We're actually getting close now to the end of our trip through 1969, with only two albums remaining to be reviewed. With that in mind, and given that there are still three “oddball” albums to be looked into, make sure you're not wearing your Sunday best and come with me as we scale the bricks and spend some more time
These albums are proving to be a mixture of eclectic material just on the fringes of prog rock and ones that are completely outside it, yet still linked to it in a very tenuous way. This one I have no idea about, but it looks interesting and Wiki thought it eligible for its list, so who am I to argue?
Catherine Ribeiro is a French experimental and avant-garde vocalist, who performed with Patrice Moullet on this first album, whereafter she changed partners (musically speaking) and, I'm told, this was the pattern for every album she recorded after that; she also changed the name of the band to Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes. Given the quip I made about the title of this one, I don't know if that was the reason, but it does sound damn funny. Give Ribeiro her due though; she has so far recorded about thirty albums, and even in her seventies is still recording now, with her last release in 2006. Impressive.
Album title: Catherine Ribeiro + 2Bis
Artiste: Catherine Ribeiro
Nationality: French
Label: Disques Festival
Year: 1969
Previous Experience of this Artiste: Zero
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Tracklisting: Lumière Écarlate /Sœur De Race /Les Fées Carabosse /Voyage 1/La Solitude/ Un Sourire, un rier, des Éclats/Le Crime De L'Enfant Dieu/Le Point Qui Scintille
Comments: Nice acoustic guitar then her voice is pretty out-there, shaking and howling then dropping down to a gentler register but still sounding pretty raw. It's all in French of course so I have no idea what she's singing about but she certainly seems to be singing with passion. Reminds me a little of that mad wan that Batty tried on me in the Torture Chamber, singing about diseases or something. Can't recall her name. Scary bitch. The next one is purely acoustic, and a lot more easy on the ear, almost pastoral. I could see this being labelled as a sort of prog rock track, sure. It's called “Sœur De Race” which I think might mean “saviour of the race” or something, while the next one is on what sounds like classical or Spanish guitar and hops along at a faster pace. It's quite interesting how Catherine dominates every song; even though the guitar is obviously driving the tune here, she's seldom absent and comes to the forefront every time. Powerful personality indeed. Goes a bit mad at the end, almost like providing human feedback. Intense!
Sounds like our man Patrice might be trying to grab some spotlight for himself here, with a big dirty riff opening this, and then what sounds like violin and some very cool congas. This may very well be an instrumental. Yeah, it kind of is, though Catherine throws a few sharp barking laughs and moans in along the way. That man is something else on that violin. This is excellent. “La Solitude” starts out very gentle and relaxed, then burst into something of a diatribe, accompanied by a fast classical guitar (maybe Spanish; classical is mentioned in the track listing so I'm going with that). Great vocal, very emotional. Almost a Beefheartesque hard guitar in “ Un Sourire, un rier, des Éclats”, quite choppy and also sounds like this may be a live track, though surely that's unlikely on your debut album? Well, maybe. Another good guitar intro, more rocky at first this time for “Le crime de l'enfant Dieu” with rather a lot of laughing for such a serious title, then we end on “Le point qui scintille”, good fast Spanish guitar (or classical) and a sort of playful vocal from Catherine.
Favourite track(s): Sœur De Race, Les Fées Carabosse, Voyage 1
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: Decent stuff; probably would appreciate it more if I could understand the lyrics, but not a bad album. Wouldn't be mad about it though.
Personal Rating: 