French TV is an American band playing mostly in the RIO/avant-garde style, but in all honestly, it is hard to categorize them with just this term as their music is influenced by so many different things. The only original member left from the group that started out in the early 80s is bass player Mike Sary who always manages to find competent musicians to play with him. This Is What We Do is their 8th studio album and as far as I'm concerned, their best to date.
Seeing as French TV is one of the most original and prolific American bands, it is hard to account for their lack of recognition, both in America and everywhere else. Mike Sary even gave up looking for a label to sign them and instead opted for releasing their albums on his own label.
The album starts with a song with a typically (for French TV) abstract title with music that fits the abstract moniker perfectly. There are many changes of pace and different moods, from meditative to furious and quirky. This piece exhibits everything that's great about French TV. They are able to incorporate so many emotions and styles into just one composition. The next piece fits that bill as well. Ska Face starts with a ska beat, but it soon transforms into a typical French TV frenzy. The album continues with My Little Cicada, where we hear some eerie Crimson-like mellotron passages and Henry Cow reed and wind work. The transitions between these parts is again effortless and later on in the composition we hear some fine violin playing by Chris Smith and some amazing Hammond and guitar parts as well. Look at the Bears reminds me in parts of Happy the Man, in other parts of ELP or Henry Cow. This is another composition with great energy and it's no wonder that it's one of their concert favourites. For the end of the album, they saved another corker with an unusual title. It starts off as a great fusion workout, then goes through several steadier moods, but always returns to the original level of enthusiasm.
French TV draw from so many musical wells that their music sometimes seems like a collage of different genres and influences. However, this collage seems completely normal and the music flows without any disruptions. Usually, bands find it difficult to master so many genres and switch between them, but with French TV it seems easy. Sometimes, you may hear straight-out jazz-rock, sometimes ska, sometimes symphonic rock in the ELP style, on occasion you may even hear Eastern and Mexican music influences, while at other times they sound very experimental. I hear many influences from other musicians in their music - Zappa, Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow, Samla Mammas Manna, Happy the Man, Van der Graaf Generator... - but I think that they mainly strive to create music with its own character.
The playing and the sound on the album is beyond reproach. The band leader, Mike Sary, is a monster bass player. He may sometimes get lost in the sea of keyboards and reeds and winds, but when you do hear him, he is always precise and intriguing. Warren Dale is perhaps the most noticeable musician here, with his array of keyboards and reeds and winds. He knows how to create atmospheres and also play lightning fast on the synth and Hammond. Chris Smith is a sublime guitarist who continues in the Robert Fripp tradition of reserved yet totally controlled playing. He also contributes some hugely important violin parts. The final piece of the puzzle is drummer Jeff Gard, who is very solid at what he does. There are also some guest musicians on the album, most notably Paolo Botta (Yugen), who also plays with French TV when they tour Europe.
I think it's impossible for French TV to record a bad album. They simply have such a great feel for balancing the good melodies and the experimental passages. It is hard to choose just one favourite French TV album, but if I was forced into it, I would have to say that This Is What We Do is my personal favourite. I don't really know why, it just seems that they got all the ingredients right for this one. French TV just keep getting better, so I eagerly await their next release
Tracklist: Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously (10:19), Ska Face (8:24), My Little Cicada (11:48), Look at The Bears! Look At The Bears! Look At The Bears! (8:10), Theme From ESPN X Treme Cobalt Blue 4x4 Bathroom Tile Installation Games (13:01)
This is the first review on DPRP for Kentucky based outfit French TV, but This Is What We Do is their 9th release! Admittedly, their skewed take on Canterbury style fusion (with more than a nod to Frank Zappa’s large ensemble jazz group work), is far away from the song-based Neo of DPRP favoured bands like Marillion, Arena, IQ etc or the ProgMetal of Dream Theater, Riverside, Ayreon et al, but their genuinely progressive, if slightly crazy, approach to instrumental music surely deserves a place on the site.
Lead by bassist Mike Sary through various incarnations (the one featured on this CD has already dissolved), French TV are still producing challenging, provoking but entertaining music 23 years after their inception.
