Detailed Reviews [Jade - 2000 - "Jazz Afro Design Electric"]

Prolusion. "Jazz Afro Design Electric" is so far the only album by the French band Jade.

Synopsis. I became pretty amazed with the band's compositional and performing maturity after listening to "Jazz Afro Design Electric". Although this is an all-instrumental album, it's clear that the last two tracks on it, Kosovo and Hiroshima 6/8, have a political, anti-militaristic implication, which though, doesn't associate with the music on these pieces and the album as a whole at all. Despite the fact that the titles of all of the compositions here and that of the album itself are definitely materialistic in character, the music has a pronounced fantastically futuristic and, I'd even say, unearthly feel to it. Being unique and, what's central, very imaginative, this music doesn't blend with earthly concepts and is a wonderful journey through the mysterious depths of space where distant galaxies and star systems dance in a fantastical ring. The album consists of eight compositions, almost all of which are quite long (5 to 8 minutes), so the band had always enough room for large-scale arrangements. Most of the compositions: Mom, Two Minutes Suisse, Tarabella at Thames, Monica du Desert, and Hiroshima 6/8 (1, 2, 3, 5 & 8) are about Space Rock with elements of both of Art-Rock and Jazz-Fusion, while the stylistics of the remaining tracks: Budai, Acid Halloween, and Kosovo (4, 6, & 7) is Space Metal with all the same elements. While being highly innovative, complex, and eclectic, this music is 'classically' structured, and yet, it develops by laws that are quite different from those typical for Classic Progressive in general and Classic Space Rock in particular. Guitarist Oliver Freche quite frequently and very successfully uses guitar pedals (or a guitar synth), and when it happens, it seems that the interweaving of solos of electric, acoustic, and bass guitars and those of drums and percussion are surrounded by waves of a cosmic ocean.

Conclusion. "Jazz Afro Design Electric" is definitely one of the most unusual Space Rock albums ever released. Neither Gong and Clearlight nor Hawkwind and any other explorers of musical spheres of space are appropriate enough to be compared with Jade or vice versa. And nevertheless, this album, and this is a complete masterpiece, is above all destined to the lovers of Classic Space Rock.

VM: Agst 6, 2003