COS - VIVA BOMA - 1976

Cos biography
This band's career spends over five albums released between 1974 and 1983. Often referred to as the Belgian answer to ZAO, they offer a mixture of prog rock, jazz and Canterbury styles, drawing their influences mainly from MAGMA, KING CRIMSON, HATFIELD AND THE NORTH, and of course, ZAO. They are led by flautist/guitarist Daniel Schell and feature the unique vocals of his wife, Pascale Son, who uses nonsense syllables to suggest a semblance of language; she also plays the oboe. The rest of the regular cast include Robert Dartsch on drums, Alain Goutier on bass and Charles Loos on keyboards.

Each of their albums has its own sound: "Babel", emphasizes Pascale's vocals; "Swiss Chalet" has a particular African feel; as for "Pasiones", it is a strange mixture of styles (SOFT MACHINE, Canterbury, operatic and Latin American). However, their strongest are their first two releases, "Postaeolian Train Robbery" (1974) and "Viva Boma" (1976). They are a mixture of jazzy and surrealistic sounds with some off-beat, humorous twists.

If you like the idea of ZAO or MAGMA with a real goofy edge, then these two albums are highly recommended.


Thank God for liner notes.I couldn't figure out what certain instruments were that they were playing,especially when the list of instruments didn't show anything that sounded like a fuzz organ for example.Well there is a detailed story about this recording session thankfully that reveals that newcomer Marc Hollander's farfisa organ's sounds were treated by fuzz and wha wha devices and ended up in a Dynacord echo chamber that could reproduce them at a normal,slow or accellerated speed.Alain used the same effects on his Rickenbaker bass.Band leader Daniel Schell modified the sounds of his guitars through an EMS synthesiser which allowed him to double the melody.He also used several other effects like saturation,a wah wah filter etc.Both Marc and Daniel were fans of MAGMA,ZAO and HENRY COW which really comes through on this recording as the Zeuhl/Jazz flavour is quite strong.Female singer Pascale Son is incredible.She has a child-like sound to her vocals that remind me of a cross between the innocence of THINKING PLAGUE's singer and fragility of the PAATOS' singer.The word "Boma" in the album's title can mean grandmother in a Belgium dialect or refer to an African town along the river Congo.That is why the front cover has the hippos in the river Congo,and on the back we have a picture of the band and girlfriends with others, along with the grandmother,front and center.Very humerous.You can tell these guys like to have fun from the other pictures in the liner notes. Things get started with "Perhaps Next Record" which is funny given that this short song sounds like it came off of a Krautrock record and sounds nothing like they usually do.Electronics,sitar?,perhaps the next record will sound like this.Funny. "Viva Boma" has lots of drums and percussion.The vocal melodies are fantastic as the piano comes in.Cool song. "Nog Verder" is a slow moving,mellow song with reserved vocals,light drums and keys.The tempo picks up after 2 minutes as the organ comes in.Zeuhl-like vocal melodies 3 1/2 minutes in as it turns jazzy. ""Boehme" is a tribute to a hermetist philosopher appreciated by Daniel.It is supported by a complex harmonic progression dedicated to his harmony teacher.This one is heavier with organ,drums and keys.Vocals before 2 minutes.Fuzz organ before 3 minutes to end song. "Flamboya" features delicate vocals and a heavy,slow paced organ? 2 minutes in.Nice.Guitar,bass and cool vocal melodies.A nice lazy guitar or organ solo late.It's processed so it's hard to tell. "In Lulu" has such an amazing sound to it.The guitar is wonderful. "L'Idiot Leon" is probably my favourite track.There are some great sounding passages throughout this song.The tempo and moods change throughout.There is a harmonization that includes the aboe,flute and bass clarinet. "Ixelles" features a low sounding cello throughout as long instrumental passages alternate with Pascale's beautiful vocal sections. A must have.
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