The BelAirs - Dangerous Curves

The BelAirs :

Dangerous Curves

BoroCD01 - Borrowed Records – 1991


You like Doo The Doo (1) ? You worship the Fabulous Thunderbirds, especially their first era with Jimmy Vaughan ? You're gonna love the BelAirs !
Alright, there are a few differences : while our guys from Quimper were, then 5, then again 4, just like their texan mentors, the BelAirs are only 3.
"Ouch !" says to himself the good stuff lover, fearing some kind of pretentious power trio who's musical diarrhoea would only compare with some greedy ambition hypocritically justified by some some slogan for glittering rebel such as "Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll".
No need to worry. The Doo and T-Birds, we said, these are the references you should keep in mind. And since we talk about ambition, the BelAirs' seems to only be the pleasure to share some simple and sincere music between the members of the band and their audience. The expression "popular music" takes all its meaning with these 3 guys. No need to be a blues enthusiast to the letter to be able to get the great thrill taking those "dangerous curves" with the BelAirs. Just check the titles list. Except for the band's originals – 5 among 12 songs here – the covers speak for themselves : Hey Little Lee by Slim Harpo, The Girl That Radiates That Charm by Ron & Jimmy Isle, Nadine by Chuck Berry, and all the rest alike.
A guitar with a pure sound that sometimes reminds of Mr Fender's marvellous Telecaster, sometimes his no less superb Startocaster, a well rounded bass with a firm melodic cement like they knex how to play in the old days, before bassists started thinking they were either percussionnists or trip-hop DJs, and a drummer that puts the listener's zygomatics to test, pulling the poor laugh and smile muscles to the extreme limit of their extension possibilities.
And on top of all this, a vocal that, if it doesn't always threatens Kim Wilson's, gets pretty close to our own Jazz brothers'. (2)
I'm telling you, these guys are pure happinness ! Pleasure is the master word for this highly recommended record.
All you gotta do now is find out how to get this album.
Except for a few specialized record shops, there are very small chances you'll find this jewel in the large shops with big logos. But you can still visit www.belairs.com and order it from their site. Thanks who ? Thanks to the World Wide Web !

René Malines

(1) Doo The Doo is a very good french rockin' blues band from Britanny. They're all friends of Benoît Blue Boy.
(2) The Jazz brothers are the guitar and harmonica players of Doo The Doo, both pretty good singers