|
Reviews |
Monsieur Pantin / Cock and Bull Band |
Folk on Tap 25th Anniversary issue 100
MONSIEUR PANTIN "Ma Rosalie"
Dance & Drones Records D&D 204 CD (57:42)
Dance & Drone Records, 171 High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AP
The Cock & Bull Band were always ahead of the field in the dance band stakes -just track down their magnificent "Encore Du Vin(gt)" album for further proof. Now, five years on, Jean Pierre Rasle, Paul Martin and Steve Cobham have reformed as Monsieur Pantin. Their unique blend of folk, Baroque and jazz-rock is as potent as ever and this impressive CD takes us through their kaleidoscopic world. I love it. It?s alive and rocking, and the sort of experience that every musician and listener should be subjected to once in a while. It?s a breathtaking example of a diverse stylistic range being a virtue.
Rasle's strength throughout his career has been his insistence on moving on, to explore, assimilate and incorporate all sorts of influences into the music he so passionately loves. Quite simply, this is one of the best dance records I have ever witnessed!
GW
www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviews.
The Latest Album and Gig Reviews - April 2004
Monsieur Pantin Ma Rosalie (Dance & Drones)
When I heard that Monsieur Pantin were a three-piece band using guitar, mandocello, assorted bagpipes, woodwind and occasional vocal, I thought I had an idea of what to expect. I imagined great jangling chords, nifty twanging riffs, subtle trills and soulful pipe tunes, all interwoven into a melodic instrumental feast. What I didn't expect was such utter originality and such an astounding range of tonalities, rhythms and feels.
I really can't begin to guess where these guys get the many influences that permeate their original compositions. What I do know is that listening to this album is like being transported to beautiful far-off lands, one after another, each one more intriguing than the last, and all to a soundtrack which abounds in beauty, passion and imagination. One minute you're in a bustling mosque, the next you are in the middle of a dance floor at a Turkish knees-up or a Russian wedding. Then you're scouring somewhere over mountains in a country I can't even get close to naming.
If you like instrumental music that speaks to you in languages you don't fully understand, that takes you places you never dreamt you'd see and invokes emotions that you can't quite identify, then you'll love Monsieur Pantin's debut album Ma Rosalie. And even if you don't like any of that, I still defy you to feel unmoved by this album or to listen to it for more than 2 minutes without feeling compelled to jig about in your seat.
Steve White
www.netrhythms
fRoots Magazine December 2004
MONSIEUR PANTIN Ma Rosalie
Dance & Drones D&D 204
A record of French dance tunes from that great centre of French culture: Milton Keynes! As you might expect, this is Jean-Pierre Rasle and he is in the company of long-term associate, Paul Martin -they played together on that seminal 1980 Cock & Bull Band album- and guitarist Steve Cobham. All three still play with Cock & Bull and add the fact that Jean-Pierre also plays with Jah Wobble; this outfit is probably something of a sideline.
Most of the tunes here are Rasle compositions and played on the bagpipe and various woodwind, but the rest of the band have more fhan an accompanying role; Paul's mandocello has a beautiful tone and he teases some wonderfully inventive sounds from it. There are also some tunes written by the other two, as well as three traditional items, all songs. These came as something of a surprise as Jean-Pierre has always been thought of as something of a reluctant singer. In fact he has a very compelling voice, with the title track with its gentle swinging rhythm being the pick of a fine bunch.
info@monsieurpantin.co.uk
Vic Smith
www.frootsmag.com
New website: www.monsieurpantin.co.uk |
|
folkingabout.blogspot.com |
Monsieur Pantin at Chester Folk Festival - 30th May 2005 review
Tucked away in the corner of Kelsall's Social Club on the last night of a 4 day festival, by which time many people had gone home, was the livliest little band I'd seen all weekend. Three men sat on chairs, with the middle chair apparantly surrounded on 3 sides by a pile of cushions and recorders: Paul Martin, left and his Mandocello, Steve Cobham, right on Acoustic Guitar and Jean-Pierre Rasle, centre woodwind, bagpipes and vocals.
While the 2 strings players were clearly enjoying themselves, Mr Rasle was having a whale of a time - he switched instruments often - though not effortlessly, there seemed to be several occasions when the bagpipes were due on but weren't quite fully inflated - and he sang his heart out (in French), often piping with both his legs bouncing up and down, managing almost all of the time to miss the microphone with the drones. This was exciting stuff, Gaellic sounding tunes with energetic backing from the strings, the instrumentals becoming almost folk-trance at times.
The songs were perhaps slightly less pleasing, maybe because being in French I couldn't follow the lyrics, despite having had the story explained in advance, but Jean-Pierre has a fine and distinctive voice and he sings with the same passion as that with which he plays.
I was pleased that the little tingle that had struck me when I read the advance information about this band proved to be a portend of good things to come, and the CD which I purchased right after the performance is nonetheless exciting either.
The Living Tradition Review
THE COCK & BULL BAND "Encore Du Vingt" Mrs Casey Records MCRCD9993
Perhaps one of the mysteries of the folk scene is that Cock and Bull have been going for twenty years - this is an anniversary recording - without becoming one of the major players. Possibly an absence of songs accounts for it. Certainly they have never followed up those unusual pastoral songs, from both English and French traditions, that they used to perform all those years ago. There's a little bit of singing here: a chorus-and-dance set in the Breton style. "M'y Faites Pas L'Amour" and a contemporary song, "Voyage" that shouts "Gabriel Yacoub" at your before you even look at the credits. Mostly, though, this is driving dance music lead by the distinctive pipes of Jean-Pierre Rasle. There are some seemingly new influences, from reggae and world music, stitched seamlessly into the normal blast of Cock and Bull good time. They've also be listening to people like the Afro-Celt Sound System. The record company instruction: "File under Folk/Roots/Jazz/World" really says it all. There's nearly seventy minutes of it, as well. I recommend a long period of training before you start idiot-dancing around the living-room to this: And you will.
Bob Harragan
|
|
Palladian Ensemble |
Winner of the French 'Diapason d'Or'
LES SAISONS AMUSANTES - VIVALDI/CHEDEVILLE LINN CKD 070
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-82) "ingeniously adapted Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to create a new seasonal cycle of six concertos. They are arranged from various movements of the original but only 'Spring' is used in its entirety. 'Summer' is omitted completely and the outer movements of 'Autumn' embrace the central largo from 'Winter'. The remaining material is borrowed from other concertos and simplified, with solo parts arranged for violin, recorder, the wheezing hurdy-gurdy and the musette (a variety of bagpipe). The inventiveness of this delightful novelty should appeal to anyone overexposed to to the standard Four Seasons. The Palladian Ensemble are Pamela Thorby (recorders), Rodolfo Richter (violin), Susanne Heinrich (viola da gamba) and William Carter (archlute, theorbo, guitar), with guest musicians Richard Egarr (harpsichord, organ), Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy) and Jean-Pierre Rasle (baroque musette). This acclaimed period-instrument group's sparkling performance on this recording is irresistible. The Palladian Ensemble and their guests make the most of their opportunities with verve, virtuosity and varied instrumental colour" -
Gramophone. |
|
 |
|
Bellows pipes
Cantiga de Santa Maria |
|
|
