Dahan, Pierre-Alain & Slim Pezin: Neo Rythmiques LP

Pierre-Alain Dahan & Slim Pezin's Neo Rythmiques is a Tele Music library classic from 1976. It's absolutely sensational throughout, all scorching, up-tempo jazzy soul funk that Mr. James Brown himself would've been envious of. This is serious business with breaks for days. French drummer, percussionist and composer Pierre-Alain Dahan was a key member of the legendary Arpadys, Disco & Co, Voyage, Tumblack (with Wally Badarou, Mallia et al!) and Jef Gilson Septet. With Neo Rhythmiques, he's joined by his eternal guitar colleague Slim Pezin (Voyage, Manu Dibango, Nino Ferrer). Opener "Soul Car" is a swaggering, horn-drenched jazz-funk beast whilst the slick JBs funk of "Happy Penalty" is just plain irresistible. The blazing "Kuzi-Kuza" is again horn-fueled but has a more exotic, Latino feel, all loose grooves and bastard blues with funky organ and shredding guitars. The stomping, proto-disco of "Mercy Boa" is a guitar-sizzled Bohannon-esque hypno-groove for adventurous dance floors the world over. The A side ends with the monumental, stratospheric "Slim Bertha," slo-motion, deep drama funk breaks with jazzy guitar and gleaming percussion. Side B opens with "Country + Country," followed by "Super Airship," a driving fuzz-guitar psych-rock workout of the highest order. The brilliantly titled "Electronic Mutation" is a total highlight, the funk most definitely returning and, indeed, strong in this one with its deep clean breaks (with some particularly ace hi-hats), echoey effects and funky clavs. "Africa Semper" follows, all funky percussion, trippy echo and distorted, psychy guitar licks. To close out the set, "Neo Rythmiques 1 and 2" form a great salvo of top-tier, percussion-heavy synthy-funk-fusion. The audio for Neo Rythmiques has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.