With all the tracks lasting between 8 and 13 minutes, each one has plenty of room to explore many different musical avenues, with many an odd juxtaposition of styles, and numerous twists and turns, constantly surprising the listener. (They even flirt with Ska rhythms on Ska Face). This can make it quite difficult for one to get a firm handle on the tunes but certainly prevents boredom from setting in.
A glance at the titles will reveal a humorous slant, similar to Canterbury bands like Hatfield And The North and National Health, and indeed the music also shows strong influences from those bands too. With a varied musical palette featuring violins, screeching saxes, winds, mallets, guitars (often surprisingly hard rocking), and masses of quirky keyboards all underpinned by Sary’s dynamic and inventive bass and all-over–the-kit drumming by Jeff Gard, there should be something here for even the most jaded of tastes.
My favourite pieces are the Zappa-esque opener, and the Dippy Look At The Bears… but really each of the tunes has it’s moments. I can’t say that any of the tracks are entirely successful and there is so much going on that it is difficult to remember much once the CD has finished, but each time I return too it I find myself delighting at some new flourish or phrase that I had not noticed before. Not for everyone, this CD will offer many rewarding listens to the patient Canterbury / Fusion aficionado.
Conclusion: 7 out of 10
http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200639.php#frenchtv
Prolusion. "This is What We Do" is the ninth proGduction by FRENCH TV, which (as every Prog lover should know like their ABC!) 'broadcasts' from the USA. The history of this fantastically innovative group begins in 1981; their debut took place in 1984, and since 1994 they, thankfully, release one CD in two years on average. If you are curious to read the other French TV-related reviews on this site or at least to see my rating on each of the band's albums, please click here.
Analysis. French TV is back with nothing else but the Fifth Element of the first water in their bag. In other words, it's extremely innovative music, which avoids any precise definitions, and particularly those originating from classic progressive genres. Although the tendency to constantly change their primordially original style was always typical of this band, "What They Do" this time out does not remind me of anything they've done before or anything else in general. Can you remember how bizarre The Gates of Delirium from Yes's "Relayer" sounded when you heard it the first time? Does this frantic epic still sound both fresh and unusual to you? And, knowing all this, do you really find it to be the work of classic symphonic Art-Rock? Well if so, you will most likely perceive "This is What We Do" much in the same way, despite the fact that no parallels can be drawn on the field that true freethinkers work on, i.e. between the cited examples in our case. Trust me, there is neither snobbery nor dirty trick in these my discrepant assertions, and it was I myself to whom I've addressed all the above questions and their daughterly contradictions first. Many years passed until I realized that The Gates of Delirium is woven throughout not only of symphonic fabrics, but features elements of many progressive genres: from Art-Rock and Jazz-Fusion to Prog-Metal and even RIO-like forms, even though the former seem to be prevalent. There is a similar picture on the general stylistic level, much of the music arousing vivid associations with the gold vintage sound of the '70s and, at the same time, having a wonderful futuristic sense. The violin and various woodwinds however, impart a certain chamber sense to FTV-9, while the brass instruments make the Jazz-Fusion component more distinct in places, particularly in the middle of each of the first two compositions, Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously and Ska Face, both, unlike the other tracks, featuring guest trombone players. The centerpiece My Little Cicada is notable for a longish episode with atmospheric violin- and acoustic guitar-laden arrangements, which can relatively be referred to symphonic Space Rock. In the beginning of Look at the Bears the organ somewhat calls to mind a theme from "Pictures at an Exhibition", but not for long, soon giving way to the clarinet and bass exercising new methods in Chamber Rock. On the Theme from ESPN X-treme can be found some Classical-like movements, though it's some exotic stringed instrument (reminds me of Turkish Saz), which probably should be regarded as the main factor discriminating this piece from the others. With the exception of these peculiarities, the compositions have much common ground between themselves, each coming with no thematic sections as such, but consisting exclusively of ever-changing, both highly eclectic and cohesive arrangements. With an average track length of 10+ minutes, there is more than enough time to develop themes and push them through countless twists and turns. Not a second is wasted and no direct nods to the past either! The music is abundant in everything that a profound Prog head can dream of. Best tracks include all five of the tracks present, each showing that there are few bands on the contemporary scene on a par with French TV in their intelligent ability to construct long polymorphous compositions, that would be equally cerebral and fascinating. It's like reading a thrilling sci-fi to listen to what these monsters of Prog do here.
