This bizarre double album recorded live in France in front of a wildly receptive audience features nine long tracks — three of them previously released on the French Rock in Opposition quartet's 2008 album L'Echelle du Desir and six from 2011's Demon Hardi. Newcomers will find Jack Dupon, named after a fictional character, abrasive and off-putting. But RIO fans will delight in this crazy-ass 110-minute performance captured in October 2011 full of imbalanced but jaw-dropping musical arrangements, phlegmy vocals and utter whimsy. It's easy to hear why Jack Dupon has garnered comparisons to Frank Zappa and Gong. (Other listeners include King Crimson on that short list, but I don't hear it.)
A description on Wikipedia states: "The band's music is created in a 'scientific-empirical' way, based on themes, using counter-melodies and polyrhythms performed by one or several of the musicians, and with total improvisations during live performances or recorded and reworked in the studio."
Of all the tracks here, the highlight has the longest title and the longest running time: "La secte des mouches, le sacre de la reine, mille millions de mouches molles," which clocks in at a whopping 31:36. The stunning instrumental work serves as a perfect introduction to Jack Dupon's eccentric sound and may even make me want to play Bascule a Vif again.
Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1) Intropression
2) Le chateau de l'elephant
3) La marmite du Pygmee
4) Jeudi poisson
5) Le labyrinthe du cochon
6) La cousine du grand Mongol
Disc 2:
1) La secte des mouches, le sacre de la reine, mille millions de mouches molles
2) Cravate sauvage
3) Oppression, depression, les valeurs du cool
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