Marc Moulin - Placebo Sessions 1971-1974 album flac

Placebo was a Belgian Jazz-Funk (and sometimes Jazz-Rock) combo lead by Marc Moulin which released three albums between 1971 and 1974 as compiled here. There are a number of other compilations on Blue Note which cover these years and for some odd reason, they are always being issued under Marc’s name instead of Placebo’s. I guess this has something to do with copyright ownership to the records and the band’s name respecively, but I have never seen this explained. Maybe it’s just a marketing thing, but at the time of this release Moulin had not yet released his 2001 Top Secret album on Blue Note and was hardly a household name. In fact when this Counterpoint compilation from 1999 allowed a larger audience to enjoy Placebo tracks their albums were really difficult to find and only known amongst hardcore collectors. I think in 1999 there had not even been any bootlegs, let alone official reissues and also only a few releases sampling Placebo. The digger fraternity had of course become excited by the soundscapes these guys created: Clavinet, Wurlitzer, Minimoog, Fender Rhodes with horns and sometimes funky drum and bass interaction: What more could you ask for!?!?!. It’s fun to read in the booklet notes by Kirk Degiorgio how he broke his self-imposed spending limits when a record dealer first played him some Placebo… Haha, we’ve all been there with some stuff in our collection! It’s fascinating to see that labels like P-Vine and Diskunion can still squeeze money out of Placebo in 2014 by releasing some of their stuff on seven inch vinyl. I’d stick to a compilation like this which covers the highlights of their three albums.I am not sure whether you have to be of a certain age, but I think Humpty Dumpty is the track most people will know. It’s super catchy and might have already been burned into your audio memory through the sample use on Love Jones by J Dilla, Give It To Y’All by Pete Rock, State Of Clarity (Remix) by Guru / Common. A stone cold classic from their (1971) Ball Of Eyes album. On the original album it’s the closing track on Side A with Aria opening up the B Side. This compilation puts Aria first and it is like a prelude to Humpty Dump. Nice.Unfortunately, track three is Planes, which I despise. The opening could be a lead-in to a cool piece of sound track funk, but unfortunately it rhythmically dissolves into some white boys banging their instruments, despite the obvious talent they have. Check Youtube for the clip “Placebo Live In Temse (Belgium, 1972)” to see them do this (and Showbiz Suite and Only Nineteen) live. Showbiz Suite is a bit better, but again, not particularly convincing for me. Surprisingly, DJ Cam had included this in his 1995 Rendez-Vous 2 compilationBalek starts with a bit of droning synths background, but the interaction between horns and keyboards make this interesting throughout. Only Nineteen has an open drum and bass break in the intro, followed by Marc Moulin on Wurlitzer soloing away, before the whole thing breaks down (in a good sense) and the horn section changes the tune.Temse is rhythmically simple piece but with interesting soloing on top. Stomp does what the title suggests: It’s a long piece at 7:36 and you can decide in the first 30 seconds whether you want to listen to the rest. Polk from their second album (1973) does not even get a mention by Degiorgio in the liner notes, which is strange as this is a cool piece with a subtle groove that will make your head nod plus great keyboard and horn work on top. This has not been sampled according to whosample.com? Wow!N.W., Dag Madam Merci and S.U.S. (the later having been sample for tracks by Pete Rock, Common and Madlib respectively)are all cool pieces of soundtrack Jazz-Funk for a film you shoot in your head. The closing two (Plotselling and Bosso) are Jazz-Rock and as such fillers for my liking.It’s fair to acknowledge that these guys contributed nicely to the European Jazz Fusion scene and there is more than Humpty Dumpty on here that you should hear, but I can’t say that all 15 tracks get my thumbs up.BTW: On the vinyl version you get the Marvin Gaye cover Inner City Blues from the Balls Of Eyes album.