Conclusion. Dear reader, you shouldn't be a mathematician or rocket scientist to comprehend this album. Just give it one listen, and it will grow on you with each successive one. The music just breathes with a living energy, which is always a sign of genuine inspiration. Beginner? At least remember this name, French TV. It will forever be stamped in any yet-to-be written Rock Encyclopedia. Sounds pathetic? I weighed my every word before putting it here.
PROGRESSOR; from VM: May 11, 2006
French TV: This is What We Do
This is What We Do is the 9th release from progressive rock chameleons French TV. The title of the CD itself is pretty indicative, as if to say "well, here it is folks, this is us in a nutshell". For prog fans, that is certainly reason to celebrate. Regular readers of Sea of Tranquility and of course fans of the band should be no strangers to the sound of this Kentucky ensemble, who seamlessly blend influences like Frank Zappa, Happy the Man, Gentle Giant, Univers Zero, The Muffins, Hatfield & the North, King Crimson, and ELP, and come out with this engaging yet complex wonder of sound that calls itself French TV. This latest release continues along the same path, as the band, led by bassist Mike Sary, weaves their way through 5 tracks of complex surprises and adventures.
The cast of French TV this time around is basically the same as on Pardon Our French from 2004, as joining Sary yet again are Chris Smith on guitars & violin, Warren Dale on keyboards, winds, reeds, & mallets, and Jeff Gard on drums. Guests include Paolo Botta, who plays keyboards on one track, Pam Thompson on trombone, and Steven Dale on trumpet. There's a healthy mix of the eclectic (organized mayhem I like to call it) as well as some truly beautiful and breathtaking stuff. The latter is most evident on the humorously titled "Look at the Bears! Look at the Bears! Look at the Bears!", which mixes some lush prog with quirky & intricate Canterbury styled jazz. Featuring some soaring woodwinds, intense fuzz guitar, and symphonic keyboard solos, this one is a real keeper. Not that the rest of the songs don't click as well. The opening "Colorless Ideas Sleep Furiousl" is a proggy delight with wild keyboard arrangements, as the band shows their love for ELP, while "Ska Face" really grooves with some danceable rhythms and Zappa-ish workouts, especially from the guitars and reeds. "My Little Cicada" seems to hit from many levels, jazz one minute, 70's prog the next (listen for the Mellotron washes), to bouncy and bubbly Canterbury based fusion the next. Most importantly, the song has tremendous groove, which is always important. The closing epic "Theme From ESPN X-treme Cobalt Blue 4x4 bathroom Tile Installation Games" is a real fun piece, with plenty of solo spots for all the players, as well as catchy melodies and an overall fun atmosphere to it.
You get the feeling that French TV really like what they do, as there
is just a jovial feeling you get from listening to this CD. That's
really a characterist of the band in general-they are having fun, and
they want the listener to have fun as well. I certainly did, so go out
and grab a copy of This is What We Do and be prepared to be wowed and moved... and enjoy yourself while you are at it.
----SEA OF TRANQUILITY, reviewed by Pete Pardo
FRENCH TV: This Is What We Do (CD on Pretentious Dinosaur Records )
This release from 2005 features 52 minutes of delightful progrock.
French TV is: Chris Smith, Warren Dale, Mike Sary, Jeff Gard, and Paolo Botta.
Highly recommended for those searching for exciting tuneage.
-----SONIC CURIOUSITY.COM
FRENCH TV9: THIS IS WHAT WE DO (2006 Pretentious Dinosaur)
French
TV is a band who, within their
music, spontaneously
combusts at every given opportunity. Over the past seven years of
listening to their music, it's been a hard road for me
travelling with French TV, it eventually paid dividends when their previous
two CD's finally won me over. Whether this was down to their blind
determination to
test my breaking point or it could
of course be that they are so much better or maybe my taste in music has
broadened: the answer I think actually lies within the last two points.
