Café de Paris / Cafe de Paris

Les Variations’ final studio album found the Jewish/Moroccan rock ‘n’ roll band infusing glitter-sprinkled boogie-rock with narratives and music rooted in their Jewish Sephardic and North African culture, creating a truly individual and incomparable sound. And although the band aimed to reach wider audiences by singing in English, songs like the opening “I Don’t Know Where She’ll Go” are rich with the band’s roots. A punctuated cowbell and groovy guitar pedal riffs give “Superman” a bell-bottomed strut, while “Maybe Forever” flirts with spacy David Bowie–inspired balladry (dig frontman Joe Leb’s French spoken-word poetry near the tune's end). A heavy funk oozes from “Berberian Wood” as the band blends gratuitous wah-wah pedal with traditional Eastern European instrumentation and lyrics pulled from ancient Hebrew stories that the members learned in their youth. Hints of Fleetwood Mac emanate from “It’s Alright” as Leb sings a seductive melody in his best androgynous falsetto over a grinding Hammond B-3 organ. A barrage of handclaps and gang vocals shouting “Hey!” help make the closing “Shemoot” sound somewhat influenced by Gary Glitter.