Having only appeared via singles and compilations in the early '80s,
the French Impressionists
had a reputation that was truly limited to the
Crepuscule
label fanatic, at least until the crackerjack
LTM
label came to the rescue. Once again demonstrating label boss
James Nice
's ear for what to reissue,
A Selection of Songs
-- borrowing its title from the band's debut EP -- collects everything the band formally recorded, plus some live tracks and late-'80s solo suites by
Malcolm Fisher
to boot.
Jazz
-influenced but dedicated more to keyboard-led finger-snapping
pop
winners than, say, the more rhythmic and exploratory work of their semi-contemporaries
the Swamp Children
,
come across as a sometimes rough but generally winning proposition. Starting the compilation with
"Pick Up the Rhythm,"
showcasing
Louise Ness
' high-pitched ghost of the mid-century vocals and
Fisher
's light and enjoyable piano playing, was a smart move, and the remaining three tracks from the debut EP are equally breezy good fun, concluding with
's elegant solo turn
"Theme from Walking Home."
That the band ended up recording a version of
Eartha Kitt
's saucy
holiday
standard
"Santa Baby"
is no surprise in retrospect, with
Ness
joined by
Margaret Murphy
on vocals while the band turns the music into a low-key
funk
jam. The
/
Murphy
duo also features on a quartet of hissily recorded live tracks from 1983; the only unreleased efforts as well as the only tracks featuring late-period guitarist
Charles Reilly
, they give an enjoyable taste as to where the band might have gone next, with songs featuring stern, strong rhythms and Arabic-tinged singing. Another brace of recordings features original singer
Beatrice Colin
, with a slightly more ethereal tone than
but not an unpleasant one; given that the music is mostly the same as the debut EP, the effect is a bit unusual hearing songs that weren't so much remade as slightly altered in the lyrics if not the singing. The original 1981 recordings with
Paul Quinn
are amusing digressions that feel like they were written and recorded on the spot --
Quinn
's nicely relaxed and louche -- while the two lengthy
solo tracks are quite lovely, showing that his ear for melodicism and atmosphere works just as well on its own as it does in a band format. ~ Ned Raggett