Moving on to this new album, what another surprise! This is another
barnstorming, nerve jangling creation of notes interspersed with,
surprise, surprise, calm moments of sanity which really is chillout
music in a mad kinda jazz rock way. This became apparent right from the
onset where a Rick Ray/Rick Schultz form of progressive/jazz/rock
fusion lay a foundation for the whole album. Thought provoking jazz
rock, yes, who would have thought it? The keys resonate with warm
sounds, there really is structure in this music now. The sax and violin
overlaid with biting guitar is perfectly executed especially on "My
Little Cicada". I have no idea if my previous references to Tull's
"Passion Play" is frowned upon by purists but again I hear it running
through this album especially on "Look At The Bears........". This
track is undoubtedly a mile stone for this band. The same can be said
for "The Theme From ESPN........" which contains everything that is
great about modern day French TV. Swirling sax, flute, hammond organ,
thudding bass, keys and and violin all bring back happy memories of the
great Dutch band Alquin, Solution, maybe ELP and to a lesser extent
early Caravan. The quirkier side of French TV's music is not evident at
all now, thankfully it has become more serious and dare I say deep,
although this quirkiness can still can be found in the song titles that
sound as though they were lifted from some unreleased Caravan album.
The two intervening years between releases has been well worth the wait,
French TV have truly matured into a major force within the jazz
rock genre. With a tour planned for Europe in September 2006 and the outside
chance of a show or two in England this can hopefully bring their music to a
wider and bigger audence. This is the second French TV album in succession
to hit E.P.R.R. album of the year list. No reservation at all, 100%.
---Terry Tucker, EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE ROCK REVIEWS
FRENCH TV 9: THIS IS WHAT WE DO
Kentucky-based French TV has
been beavering away producing quirky, off-beat prog mayhem for a number
of years now, and this release finds the band to be in its finest
oddity. In many ways, they are a traditional prog band, in that they
are highly individualistic and inventive players, just as capable of
doing the simple as they are the complicated. They see no musical
boundaries and so they go for it. The result is a brilliant rambling
mess of RIO, Canterbury, and symphonic prog styles whose gravity will
draw in any other influence or invention it needs. If you haven't tried
them out yet, you should. They are fun, adventurous, and eccentric. How
can you argue against a band that can call one tune Colorless Green
Ideas Sleep Furiously, and another Bathroom Tile Installation Games?
----Bernard Law, CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY MAGAZINE
FRENCH TV 9: THIS IS WHAT WE DO
SOUND: *** COMPOSITION: *** MUSICIANSHIP: **** PERFORMANCE *** TOTAL RATING: 13
French
TV have a healthy disrespect for the conventions of prog. This band is
all about the music; style, tradition, and convention be damned. Sure,
this is, at its core, a progressive band, but the members follow their
collective muse and have the skills, creativity, and musicianship to
deliver. Who else would mix ska with prog and make it work as they do
with "Ska Face"? The brass, including trombone, the syncopated guitar
and manic drumming say ska, but this ain't Reel Big Fish, as the
majestic keys and dramatic gestures make clear.
In "My Little Cicada," we hear something akin to King Crimson, from its
early mellotron epics to the mid-'70s angular, angry outbursts; little Relayer-era
Yes synth licks; and Zappa-style wind and violin lines. All are mixed
together in a crazy quilt of styles, moods, and textures that defy
logic and hang together as real, solid composition.
The juxtapositions may not be as jarring and manic as those in John
Zorn's Naked City, but they are similarly unlikely and make for
intriguing and compelling listening. This is music that rewards
repeated listens.
-----Dean Suzuki, PROGRESSION MAGAZINE #50
FRENCH TV: This Is What We Do (CD on Pretentious Dinosaur Records )
This release from 2005 features 52 minutes of delightful progrock.
French TV is: Chris Smith, Warren Dale, Mike Sary, Jeff Gard, and Paolo Botta.
Highly recommended for those searching for exciting tuneage.