Description
BIO :
Hot on the heels of Miles Davis and Nucleus, PLACEBO was the first Belgian group to advance in jazz-rock territories. Leader Marc Moulin (already a veteran by the early 70’s since he started in 63 with saxman Scorier) was the main composer of this rather large group (they had a four-man brass section) somewhere between Nucleus and a funky Chicago Transit Authority but with that bizarre and sometimes weird/silly Belgian spirit/absurdism. Their three albums (from 71 to 74) were widely played on the alternative scene in the early 70’s, so much so, that they appeared in concert on National TV (still to be released commercially but aired two years ago).
Their debut « Balls Of Eyes » is maybe their better one (it won a prize at 1972’s Montreux Jazz Festival), but the 1973 album is not far behind. After a rather disappointing eponymous album (on the Harvest label), they slowly disbanded, giving their last concert in 76. Marc Moulin will then have a long solo career (his best album being Sam Suffy in 75), diddle in Eurovision spoof-group Telex, work with great Belgian group Cos (see their entry), produced many artist (Philip Catherine a.o.), host his own radio show, had his own record label and for the last 15 years has been a precursor in acid-jazz.
Although none of their vinyls have received a Cd reissue (yet), there is now a compilation that is really an excellent introduction and the track selection suffers no discussion: you are getting the best one possible. Actually their records gained back some interest since they were sampled a few times for Trip-hop records. Marc Moulin left us on Sept 26, 2008 at the age of 66 :::: Bio written by Hugues Chantraine, Belgium ::::
