Customer Reviews

Rock & Reel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

ROCK AND REEL by La Bottine Souriante is a must-have for lovers of "world music". Their offerings can be loosly categorized as Celtic in origin but with its own energy and modernism.

This 9 member Montréal based band takes the traditional Musique Québecoise to new heights. Brass, percussion, reeds, etc are perfectly blended into the traditional gigues and reels so popular in the French speaking sections of Canada.

You just can't sit still while this CD is on. To attend their concerts and be stuck in seats while the music is being performed is sheer torture. This is dance music par excellence! Even the lullaby-like "Ciel d'automne" demands your attention.

This, their 10th CD, combines their talents with 3 guest "World Music" performers. Their recent PBS show will help their popularity in the USA.

French lyrics are translated. This program is equally divided between vocal and isntrumental selections.

Irish, Quebecois and original reels with horns and a back beat like nothing you've ever heard. Take natalie McMaster, Eileen Ivers and give them driving percussion and a horn section and you're close. This is La Bottine Souriante's tenth album. Translated, La Bottine Souriante means "The smiling boot a reference to their percussion and drive which is centered around traditional Quebec-style foot-tapping. And the singing! You don't need French to want to sing along, but it helps. The one album I kept in the work truck to play all summer; it was played every day, from the dump to the trails, to the beach and back again. I loved it, the college-aged summer help loved it.

One sultry summer day in Central Park, this band ambled onto Summerstage, murmured a few insoucient remarks about Les Yorkers Nouveau and proceeded to light up the stage with an inferno of world music. They cooked up a gumbo of cajun, Irish jig, Brazilian samba, jazz and traditional Quebecois - and that was just the first tune. Doc Martens turned magically into "laughing booties" and no one could stop from dancing. These guys are unbelievably good. Like nothing you have ever heard. But please please please, oh Amazon gods of e-commerce, go find their live CDs, like "En Spectacle". This group was meant to invade your living room for a PARTY.

I had never even heard of La Bottine Souriante before I saw them at Irish Fest this summer in Milwaukee. My group was actually walking down to hear Tommy Makem when someone in the group said he had heard that La Bottine were good, so we decided to stop for a listen, thinking we would move on if we didn't like them. WELL - we were instantly enchanted, and stayed through the whole concert!!! To start off, I kept hearing this tapping sound and wondered to myself where it was coming from. Then I finally could see the fiddle/guitar/mandolin/snare drum player at the right of the stage - Michel - sitting down, playing the fiddle and tap dancing the entire time. Incredible - have never seen anything like it in my life. And the music was joyous and infectious.

That was on Sunday, and Monday morning I immediately came out to Amazon.com to see if I could find a CD by La Bottine Souriante - I did and ordered Rock and Reel. It has been an absolute delight - it is currently loaned out to a friend. The most fun thing about the CD is that you can hear Michel tapping away throughout, and one of the instruments listed for him on the notes is "feet" - Indeed!

I would recommend this release to anybody who likes folkie music. The sound reminds me somewhat of Cajun music, which I think makes sense since they are from the area of Quebec where the Acadians came from.

Folk/Jazz fusion from 9 of the jolliest looking French-Canadians ever to grace a set of liner notes.

Music so infectious you cannot just sit and listen you must dance!

A performance by La Bottine Souriante is an amazing experience. I have never seen a group work harder or longer at turning an audience on. Have you ever been in an audience participating in a foot-rhythm solo, singing complicated counter-melodies, or just getting up and dancing along with the music in a formal concert hall? Exhilarating! This CD is a reflection of that spirit.

Their music is unique due to the unique elements in it. They draw from the music of their province, mix in all the kinds of music they like best, long hours of practice and performing until the whole thing jells into something unique and joyous. As Yves said at the beginning of a concert here, "This is happy music."

Pay attention to the included notes about each song - these guys, on top of being excellent professional musicians, are great practical jokers!

I just saw these guys in concert! What a Blast! It's the best concert I've seen in many years. Very happy, very fast, you can't sit still, you have to get up and dance. By the way, the french is Canadian french, different than the Paris french they teach in school, that's why the other reviewer couldn't translate it.

The strange person who wrote the other review is a very interesting man indeed. It's difficult enough not to like this CD in the first place, and even harder to write a negative review of it. Last year I introduced this to my fellow fourth graders, a bunch whose main musical interests were such abominations as Nsync and Britney Spears (I don't care how you spell them.) Nine-tenths had in fact probably never heard anything except rock and pop. Guess what? They liked it! Although it is somewhat shorter than most other Cd's, the songs are great, full of variety and very lively. The French that is sung in several songs is impossible to translate, but it sounds good anyway. Even though this will only bring the average up to a three, don't pay any attention to the other review. The writer is crazy. Buy this Cd and enjoy.

I first heard La Bottine Souriante on a world music sampler, performing a track called "Picoro." I really enjoyed the song, and so I picked up "Rock and Reel," the only La Bottine album I could find in my local store. I'm sorry to say that it just doesn't work for me. Don't get me wrong... these guys do have musical talent. And I know that the fusion of different musical traditions and styles can (and does) work in many cases, but this isn't one of them. The opening track, "The Blacksmith's Reel," is pretty good, but the record goes downhill from there. La Bottine simply try too hard to dazzle the listener with frantic arrangements combining elements of Celtic, Cajun, and folk music. I know that this can work in theory, but for some reason La Bottine merely come off sounding like they're trying to create a Canadian version of a Jimmy Buffet party record. Ouch. In fairness, I must admit that many of the positive reveiws I have read came from people who have seen the band live. Maybe if I ever have a chance to see them in person, they'll win me over. But based on my reaction to "Rock and Reel," I doubt it.

I first heard La Bottine Souriante at the Backstage in Seattle in the mid 80s and was enthralled. I have been hearing this kind of music since my early childhood in Northern Maine and was pleased to find it getting international attention. I promply bought every vinyl record I could find. Unfortunately, those have have not fared well (too much playing)and have disappeared in yard sales over the years. I heard the group again this past summer at the St. Michele Winery here in Seattle (and bought this CD) and was surprised at the direction that the group's music, arrangements, and instrumentation have evolved. Though I enjoyed the concert and the CD, I am disappointed that they have digressed from the more traditional, "home grown" sound that I cherish. For that reason alone, the older, more traditional CD's get more "air time" in my house.