, Transit
Express added a heavy French vibe as well to their complex yet jazzy sound.

Priglacit was the debut, and from the opening gong blast you are headed into
complex fusion territory that recalls vintage Mahavishnu. At this point in time
the band had yet to add violinist David Rose, so while the song structures
recall what Mahavishnu was doing at the time, the solo trade-offs between
guitarist Christian Leroux and keyboard player Serge Perathoner will instantly
remind you of the classic duels of Al DiMeola and Chick Corea of Return to
Forever. David Rose joined the fray for the classic second album, Opus
Progressif. While the band still kept their fusion leanings, there is a much
more proggy nature felt, perhaps with Yes, and Gentle Giant being popular at the
time it rubbed off a bit on the band. Rose makes his presence felt on the two-
part classic title track, a blistering song that shows the violinist had the
chops of peers Jean Luc Ponty or Jerry Goodman. The third album, Couleurs
Naturelles, is probably the most melodic and atmospheric of the three. Featuring
standout tracks like "Visit to the Manor" and "Beyond the Mirror", this was the
first album to really feature all five members working together as a unit for an
entire recording. Unfortunately it was also to be their last.Still, it is a
pleasure to listen to the melodic violin of Rose soaring above the complex
guitar lines of Lerous, with Peranthoner laying down funky Fender Rhodes
electric piano notes. The rhythm section of Dominique Bouvier on drums and Jean
Claude Guselli on bass is simply stupendous, and keep things locked in quite
nicely. Considering the complex nature of the songs on these three CD's, that
would have been a difficult task for mere mortals, but these two musicians were
up for it, and accomplished the feat with flying colors.

While you can't go wrong with either three here, they are all highly recommended
and best enjoyed as a trio. In addition, the David Rose solo album has also been
released by PBM as well, and is a perfect companion to these three CD's. It's a
shame Transit Express never got the recognition they deserved as a true pioneer
of 70's progressive fusion. While the similarities to the above mentioned two
fusion giants are obvious, this band still created some gorgeous and inventive
music. Along side other little known bands like Arti y Mistieri and Iceberg,
Transit Express can now be enjoyed by all thanks to the medium of CD.

EAC extraction logfile from 27. September 2007, 18:42 for CD
Transit Express / Priglacit

Used drive : _NEC DVD_RW ND-3540A Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : F:\Tools\DOS\audio\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
320 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Installed external ASPI interface

Track 1
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Track 8
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Track 11
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Track 12
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Track 13
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Track 14
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